Brief Biography of Mother Teresa:

      Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the future Mother Teresa, was born on 26 August 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, to Albanian heritage. Her father, a well-respected local businessman, died when she was eight years old, leaving her mother, a devoutly religious woman, to open an embroidery and cloth business to support the family. After spending her adolescence deeply involved in parish activities, Agnes left home in September 1928, for the Loreto Convent in Rathfarnam (Dublin), Ireland, where she was admitted as a postulant on October 12 and received the name of Teresa, after her patroness, St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
       Agnes was sent by the Loreto order to India and arrived in Calcutta on 6 January 1929. Upon her arrival, she joined the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling. She made her final profession as a Loreto nun on 24 May 1937, and hereafter was called Mother Teresa. While living in Calcutta during the 1930s and '40s, she taught in St. Mary's Bengali Medium School.
         On 10 September 1946, on a train journey from Calcutta to Darjeeling, Mother Teresa received what she termed the "call within a call," which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity family of Sisters, Brothers, Fathers, and Co-Workers. The content of this inspiration is revealed in the aim and mission she would give to her new institute: "to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love and souls" by "labouring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." On October 7, 1950, the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially erected as a religious institute for the Archdiocese of Calcutta.
        Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Mother Teresa expanded the work of the Missionaries of Charity both within Calcutta and throughout India. On 1 February 1965, Pope Paul VI granted the Decree of Praise to the Congregation, raising it to pontifical right. The first foundation outside India opened in Cocorote, Venezuela, in 1965. The Society expanded to Europe (the Tor Fiscale suburb of Rome) and Africa (Tabora, Tanzania) in 1968.
        From the late 1960s until 1980, the Missionaries of Charity expanded both in their reach across the globe and in their number of members. Mother Teresa opened houses in Australia, the Middle East, and North America, and the first novitiate outside Calcutta in London. In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. By that same year there were 158 Missionaries of Charity foundations.
       The Missionaries of Charity reached Communist countries in 1979 with a house in Zagreb, Craotia, and in 1980 with a house in East Berlin, and continued to expand through the 1980s and 1990s with houses in almost all Communist nations, including 15 foundations in the former Soviet Union. Despite repeated efforts, however, Mother Teresa was never able to open a foundation in China.
        Mother Teresa spoke at the fortieth anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly in October 1985. On Christmas Eve of that year, Mother Teresa opened "Gift of Love" in New York, her first house for AIDS patients. In the coming years, this home would be followed by others, in the United States and elsewhere, devoted specifically for those with AIDS.
           From the late 1980s through the 1990s, despite increasing health problems, Mother Teresa travelled across the world for the profession of novices, opening of new houses, and service to the poor and disaster-stricken. New communities were founded in South Africa, Albania, Cuba, and war-torn Iraq. By 1997, the Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members, and were established in almost 600 foundations in 123 countries of the world.         After a summer of travelling to Rome, New York, and Washington, in a weak state of health, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta in July 1997. At 9:30 PM, on 5 September, Mother Teresa died at the Motherhouse. Her body was transferred to St Thomas's Church, next to the Loreto convent where she had first arrived nearly 69 years earlier. Hundreds of thousands of people from all classes and all religions, from India and abroad, paid their respects. She received a state funeral on 13 September, her body being taken in procession - on a gun carriage that had also borne the bodies of Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru - through the streets of Calcutta. Presidents, prime ministers, queens, and special envoys were present on behalf of countries from all over the world.

Her Favourite Prayers:

Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being, so utterly,
That our lives may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through us, and be so in us,
That every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus!
Stay with us, and then we shall begin to shine as You shine;
So to shine as to be a light to others.
The light O Jesus will be all from You, none of it will be ours;
It will be You, shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise You in the way you love best: by shining on others through us.
let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example,
By the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, The evident
fullness of the love our hearts bear to You. Amen."

(Cardinal John Henry Newman)

MEMORARE…
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly to you, O Virgin of Virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I kneel, sinful & sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear & answer me. Amen.

Regina Coeli

PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS:
God so loved the world

       And God loved the world so much that He gave His son - it was a giving. God gave His son to the Virgin Mary, and what did she do with Him? As soon as Jesus came into Mary's life, immediately she went in haste to give that good news. And as she came into the house of her cousin, Elizabeth, Scripture tells us that the unborn child - the child in the womb of Elizabeth - leapt with joy. While still in the womb of Mary - Jesus brought peace to John the Baptist who leapt for joy in the womb of Elizabeth. And as if that were not enough, as if it were not enough that God the Son should become one of us and bring peace and joy while still in the womb of Mary, Jesus also died on the Cross to show that greater love. He died for you and for me, and for the leper and for that man dying of hunger and that naked person lying in the street, not only of Calcutta, but of Africa, and everywhere. Our Sisters serve these poor people in 105 countries throughout the world. Jesus insisted that we love one another as He loves each one of us. Jesus gave His life to love us and He tells us that we also have to give whatever it takes to do good to one another. And in the Gospel Jesus says very clearly: "Love as I have loved you." Jesus died on the Cross because that is what it took for Him to do good to us - to save us from our selfishness in sin. He gave up everything to do the Father's will - to show us that we too must be willing to give up everything to do God's will - to love one another as He loves each of us. If we are not willing to give whatever it takes to do good to one another, sin is still in us. That is why we too must give to each other until it hurts.
        It is not enough for us to say: "I love God," but I also have to love my neighbor. St. John says that you are a liar if you say you love God and you don't love your neighbor. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is not true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.
         It hurt Jesus to love us. We have been created in His image for greater things, to love and to be loved. We must "put on Christ" as Scripture tells us. And so, we have been created to love as He loves us. Jesus makes Himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the unwanted one, and He says, "You did it to Me." On the last day He will say to those on His right, "whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me, and He will also say to those on His left, whatever you neglected to do for the least of these, you neglected to do it for Me."

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Her Own Experiences:

To see the greatness of that man
One evening we went out and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the Sisters: "You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worse." So I did for her all that my love can do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, as she said one word only: "thank you" - and she died.
      I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked: "What would I say if I were in her place?" And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said: "I am hungry, I am dying, I am cold, I am in pain," or something. But she gave me much more - she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face. Then there was the man we picked up from the drain, half eaten by worms and, after we had brought him to the home, he only said, "I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die as an angel, loved and cared for." Then, after we had removed all the worms from his body, all he said, with a big smile, was: "Sister, I am going home to God" - and he died. It was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man who could speak like that without blaming anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel - this is the greatness of people who are spiritually rich even when they are materially poor.

REFLECTIONS
A life copied from the Gospel
      Mother Teresa lived for the poor. But now the world has become poorer since, on the evening of Friday 5 September, unable to withstand the last of many heart attacks, Mother Teresa died in the house where she and her sisters had lived in Calcutta since the 1940s. She was 87 years old and her face - tiny like her whole figure, and deeply wrinkled - had become the very epitome of charity and of the total gift of self to others. She was called the Mother of the poor. But even among the various forms of poverty Mother Teresa managed to push herself to the extreme limit, just as her love of Christ was extreme and total. She chose to be with the poorest of the poor and, in this search she made the world - believers and non-believers - read pages of a living Gospel, of a Gospel at work among the conquests and contradictions of our times. The death of Mother Teresa aroused very strong emotion and sorrow in every corner of the world. Her charity has left traces in every continent.
(Angelo Comastri Archbishop of Loreto)

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A Spiritual Journey with Mother:
“COME, BE MY LIGHT.”

With these words the Lord Jesus drew Mother Teresa to Himself in a special way, immersing her deep into the mystery of His hidden and sacred presence in the poorest of the poor. "In your love for Me," Jesus told her further, "they will see Me, know Me, want Me."
- The invitation of Jesus will resound in St. Peter's Square on October 19 2003 as the Holy Father proclaims her "Blessed".

- "Be my light" is the constant call of the Heart of Jesus to each one of us as we hear it echoed today in the voice of the Church: "A new century, a new millennium are opening in the Light of Christ, but not everyone can see this Light. Ours is the wonderful and demanding task of becoming its "reflection"… Christ Himself …asked His disciples to be the light of the world. (Mt 5:14)" (N.M.I. 64)

- Each Christian is called to be the radiance of God's love in the darkness of today's poverty and pain, or as Mother Teresa would say, to be "carriers of God's love." - Everywhere she went, she used to distribute to the people she met her "business card", on which were printed in a few sentences, a simple program of life. We will take those words as simple steps for our spiritual journey for these few months in preparation for the Beatification.
"The fruit of Silence is Prayer
The fruit of Prayer is Faith
The fruit of Faith is Love
The fruit of Love is Service
The fruit of Service is Peace."

Let us allow Mother Teresa to inspire us and lead us to give our wholehearted response to Jesus' invitation "Come be my light", that we too may be His love, His compassion, His presence in all the daily circumstances of our life as challenging and demanding as they may be.

The fruit of Silence is Prayer
Reflection:
Mother Teresa saw silence as a basic need for the Christian life.
As each one of us experiences a deep longing for God in our heart, we will feel the need to create that atmosphere of Silence in our life, that will enable us to be one with Him and communicate intimately with Him in prayer.
Our life of oneness with God will be best realized and constantly nourished by the Eucharist. Holy Communion is in act the best moment of intimate union with Jesus, and the means to help us to remain united to Him throughout the daily activities.

"We need to find God and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness."

The fruit of Prayer is Faith
Reflection:
For Mother Teresa our faith is deepened in prayer and our heart purified so that we are able to perceive God's presence everywhere and in everyone.
In prayer not only do we receive the light to see everything with a new vision of faith but we also receive the strength to respond in faith to the different situations of life, even the most challenging. For Mother Teresa there were no "problems" but only "gifts of God," chances to grow in union with Him by putting our faith in action.
       It is important to cultivate this attitude: to seek and see always God's loving hand at work in each circumstance of our daily life and to learn to recognize the signs of His tender care and concern for us personally in all events, be they joyful or painful.
        One of Mother Teresa's favorite quotations from Scripture was from the prophet Isaiah, "See, I will not forget you, I have carved you in the palm of my hand. You are precious to me. I love you." (Is 49:15)
So when we are put to the test, we turn to God so that our faith and confidence may not waver but in all trials and difficulties we may be able to overcome fear, anxiety and discouragement with a child-like trust and surrender to His Fatherly love and providence.
        "We will allow the Good God to make plans for the future, for yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come and we have only today to make Him known, loved and served."

The fruit of Faith is Love
Reflection:
By that daily encounter in faith with God - in our hearts, in the Eucharist, in our brothers and sisters - we come to experience more and more the depth of His love for us.
     Like Mother Teresa we will perceive His tremendous longing, His Thirst for us and for each of His children. Jesus' words on the Cross "I Thirst" will begin to re-echo powerfully in our heart and create in us the desire to respond to His Infinite Love.
      As He pours His Love into our hearts, we will begin to experience an ardent longing to be able to love Him in return and bring others to know and love Him, too.
      Contemplating the depth of His Love "unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8 ) we will also come to realize that, as Mother Teresa constantly reminded us, we too must be willing to "love until it hurts."
More than her words, Mother Teresa's whole life, her every action was a constant example of that readiness to give her life for God and for others. Her joy was to make little sacrifices to "grab the chance" so as to prove her love for God.
      To be able to live this life of total self-giving, Mother Teresa would constantly turn to Mary, asking her to give her, her Heart so as to be able to receive and respond to Jesus' cry of Thirst, to love Him as she loved Him and so satiate with her His Thirst for love and for souls.

"He still keeps looking for one to console Him:
- Hungry for love He looks at you,
- Thirsty for kindness He begs from you,
- Homeless for shelter in your heart He asks of you.
Will you be that "one" to Him?"

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Holy Father's Homily on Mother:
Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

"By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, I am an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." Small of stature, rocklike in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God's thirsting love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. "God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor." She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him and burning with one desire: "to quench His thirst for love and for souls."
     This luminous messenger of God's love was born on 26 August 1910 in Skopje, a city situated at the crossroads of Balkan history. The youngest of the children born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu, she was baptised Gonxha Agnes, received her First Communion at the age of five and a half and was confirmed in November 1916. From the day of her First Hol0y Communion, a love for souls was within her. Her father·s sudden death when Gonxha was about eight years old left in the family in financial straits. Drane raised her children firmly and lovingly, greatly influencing her daughter·s character and vocation. Gonxha's religious formation was further assisted by the vibrant Jesuit parish of the Sacred Heart in, which she was much involved.
      At the age of eighteen, moved by a desire to become a missionary, Gonxha left her home in September 1928 to join the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the Sisters of Loreto, in Ireland. There she received the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In December, she departed for India, arriving in Calcutta on 6 January 1929. After making her First Profession of Vows in May 1931, Sister Teresa was assigned to the Loreto Entally community in Calcutta and taught at St. Mary's School for girls. On 24 May 1937, Sister Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows, becoming, as she said, the "spouse of Jesus" for "all eternity." From that time on she was called Mother Teresa. She continued teaching at St. Mary's and in 1944 became the school's principal. A person of profound prayer and deep love for her religious sisters and her students, Mother Teresa's twenty years in Loreto were filled with profound happiness. Noted for her charity, unselfishness and courage, her capacity for hard work and a natural talent for organization, she lived out her consecration to Jesus, in the midst of her companions, with fidelity and joy.
     On 10 September 1946 during the train ride from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, Mother Teresa received her "inspiration," her "call within a call." On that day, in a way she would never explain, Jesus' thirst for love and for souls took hold of her heart and the desire to satiate His thirst became the driving force of her life. Over the course of the next weeks and months, by means of interior locutions and visions, Jesus revealed to her the desire of His heart for "victims of love" who would "radiate His love on souls." "Come be My light," He begged her. "I cannot go alone." He revealed His pain at the neglect of the poor, His sorrow at their ignorance of Him and His longing for their love. He asked Mother Teresa to establish a religious community, Missionaries of Charity, dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor. Nearly two years of testing and discernment passed before Mother Teresa received permission to begin. On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in a white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of her beloved Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor.
           After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On 21 December she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of some children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to find and serve Him in "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for." After some months, she was joined, one by one, by her former students.
        On 7 October 1950 the new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially established in the Archdiocese of Calcutta. By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India. The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Starting in 1980 and continuing through the 1990s, Mother Teresa opened houses in almost all of the communist countries, including the former Soviet Union, Albania and Cuba.
        In order to respond better to both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded "the Missionaries of Charity Brothers" in 1963, in 1976 the Contemplative branch of the Sisters, in 1979 the Contemplative Brothers, and in 1984 the Missionaries of Charity Fathers. Yet her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, simplicity, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. This spirit later inspired the Lay Missionaries of Charity. In answer to the requests of many priests, in 1981 Mother Teresa also began the Corpus Christi Movement for Priests as a "little way of holiness" for those who desire to share in her charism and spirit.
        During the years of rapid growth the world began to turn its eyes towards Mother Teresa and the work she had started. Numerous awards, beginning with the Indian Padmashri Award in 1962 and notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, honoured her work, while an increasingly interested media began to follow her activities. She received both prizes and attention "for the glory of God and in the name of the poor."
         The whole of Mother Teresa·s life and labour bore witness to the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human person, the value of little things done faithfully and with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. But there was another heroic side of this great woman that was revealed only after her death. Hidden from all eyes, hidden even from those closest to her, was her interior life marked by an experience of a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, "the darkness." The "painful night" of her soul, which began around the time she started her work for the poor and continued to the end of her life, led Mother Teresa to an ever more profound union with God. Through the darkness she mystically participated in the thirst of Jesus, in His painful and burning longing for love, and she shared in the interior desolation of the poor.
          During the last years of her life, despite increasingly severe health problems, Mother Teresa continued to govern her Society and respond to the needs of theQQQ poor and the Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa's Sisters numbered nearly 4,000 members and were established in 610 foundations in 123 countries of the world. In March 1997 she blessed her newly-elected successor as Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity and then made one more trip abroad. After meeting Pope John Paul II for the last time, she returned to Calcutta and spent her final weeks receiving visitors and instructing her Sisters. On 5 September Mother Teresa's earthly life came to an end. She was given the honour of a state funeral by the Government of India and her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity. Her tomb quickly became a place of pilgrimage and prayer for people of all faiths, rich and poor alike. Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to Jesus· plea, "Come be My light," made her a Missionary of Charity, a "mother to the poor," a symbol of compassion to the world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God.
      Less than two years after her death, in view of Mother Teresa's widespread reputation of holiness and the favours being reported, Pope John Paul II permitted the opening of her Cause of Canonization. On 20 December 2002 he approved the decrees of her heroic virtues and miracles.

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Mother Teresa FACT SHEET:

Born: Agnes Gonxha Bajaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia

Died: Mother Teresa on September 5, 1997 in Kolkata, India

Received: Joined the Loreto Novitiate on May 23, 1929

First Profession: May 25, 1931 and was to be known as Sister Teresa after her patroness St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

Final Profession: May 24, 1937 and was to be known as Mother Teresa following Loreto custom.

Inspiration Day: September 10, 1946 on a train journey from Calcutta to Darjeeling, Mother Teresa received the "call within a call," which was to give rise to the Missionaries of Charity Order.

Founded MC: October 7, 1950 the Missionaries of Charity was officially erected as a religious institute for the Archdiocese of Calcutta.

Declared "Blessed": October 19, 2003 , Mission Sunday, the Holy Father beatified Mother Teresa of Kolkata at St.Peter's Square, Rome. Now she will be addressed as the "Blessed" Teresa of Kolkata. The Church celebrated the Silver Jubilee of the Pontificate ofHoly Father John Paul II.

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AWARDS RECEIVED:
Among the 124 Awards Received:

Padmashree Award (from the President of India) - August 1962

Magsaysay Award & Booker Prize - 1962

Pope John XXIII Peace Prize- January 1971

Good Samaritan Award - 1971

John F. Kennedy International Award- September 1971

Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding- November 1972

Templeton Prize for "Progress in Religion"- April 1973

Nobel Peace Prize- December 1979

Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India)- March 1980

Order of Merit (from Queen Elizabeth)- November 1983

Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee- August 1987

United States Congressional Gold Medal- June 1997

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MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY:         
FACT SHEET ON MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY:

      In addition to the Sisters, Mother Teresa founded four other branches of the Missionaries of Charity family. On March 25, 1963, the Archbishop of Calcutta blessed the beginning of an active branch of Brothers. The contemplative branch of the Sisters began in New York on June 25, 1976, and the contemplative Brothers were established in Rome on March 19, 1979. The Fathers were founded in the Bronx, New York on October 13, 1984.
          In 1980 Mother Teresa also founded the Corpus Christi Movement for priests desiring to share in her spirituality.From the very beginning, Mother Teresa also involved lay people in her service to the poor. In March 1969, the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa were officially begun. On April 16, 1984, the Lay Missionaries of Charity were established.
       At the time of Mother Teresa's death, The Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity numbered 3,914 members, and were established in 594 communities in 123 countries of the world. Her work continues under the guidance of Sister Nirmala, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters. The order has grown over 4,000 members in 697 foundations in 131 countries of the world. (November 2002)

BRANCHES ON THE VINE
    Mother Teresa founded the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY in response to Christ’s plea that she make Him known to the poorest of the poor by her humble service of love. She envisioned a congregation of women and received her first companion in March 1949. The “little Society” of twelve members was officially established on 7 October 1950.

Mother Teresa’s Successor :
Sr. M. Nirmala MC (Superior General) of both the active as well as of the contemplative branch.

ADDRESS:
Motherhouse
Missionaries of Charity
54 A AJC Bose Road
Calcutta WB 700016 India

    In 1963 Mother Teresa founded the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY BROTHERS. Two years later, Jesuit Father Ian Travers-Ball (Brother Andrew, M.C.) joined the Brothers in 1965 and became their first Superior. The Brothers were officially established as a diocesan congregation in 1967.

The Superior General of the Brothers (the Servant General) is Brother Yesudas M.C.
ADDRESS:
Missionaries of Charity Brothers
7 Mansatala Row
Kidderpur
Calcutta 700 023 India

    In 1976 Mother Teresa began a CONTEMPLATIVE BRANCH of the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY Sisters under the direction of Sr. M. Nirmala, M.C. Their mission is to go in search of the souls of the poorest of the poor through the apostolate of prayer, in particular Eucharistic Adoration, and the spiritual works of mercy.

      In answer to a similar desire of men for a more contemplative life following Mother Teresa’s charism, the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY CONTEMPLATIVE BROTHERS were founded in 1979. Under the direction of Fr. Sebastian Vazhakala, M.C., the contemplative Brothers were formally erected as a diocesan congregation in Rome in 1993.

ADDRESS:
MISSIONARIES of CHARITY-CONTEMPLATIVE Brothers
Via S. Agapito, 8
00177 ROME - Italy

Tel: 06 21707702
Fax :06 21707703
mcbroscontemplative@tiscalinet.it

    In 1984, Mother Teresa founded, with Fr. Joseph Langford, the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FATHERS. Their purpose is to give priestly service to the poorest of the poor, spiritual assistance to the MC Family, and to spread Mother Teresa’s spirituality and mission. The Fathers became a congregation of diocesan right in Tijuana, Mexico in 1992.

SUPERIOR GENERAL
Fr. Robert Conroy, M.C.
MC Fathers mother house:
padres misioneros de la caridad
TIJUANA, BAJA CALIFORNIA
MEXICO

TEL: 52 664 624 67 97
FAX: 52 664 623 06 21
mcfathers@yahoo.com

MAILING ADDRESS :
MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FATHERS
PMB 815
2498 ROLL DRIVE
SAN DIEGO, CA 92154-7275
U.S.A.

     As a religious family the active and contemplative Sisters comprise one congregation, while the Brothers and Fathers are three separate congregations. All share in the charism of Mother Teresa to satiate God’s thirst for love by personal holiness and by working for the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor. For all of the Sisters, Brothers and Fathers, Mother Teresa is “Mother.”

Co-Workers of Mother Teresa
     From the beginning of her work, Mother Teresa welcomed and sought the help of lay persons. Eventually those attracted to her and her work formed a group called the CO-WORKERS OF MOTHER TERESA. Coming from all religions, nations and walks of life, these men and women share in Mother Teresa’s aim to quench the thirst of God for love and souls by seeking to give Him their love and to bring His love to every person with whom they have contact, especially the poorest of the poor, and, above all, those most needy in their own families.

     Jacqueline de Decker was a young Belgian social worker who in 1948, while on a “working” visit to India, was introduced to Mother Teresa. At the time, Mother Teresa was learning the rudiments of medical care from the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Bihar. The two were drawn to each other by a common love for Jesus and a desire to help the poor. Miss De Decker wanted to join Mother Teresa, but serious health problems prevented her. When Jacqueline returned to Belgium, Mother Teresa asked her to become her “second self,” that is, to be united with Mother Teresa as her spiritual sister, offering her sufferings to God for the sake of the poor. Jacqueline took up the task of promoting this apostolate of prayer and self-offering among the sick, linking each person who became a “SICK AND SUFFERING CO-WORKER ” with an individual Missionary of Charity.
      
   Mother Teresa had a great love and reverence for the priesthood. Prior to founding the MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY FATHERS, Mother Teresa began the CORPUS CHRISTI MOVEMENT FOR PRIESTS as a plan of life and holiness with the help of Fr. Joseph Langford. The Corpus Christi Movement has continued to spread among diocesan priests worldwide under the present leadership of Fr. Pascual Cervera.

ADDRESS:
Fr. Pascual Cervera
P.O. Box 1389
New York E-mail: CorpXti@cs.com
http://www.corpuschristimovement.org/

   Mother Teresa sought to assist priests further by beginning the VERONICA INTERCESSORS FOR PRIESTS, a program of spiritual adoption by which a priest is supported by the prayers and sacrifices of a particular sister. The program is promoted by bishops around the world and has expanded to include many religious congregations.

     Under the guidance of the Missionaries of Charity Contemplative Brothers, the LAY MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY began in 1984 with the desire to live a more structured spiritual life following Mother Teresa’s charism.

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PRESS RELEASE OF THE CAUSE OF BEATIFICATION & CANONIZATION OF MOTHER TERESA:
The Significance of Friday, 20 December 2002

     Twice a year, before Christmas and in July, the Pope approves decrees on heroic virtues and on miracles. On Friday, December 20, the decrees to be approved include those concerning Mother Teresa's heroic virtues and the miracle attributed to her intercession. Since this is the final step towards beatification, shortly after the decrees are approved, an announcement will be made concerning the date and place of Mother Teresa's Beatification.

What is a Saint?
A saint is a disciple of Jesus Christ, who "lived a life of extraordinary fidelity to the Lord."
[1] Saints are people who in this life were so united to Jesus Christ that with His help they strove to do "the will of the Father in everything,"
[2] devoting themselves "to the glory of God and to the service of their neighbor."
[3] Saints give us shining examples of all the virtues, including: faith, hope, and love both of God and every human being; prudence (or practical wisdom), justice, fortitude (or courage), and temperance (or self-mastery); detachment, purity, and obedience; humility, simplicity and magnanimity. Each saint is noteworthy for certain particular virtues. For this reason, the Church proposes them to its members as friends and companions in the following of Christ, as models to imitate, and as intercessors with God.

Mother Teresa was known around the world for her whole-hearted and free service to the poorest of the poor, a virtue which lifted the hearts of many to God and inspired many to imitate her.

What is the meaning of Beatification?
The canonization of a saint is a solemn act by which the Pope, the supreme authority in the Catholic Church, declares that a person practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, is with God in heaven and is to be venerated throughout the whole Church. The Pope enrolls the person on the list of Saints. Another word for list is "canon," hence the term "canonization." The expression, "raised to the altars," often used as an equivalent of "canonization," means that the person is assigned a feast day in the yearly schedule of the Church's liturgical celebrations. This assigning of a feast day is done at the time of beatification.
Beatification is a step in the process of canonization. By it the Pope allows public veneration of the person in the local Church, within the religious congregation with which he or she was associated, and in other places by those who receive such permission. Note the difference: a Saint should be honored in liturgical celebrations by the universal, that is, the whole Church, whereas a "Blessed" may be so honored in certain places.
The aim of the work before beatification is to establish as accurately as possible the historic facts of the candidate's life, to demonstrate the way the candidate practiced the Christian virtues, and to show that the members of the Church, that is, "the faithful," consider him or her to be holy and, therefore, worthy of veneration.
This process has two stages. The first stage, the Diocesan Phase, is the responsibility of the local church where the candidate lived; in Mother Teresa's case, the Archdiocese of Calcutta. This phase, under the authority of the local bishop and assisted by a Postulator, focuses on gathering information - collecting documents and interviewing witnesses - on the life, virtues, and reputation of sanctity of the candidate for canonization. Once the Diocesan Phase opens, the candidate may be referred to as a "Servant of God."
The second stage is the Roman Phase. The findings of the local church are transferred to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints [CCS], an office of the Vatican, for study and evaluation. This work is done by the Postulator under the supervision of an official of the CCS. After study by a panel of theologians and a commission of cardinals and bishops, the CCS presents its findings to the Pope for his judgment.
When the Pope affirms that the Servant of God indeed lived a heroic Christian life, he or she is then called the "Venerable Servant of God." Upon the approval of a miracle attributed to the person's intercession, the beatification ceremony may be held.

Miracle-
A miracle is an extraordinary event, which is scientifically inexplicable and, in a cause for canonization, is directly attributable to the intercession of the Servant of God. In the causes of saints, the miracles investigated are usually cures, because they are more easily documented. Miracles and graces or favours, granted after prayers to the Servant of God, serve as evidence that God Himself is the origin of that person's reputation of holiness. A miracle is a sign of divine approval. Miracles confirm that it is God who has aroused in the faithful the opinion that a particular Servant of God is worthy of canonization.
An event proposed as a miracle is subjected to a thorough scientific investigation by experts. For beatification one authentic miracle must be recognized as obtained through the intercession of the Servant of God.

From Blessed to Saint A Servant of God who is beatified is called "Blessed." The Blessed may be canonized after the occurrence of one more miracle attributed to his or her intercession.
Mother Teresa will always remain Mother for those who knew her, hence many people will call her "Blessed Mother Teresa," but officially she will be known as "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta" and later, God willing, as "Saint Teresa of Calcutta."

The Purpose of Canonization-
By honouring its children who lived as heroes of faith and love, the Church recognizes the power of the Holy Spirit within her. Saints give us joy; their example sustains our hope; and their friendship increases our love and union with God and with each other. A canonization is a way of giving thanks to God as we honor the person who has been so faithful to God's plan in his or her life.

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History of the Cause of Beatification & Canonization of Mother Teresa:
5 September 1997- Mother Teresa dies at the Motherhouse in Calcutta at 9:30p.m.

23 October 1997- Archbishop Henry D'Souza petitions the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for a dispensation from the norm requiring a waiting period of five years after death so that he may initiate the Diocesan Enquiry into the Life, Virtues, and Reputation of Sanctity of Mother Teresa.

12 December 1998- Congregation for the Causes of Saints grants dispensation to Archbishop.

19 March 1999- The Superior Generals of the Missionaries of Charity appoint Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., as Postulator to oversee the Enquiry and Cause, and act on their behalf.

8 April 1999- The Bishops of the West Bengal region agree to introduce the Cause before the standard five-year period.

21 April 1999- The Congregation for the Causes of Saints issues the "Nihil Obstat" declaring there is no obstacle on the part of the Holy See to the Cause of Canonization of Mother Teresa.

6 June 1999- Sister M. Lynn Mascarenhas, M.C. appointed as Vice Postulatrix.

11 June 1999- Postulator submits the petition to the Archbishop of Calcutta requesting him to initiate the Diocesan Enquiry; included is a Biographical Report and a List of Witnesses to be questioned.

12 June 1999- Archbishop makes public the Petition of the Postulator and declares he is initiating the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

26 July 1999- The Official Opening of the Cause in St. Mary's Church, Calcutta. The Archbishop administers an oath to the 12 members of the Diocesan Enquiry Team.
      This Opening begins the period of field research, interviews with eyewitnesses, and review of documents and materials pertaining to the life and work of Mother Teresa. Concluding in August 2001, this work produces 80 volumes of material, each approximately 450 pages, for presentation to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

15 August 2001- Closing session of the Diocesan Enquiry into the Life, Virtues, and Reputation of Sanctity of the Servant of God, Mother Teresa of Calcutta in St. Mary's Church. The Acts of the Diocesan Enquiry is to be carried to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome by the Postulator.

29 August 2001- The opening of the Transcript of the Acts of the Diocesan Enquiry into the Life, Virtues and Reputation of Sanctity of the Servant of God Mother Teresa.

22 September 2001- The Congregation for the Causes of Saints declares the validity of the Diocesan Enquiry of Calcutta and the Rogatory Inquiries. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints appoints the Rev. Msgr. José Luis Gutiérrez Gómez as Relator of the Cause.

26 April 2002- The Positio is completed and given to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for study.

19 October 2003- The Holy Father beatifies Mother Teresa at St.Peter's Square, Rome.

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Prayer for CANONIZATION of Mother Teresa:
   O Jesus, you made Mother Teresa an inspiring example of firm faith and burning charity, an extraordinary witness to the way of spiritual childhood, and a great and esteemed teacher of the value and dignity of every human life. Grant that she may be venerated and imitated as one of the Church's canonized saints.
     Hear the requests of all those who seek her intercession, especially the petition I now implore...(mention here the favour you wish to pray for).

       May we follow her example in heeding Your cry of thirst from the Cross and joyfully loving You in the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor, especially those most unloved and unwanted. We ask this in Your name and through the intercession of Mary, Your Mother and the Mother of us all. Amen.