From the Bishops A Model for Our Times

Aug 12, 2010

We celebrate this month the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, August 26, 1910.  She lifted hearts across the world by bringing God’s love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor.  She was the spouse of Jesus Christ for all eternity, with the mission to quench His thirst for love and for souls.

Her love for Jesus Christ and for the poor radiated.  She founded the Missionaries of Charity Sisters in 1948, the Missionaries of Charity Brothers in 1963, the Contemplative Sisters in 1979, and the Missionaries of Charity Fathers in 1984.

I was privileged to know Mother Teresa personally.  One day in the late 1980’s, when I was Chancellor of the Archdiocese of New York, she telephoned me and said she needed three visas for her Sisters who were leaving the United States that night on mission.  I indicated that this was not an easy thing to accomplish, particularly in the summer when so many people were seeking visas.  Mother was aware that I knew people in the visa office, so she just said, “I will leave this in the hands of Our Blessed Lady.”  When I called the office with the request, the woman answered me with the question, “Do you know how many people we are trying to help right now?”  I said, “Yes, the line is around the block, but this is not for me, it is for Mother Teresa.”  Her answer was clear, “Well, for Mother Teresa I will do it, but you owe.”

Another time Mother Teresa came to the New York Catholic Center asking to speak with Cardinal O’Connor.  She was told that he was over in his residence and would not be able to see her at that time.  Again she said, “I will put that in the hands of Our Blessed Lady,” and went over to the residence.  The woman who answered the door indicated that the Cardinal was having lunch with the priests celebrating their 75th birthday that year.  Mother Teresa walked right by her and into the dining room, spoke with the Cardinal and, as always, received a positive answer to her request.  Then each of the priests present had individual photos taken of themselves with Mother Teresa.  It was the luncheon of the year.

When Mother Teresa came to New York City she frequently stayed at the Missionaries of Charity Convent in Saint Joseph’s Parish in Central Harlem.  I would occasionally celebrate Mass for Mother and the Sisters on those occasions.  You would arrive at the Convent before 6:00 a.m., go into the Chapel and find Mother Teresa on her knees on the cold wooden floor (no kneelers), where she had already been kneeling for about an hour.  Her participation at the Mass was unforgettable.  After Mass she would talk with a smile about her missions in New York and around the world.  I remember one day when she spoke about her plans to establish a mission in China.  Her Sisters at that time numbered about 4,000 and were serving in 610 foundations in 123 countries across the world.  Her pattern was consistently the same:  prayer, Mass, the rosary, and then on to the work of the day.

Mother Teresa believed that the interior must be the main power of the exterior.  She went forth, and she called her Missionaries to go forward, as a mixture of Martha and Mary from the Gospel.  Action and contemplation must be combined.  With daunting courage and devastating hard work she cared for the everyday needs of the economically poor, the weak, and the dying.  One of her ways of praying was to bring to mind the faces of the people she would meet and to remember them to Jesus.  Pope John Paul II described her service when he said, “The mystery of human suffering meets the mystery of faith and love.”  People might come to see God in her love for them.

In recent years it has come to light that Mother Teresa experienced an excruciating darkness and loneliness in her life of prayer and service.  Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., describes this well in his book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light.  She spoke about the agony of this darkness over the years with her spiritual directors.  At times it seemed to her that everything was dead.  She did not feel the presence of God, but she surrendered to His work within her soul.  How much reassurance she provides for people facing similar situations today.

Mother Teresa, nonetheless, was blessed with an intense experience of union with God, possibly approaching ecstasy, in 1946 and 1947, before founding the Missionaries of Charity.  She described it as a “time of so much union – love – trust – prayer – sacrifice.”  She proceeded to write later that “the sweetness and consolation and union of those six months passed but too soon.”  She wrote subsequently of an encouraging experience of union with God in October 1958, “There and then disappeared that long darkness, that pain of loss – of loneliness – of that strange suffering for ten years.  Today my soul is filled with love, with joy untold – with an unbroken union of love.”

That consolation lasted for a short time.  Yet she could go forward with undoubting faith and dedicated love bringing people to God and service to those who were seemingly abandoned.  She grew in the strong conviction that this darkness and loneliness united her with Jesus in His passion and crucifixion, in His darkness and loneliness.  She saw it as fundamental to her call of bringing the light of Christ to the world.

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997.  She was beatified on October 19, 2003.  Her patron saint, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, had stated that she would spend her heaven continuing to do good on earth.  Mother Teresa made a similar commitment, “to light the light of those in darkness on earth.”

Our prayers to Blessed Mother Teresa continue to ask her to intercede for an expanding light of Christ in our lives, that we might be more effective servants of God and bring about better experiences of Church.

Reprinted with permission from the Catholic Transcript.