Blessed Mother Teresa

On this day in 1946, Sister Agnes, a 36 year old Sister of Loretto, received a "call within a call" while traveling on a train to Darjeeling in the Himalayas.  This nun later came to be known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, foundress of the Missionaries of Charity, and now, Blessed Mother Teresa.  Her approach to living the Gospel was simple:  "We are contemplatives in the heart of the world.  For we are touching the body of Christ twenty-four hours a day."  She wrote:  God has identified himself with the hungry, the sick, the naked, the homeless; hunger, not only for bread, but for love, for care, to be somebody to someone; nakedness, not of clothing only, but nakdedness of that compassion that very few people give to the unknown; homelessness, not only just for a shelter made of stone, but that homelessness that comes from having no one to call your own."  People flocked to Calcutta to join her but she advised most to "Find your own Calcutta."  One such person was Brother Thomas Petitte, who returned to Lawrence, MA and became one of the founders of Lazarus House, which more than a quarter of a century later, still carries out Mother's ideals. Each one of us today might look to ways in which we can satisfiy the hungers and nakndnesses of those within our families and communities.
Bro. Rene