In 1997, I was a 23-year-old seminarian studying in Rome. That summer, I went to India and worked for a month with the Missionaries of Charity. I had the honor of meeting and speaking with Saint Teresa of Calcutta on several occasions.
So writes Father Tim MacDonald, Vicar General of the Diocese of Lansing and pastor of Queen of the Miraculous Medal in Jackson, upon the Feast of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, September 5. Father MacDonald, pictured above, continues:
This was a month before Mother Teresa died at age 87. I worked at the Immaculate Heart Hospice, known to locals as Kalighat, the first home Mother established when the order was founded in 1947.
Mother Teresa’s day was an unending prayer. We started with a Holy Hour and Mass before 5am each morning, strengthening all the sisters with God’s Word and the Eucharist before they went off to work in hospitals, orphanages and soup kitchens all over the city. The day was not over until the sisters gathered once more in the chapel to give thanks to God for seeing them through another day.
It was only after her death when her spiritual director published her diaries did the world discover that Mother Teresa struggled with doubts in her own faith, making her life of charity even more extraordinary. Mother Teresa’s determination to face disease and death each day with serenity and calm is a reminder to us that we make an act of faith each day, a conscious choice to live a God-centered, service-oriented life despite the many challenges we face all around us.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us!