06/09/2026
𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗰𝘂𝘁𝘁𝗮?
Mother Teresa of Calcutta an Albanian nun, founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize. Her feast day is September 5.
She radically embraced Jesus’ exhortation to sacrificial love. Serving the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, Mother Teresa saw the face of Jesus in everyone she cared for. Enter into her life with “Mother Teresa,” an engaging film that depicts the hope and love she brought to those longing for Christ on FORMED where you have free access (just plug in our parish name) https://watch.formed.org/videos/mother-teresa-1
While riding a train to Darjeeling, India to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the Sisters of Loreto and instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor.” After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious community, and undertake her new work, Sister Teresa took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals–the ordinary dress of an Indian woman–she soon began getting to know her neighbors—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know their needs through visits.
The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing, supplies, and the use of buildings. In 1952, the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. As the order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging, and street people.
For the next four decades, Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home. Blessed Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY by her
Stretching Out Our Hands in Faith and Prayer
The fruit of prayer is a deepening of faith, and the fruit of faith is love; and the fruit of love is service, in whatever form, even in our family. Love begins at home. And how does it begin? By praying together; for the family that prays together stays together. And if you stay together, you will love God as He loves you. You will love one another as He loves you. What a wonderful thought, that God loves me, and that I can love you, and you can love me, as He loves us. What a wonderful gift of God!
Let us remember that Jesus always praised the faith of people—therefore often during the day we will pray: “Jesus in my heart, increase my faith, strengthen my faith. Let me live this faith through living, humble obedience.”
Love, to be true, has to begin with God in prayer. If we pray, we will be able to serve, and therefore today let us all promise that we will give our hands to serve the poor. That we will give our hearts to love them, for they too have been created for great things, they are the great people—the poor.
Are you really in love with Him, with that intimate love for Him, that personal attachment like Saint Peter? It’s good for us to be here. Is it good for you to be with Him?
Put your hand in the hand of Jesus—walk along with Him all the way. We try to hold something else—we are human beings; that’s why people need to hold, that’s why we hold the hand of Jesus.
—Saint Teresa of Calcutta
