S
erving a saint
by Fr. Me i n ra d M i l l e r
The news that Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonized as a Saint this coming September 4 in Rome has been met with great joy throughout the world. How appropriate that this event takes place during the Year of Mercy.
My first meeting with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity Sisters was in 2008 when I gave a seminar to some of their sisters from the eastern region of the United States in Washington, D.C. The theme of that seminar was the Eucharist. I remember feeling inadequate as I started planning, what could I possibly teach these sisters? However, as I met the sisters, I quickly learned that they were not looking for lofty abstract ideas; rather, they wanted to know more about Jesus and how to love Him in their daily lives. Since that initial seminar in 2008, I have spoken to the Missionary of Charity Sisters in Washington, DC, Memphis, Tenn., Newark, N.J., and Calcutta, India. What have I learned from these encounters? I have witnessed a tremendous humility and trust in the Providence of God that has guided the sisters to embrace this way of life. I begin each day of the seminar with private prayer: praying the Liturgy of the Hours, the Rosary, and spending time in silence. This is followed by the celebration of Holy Mass with the sisters, and often with volunteers and patients of the houses the sisters serve. These Masses are powerful for me because I realize that these sisters have very little material possessions: Jesus is indeed their inheritance. Following Mass, there are prayers of thanksgiving; it is an opportunity to thank Christ for the gift of the Eucharist.
blessed mother teresa born: august 26, 1910 died: september 5, 1997 to be canonized: september 4, 2016
Typically, there are two talks in the morning, each for an hour. The sisters may well have questions or comments. They usually explain how they are living the life of Christ among the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa’s charism was not to start a chain of hospitals, or to start a group of social workers, both of which have value. She saw her charism as a call to bring the light of Christ to the places of the world where Christ lived in the guise of the poorest of the poor. These poor needed to be encountered – encountered one at a time. In the middle of the day, the Sisters again gather for prayer; they remember, just as our community does, that all of our work must flow from and revolve around our prayer life. In the afternoon I usually give another hour long talk, with a chance for interaction. In the evening there is a Holy Hour that includes Evening Prayer, the Rosary and silence, and concludes with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Today there are nearly 5100 Missionary of Charity sisters working in 129 countries, among the poorest of the poor. Both St. Benedict and Blessed Teresa of Calcutta were called by God to do something beautiful for God. St. Benedict left the comfort of Rome to retire to the wilderness for three years to spend time in prayer before setting out for Monte Cassino where he wrote his Rule for Monasteries. Blessed Teresa also believed from the beginning that the work among the poorest of the poor would be for vainglory if the sisters did not also spend time in prayer. She insisted that the works of the Missionaries of Charity be rooted in an encounter with Jesus in prayer. Only then can the sisters and volunteers be able to recognize Jesus in the poor.
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Kansas Monks
