Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta

A light in the darknessA Presentation by Natalia Juzyn for the Blessed Edmund Rice School for Pastoral

Ministry

Opening PrayerDear Jesus,

Help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go.Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.

Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with

may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus.

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.

Amen- Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman

Gonxha Agnes BojaxhiuBorn August 26th, 1910 in

Skopje, Macedonia

Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu

Agatha, Lazar and Gonxha

Gonxha with family

Responding to God’s Call

• September 25, 1928 – Leaves Skopje for Ireland to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as the Loreto Sisters.

• December 1928 – sets sail for India

Put your hand in His hand, and walk alone with Him. Walk ahead, because if you look back you will go back.

- Drane Bojaxhiu

Responding to God’s Call

• January 6, 1929 – arrives in Calcutta• May 23, 1929 – enters the novitiate in Darjeeling

Responding to God’s CallMay 25, 1931 – 1st Profession. Given the name Sr. Mary Teresa. Assigned to St. Mary’s School of Girls.

May 24, 1937 – Final Profession. Now known as Mother Teresa. Named principal of St Mary’s School in 1944.

Loreto YearsDuring Mother Teresa’s time at St. Mary’s School, she was known as a self-sacrificing, joyful teacher who was well-loved.

When not teaching, she went out into the city to help the poor.

Deepening Commitment

April, 1942 - Mother Teresa makes a private vow with the permission of her confessor:

“I made a vow to God, binding under [pain of] mortal sin, to give to God anything that He may ask, ‘Not to refuse Him anything.”

The Political Context –India’s Difficult Road to Independence

The Hindus, led by Mahatma Gandhi, opposed this. Pictured here is Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and Gandhi.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, leader of the Muslim League, meeting with British officials.

Tensions between Hindus and Muslims rose during the early 1940s. The violence climaxed on August 16th, 1946, Direct Action Day, later known as “The Day of Great Killing.”

The Political Context

The Political Context Calcutta After the Rioting

Inspiration DayTuesday, September 10, 1946

Inspiration DayTuesday, September 10, 1946

“It was in that train, I heard the call to give up all and follow Him into the slums – to serve Him in the poorest of the poor…

“…I knew it was His will and that I had to follow Him. There was no doubt that it was going to be His work.”

The Words of Jesus

“Come, come, carry Me into the holes of the poor.

Come, be My Light.”

Next Steps

Fr. Céleste Van Exem, SJ Archbishop Ferdinand Périer, SJ

Beginning Difficulties

Rumors about the relationship between Fr. Exem and Mother Teresa led to Mother’s transfer to the Loreto convent in Asansol. During this time, Mother had written to the

Archbishop requesting to start the Missionaries of Charity and was anxiously awaiting his reply.

Consolation in Asansol

“Before the work started [1946-1947] there was so much union – love – faith – trust – prayer – sacrifice.”

“There…as if Our Lord just gave Himself to me – to the full. The sweetness & consolation & union of those 6 months passed but too soon.”

The Words of Jesus - 1947

My little one – come – come – carry Me into the holes of the poor. – Come be My light. – I cannot go alone – they don’t know Me – so they don’t want Me.

You are afraid. How your fear hurts Me. – Fear not. It is I who am asking you to do this for Me. Fear not. – Even if the whole world is against you, laughs at you, your companions and Superiors look down on you, fear not – it is I in you, with you, for you.

The Words of Jesus - 1947

You have always been saying ‘do with me whatever you wish.’ Now I want to act, let Me do it – My little Spouse, My own little one.

Do not fear – I shall be with you always. You will suffer and you suffer now – but if you are My own little Spouse – the Spouse of the crucified Jesus – you will have to bear these torments in your heart. – Let me act. – Refuse Me not – Trust Me lovingly – trust Me blindly.

The 3 Visions

I have asked you…

They have asked you…

…and she, My Mother, has asked you… Will you refuse to do this for

Me?

A New Beginning

“On Tuesday evening I am leaving by the Punjab mail – All is very dark – plenty of tears, but I go of my own free choice with the blessing of obedience…”

“Please pray. – I have very little courage – but I trust Him blindly, in spite of all feelings.”

August 17, 1948 - Mother Teresa leaves the Loreto Convent as a Missionary of Charity

The Birth of the Missionaries of CharityOn October 7th, 1950, Archbishop Périer, with the approval of Rome, established the Missionaries of Charity in the archdiocese of Calcutta.

The Birth of the Missionaries of Charity

Building the Foundations

With the Archbishop’s approval, the Missionaries of Charity began their work and soon attracted vocations.

But as the Missionaries grew, so did Mother’s darkness.

Her Darkness

“…Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself – for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started ‘the work.’ Ask Our Lord to give me courage.”

- Letter to Archbishop Périer, March 13, 1953

Her Darkness

“…my own soul remains in deep darkness & desolation. No I don’t complain – let Him do with me whatever He wants.”

- Letter to Archbishop Périer, February 26th, 1954

“Pray for me – for within me everything is icy cold. – It is only that blind faith that carries me through for in reality to me all is darkness.”

- Letter to Archbishop Périer, December 15th , 1955

Her Darkness

“The more I want Him – the less I am wanted. – I want to love Him as He has not been loved – and yet there is that separation – that terrible emptiness, that feeling of absence of God…”

- Letter to Archbishop Périer, February 8th, 1956

“… sometimes the agony of desolation is so great and at the same time the longing for the Absent One so deep, that the only prayer which I can still say is – Sacred Heart of Jesus I trust in Thee – I will satiate Thy thirst for souls..”

- Letter to Archbishop Périer, March 27th , 1956

A New Director

Lawrence Trevor Cardinal Picachy, SJ

Mother Teresa attended a retreat and found a trusted spiritual counselor in Fr. Picachy. She felt an interior movement to disclose the state of her soul to this priest:

“…If you only knew what I am going through – He is destroying everything in me. – But as I hold no claim on myself – He is free to do anything. Pray for me that I keep smiling at Him.” – January 26, 1957

In the Depths of Her Suffering

“…The child of your love – and now become as the most hated one – the one You have thrown away as unwanted – unloved.”

“The loneliness of the heart that wants love is unbearable…”

“What are you doing my God to one so small?”

Consolation

Fr. Joseph Neuner, SJ

With Fr. Picachy’s transfer, Mother Teresa was left alone.

But God provided another support, someone who would help her integrate her experience of darkness with the work of the apostolate, but more importantly, with her union with God.

Insight“I can’t express in words – the gratitude I owe you for your kindness to me. – For the first time in 11 years – I have come to love the darkness…”

- April 1961

“No, Father, I am not alone. – I have His darkness – I have His pain – I have the terrible longing for God – to love and not to be loved. I know I have Jesus – in that unbroken union – for my mind is fixed on Him and in Him alone, in my will.”

- October 23, 1961.

Wisdom

“My dear children – without our suffering, our work would just be social work, very good and helpful, but it would not be the work of Jesus Christ, not part of the redemption.”

Was Mother Teresa a Mystic?

“The mystical state consists in the predominance of the rule of the gifts [of the Holy Spirit], but this does not signify a psychological state that is habitual in the proper sense of the word.”Fr. Jordan Aumann, Spiritual Theology (130-131)

Was Mother Teresa a Mystic?

“Therefore, when theologians and mystics speak of the mystical state, they use the words in a wide sense, meaning that the soul is habitually so attentive and responsive to the Holy Spirit that ordinarily the acts of the gifts will replace the personal initiative that is exercised through the infused virtues.”Fr. Jordan Aumann, Spiritual Theology (130-131)

Stages of the Spiritual Life

• Purgative Way – purification from that which might cause one to fall into mortal sin

• Illuminative Way – Light is given regarding virtues and self-knowledge

• Unitive Way – Soul united to God more closely than before; transforming union

The Dark Night

Night of the Senses• No consolation in the things of God, nor in

created things• Soul is solicitous for the things of God but

thinks it is regressing because of the lack of sentiment

• Inability to meditate or use the imagination in prayer.

• Counsels: surrender, perseverance, serenity, docility to prudent and experienced spiritual director

The Dark NightNight of the spirit

• a time of frightening trials that serve to remove faults and imperfections from the roots

• Caused by infused contemplation – God’s light causes the blinding darkness, but far more intense than the previous Night

• Part of the illuminative and unitive way• Feelings of abandonment and rejection by God

The spiritual night is the lot of very few; those who have been tried and are proficient…(St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night, 1:8.1)

The goal is union with God through love.

The Work Continues

Going Home

For Us“In the developed countries there is a poverty of intimacy, a poverty of spirit, of loneliness, of lack of love. There is no greater sickness in the world today than that one.”

Her example for us:Accept willingly whatever comes from the hand of GodLove HimTrust HimAnd let Him love through youLove Jesus Christ and you will…Love tenderly,Love boldly,Love blindly,Love with abandon.

This will change the world, one soul at a time.

Final PrayerBlessed Teresa of Calcutta,

longing to love Jesus as He had never been loved before, you gave yourself entirely to Him, refusing Him nothing.

In union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, you accepted His call to satiate His infinite thirst for love and souls

and become a carrier of His love to the poorest of the poor. With loving trust and total surrender you fulfilled His will,

witnessing to the joy of belonging totally to Him. You became so intimately united to Jesus your crucified Spouse

that He deigned to share with you the agony of His Heart as He hung upon the Cross.Blessed Teresa,

you promised to continuously bring the light of love to those on earth; pray for us that we also may long to satiate the burning thirst of Jesus

by loving Him ardently, sharing in His sufferings joyfully, and serving Him wholeheartedly in our brothers and sisters,

especially those most unloved and unwanted. Amen

Bibliography

Aumann, Jordan, O.P. Spiritual Theology. London: Continuum, 1980.

Hoffman, Dominic, O.P. The Life Within: The Prayer of Union. NY: Sheed and Ward, 1966.

Kavanaugh, Kiernan, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross. Washington, D.C.: ICS Publications, 1991.

Kolodiejchuk, Brian, M.C., ed. Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta. NY: Doubleday, 2007.

Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa – In My Own Words. Compiled by José Luis González-Balado. NY: Gramercy Books, 1996.