Missionaries of Charity
celebrate Mother Teresa’s 109th birthday
 |
| Mother Teresa's 109 birthday being celebrated at her tomb in Kolkata, India, 26 August, 2019 (AFP) |
The Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns on Monday celebrated
the 109th birthday of their founder, Mother Teresa, recalling her fidelity to
Christ of which was born her love and service for poorest of the world.
By Robin Gomes
Archbishop Thomas D’Souza of Kolkata, on 26 August,
celebrated a Mass at the tomb of the Mother Teresa at the Mother House, or the
headquarters, of the Missionaries of Charity nuns, in the eastern Indian city
of Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, o the occasion of the saint's 109th birthday.
“Jesus invites us to love one another. The Mother served the
poorest of the poor with selfless service and passionate love, giving them to
Jesus through her work,” the archbishop said in his homily.
Later, he lit a candle on the decorated tomb and those
present sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to their founder, known simply as Mother Teresa.
Sister Mary Prema, the Superior General of the congregation,
said: "Mother always repeated that we are called to be faithful, not to be
successful".
The saint’s birthday is a major celebration in the house
when she was alive, and the nuns continue to celebrate it even after her death
in 1997 and canonization in 2016.
Senior nuns told UCANEWS that the tradition of celebrating
Mother Teresa’s birthday continues to be observed in the order’s 700 homes in
136 countries, even after her death.
Today, the MC nuns worldwide number some 4,500 members.
For Father Dominic Gomes, the vicar general of the
archdiocese, who concelebrated the Mass with his Archbishop, "It was
a splendid celebration.” “The 109th anniversary of the birth of our
beloved Saint Mother Teresa was a moment of thanksgiving through prayer and
joy,” he told AsiaNews, noting that the chapel was packed with people of all
social classes.
In the Catholic liturgical calendar, a saint’s feast day is
marked normally on the day of death, the day he or she attained heavenly
life.
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu to Albanian
parents on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in what is North Macedonia
today. The 19-year old teenager arrived in eastern India’s Kolkata city
in 1929 with the Sisters of Loreto from Ireland. After her novitiate, she
became a member of the congregation. Later in 1950, she founded her
Missionaries of Charity order for poor and abandoned people.
She died 22 years ago on 5 September 1997, at the Mother
House, at the age of age 87.
She was declared a saint by Pope Francis on September 4,
2016, and her liturgical feast is celebrated on September 5, the day she died.
Fidelity to Christ
"Our dearest Mother, give us a part of your
faithfulness to God and to the poorest of the poor," said Sr. Prema in a
prayer, sharing her thoughts in a message on the occasion of Mother Teresa’s
109th birthday.
"God did not call me to be successful. He called me to
be faithful,” Sr. Prema said recalling Mother Teresa’s conviction.
“She was not concerned about success, wealth, fame and power. She knew
that God had called her and that God is always faithful.” Sr. Prema
explained that this was because of her Albanian culture and her mother who
taught her to “keep her word of honour, even at the cost of her own life.”
In her faithfulness, she relied on God’s providence for
everything she needed, never closing her heart to anyone, especially those who
wounded her. Her fidelity made her the “defender of the right to
life of for the unborn, the abandoned and disabled children” and the “Mother of
the unwanted”. Because of her faithfulness, she was blessed with extraordinary
fruitfulness and became “an icon of God's tender and caring love”.
Sr. Prema recalled that Mother Teresa was faithful in
dedicating herself to the most humble service, so much so that in 1985 the then
UN secretary-general Perez de Cuellar called her “the most powerful woman in
the world".
The United Nations General Assembly on 17 December 2012
adopted a resolution instituting the International Day of Charity on 5
September, Mother Teresa’s feast day, in recognition of
the efforts of charitable organizations and individuals, including those
of Mother Teresa.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét