“We are just excited to honor her, and the best way to honor her is by being good Christians”, said Father Steve Pawelk, who founded Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, a church of humble beginnings.
Advertisement
Lanong, a former journalist turned politician, who had interviewed Mother Teresa at the Missionaries of Charity global headquarters, known as Mother House, Calcutta in 1976 said: “Mother was adorned a living saint and today the Pope has proclaimed as a saint Teresa of Calcutta for her tireless work to help us understand us about gratuitous love to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race or religion”. Francis declared Mother Teresa a saint on Sunday, praising the tiny nun for having taken in society’s most unwanted and for having shamed world leaders for the “crimes of poverty they themselves created.” .
Millions of Catholics revere her as a model of compassion.
The pope gave VIP seats to 1,500 poor people who are supported by the saint’s Missionaries of Charity order across Italy and invited them to a pizza lunch at the Vatican, sending another message about her work – and his own commitment to the poor and vulnerable.
The novelist and journalist Sandip Roy, who spent 20 years in San Francisco before moving back home to Kolkata in 2011, said the Mother Teresa narrative obscured other facets of the complicated city he grew up in – its vociferous soccer clubs, fish markets and busy cafes.
Throngs of pilgrims flooded the Vatican on September 4 to celebrate the highly anticipated canonization of Mother Teresa, an event that Catholics and non-Catholics alike have looked forward to since the nun’s death in 1997.
Mother Teresa was ordained a saint by the Pope in a well-attended ceremony at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. Clutching a picture of Teresa to her heart, she said: “It is wonderful that she has been canonized”.
Born to Kosovar Albanian parents in what is now Macedonia in 1910, Teresa died in 1997.
In the moment of jubilation, DiCasimirro, 61, a retired advocate for the mentlly ill, was reminded of the humility of St. Teresa’s life.Her voice straining with emotion, she said, “Remember the things she wanted us to do – small things with a smile”. Her ascent to sainthood was swift, thanks to the intervention of late Pope John Paul II.
Her missionary work began in 1948 as she traveled to Patna to receive basic medical training and mended the wounds of those living in the slums, unable to pay any medical fee. She was criticized by former volunteers and others who became disillusioned with frayed conditions of many of her centers, even as millions in donations rolled in.
A giant portrait of Teresa was erected near Mother House and there were rounds of applause as a growing numbers of nuns and followers gathered to watch the ceremony live on the screens.
He also highlighted Mother Teresa’s outspoken opposition to abortion. But when I prayed to Mother Teresa from my heart, Mother Teresa blessed me and now I am healthy.
Advertisement
“Because she loved Jesus above all, she could love the unlovable: the poor, the neglected”, he said. “The peace and content that can be seen on their faces is so incredible”, said one of the followers of Mother Teresa. So she has much to teach us. For almost 50 years, Teresa lived through spiritual doubt, despair and loneliness – a period that came to light during her beautification process. “She may no longer be there, but we still feel her spirit around us”.
