MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA CANONIZED IN ROME,
04/09/2016
Who has not heard of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her incredible work with the poorest and destitute of India?
Who has not been impressed about the deep dedication of this exceptional human being?
From now on we can address her as a Saint.
Holy Mother Teresa of Calcutta had the secular name of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was a Catholic nun of Albanian origin naturalized as an Indian, who founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1950. For more than 45 years she served the poor, the sick, the orphaned, and dying people, while guiding the expansion of her congregation, at first in India and then in other countries. After his death Pope John Paul II beatified her. Pope Francis approved her canonization in December 2015, after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized as extraordinary the healing of a sick Brazilian terminally ill. The official ceremony of canonization took place today, the morning of September 4th, 2016, in St. Peter's Square in Rome.
Agnes, born in August 26th, 1910, discovered her vocation from an early age, and by 1928 she had decided that she was destined to religious life. It was then that she decided to change hername to "Teresa" in reference to the patron saint of missionaries, Teresa of Lisieux. While she spent the next 20 years teaching in the Irish Loreto Convent, she began to worry about the sick and the poor in the city of Calcutta.
Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" referring to have heard God asking her to dedicate her life to the less privileged in society.
This led her to found a congregation with the aim of helping the marginalized in society, primarily sick, the poor and homeless.
In the 1970s she was known internationally for her humanitarian work and her advocacy for the poor and defenseless. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. She was also rewarded with a dozen awards and first level recognitions, both nationally and internationally, culminating today with her canonization.
Teresa died on September 5, 1997, with 87 years, having devoted his life to serving the poor.
Who has not heard of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her incredible work with the poorest and destitute of India?
Who has not been impressed about the deep dedication of this exceptional human being?
From now on we can address her as a Saint.
Holy Mother Teresa of Calcutta had the secular name of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was a Catholic nun of Albanian origin naturalized as an Indian, who founded the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta in 1950. For more than 45 years she served the poor, the sick, the orphaned, and dying people, while guiding the expansion of her congregation, at first in India and then in other countries. After his death Pope John Paul II beatified her. Pope Francis approved her canonization in December 2015, after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recognized as extraordinary the healing of a sick Brazilian terminally ill. The official ceremony of canonization took place today, the morning of September 4th, 2016, in St. Peter's Square in Rome.
Agnes, born in August 26th, 1910, discovered her vocation from an early age, and by 1928 she had decided that she was destined to religious life. It was then that she decided to change hername to "Teresa" in reference to the patron saint of missionaries, Teresa of Lisieux. While she spent the next 20 years teaching in the Irish Loreto Convent, she began to worry about the sick and the poor in the city of Calcutta.
Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" referring to have heard God asking her to dedicate her life to the less privileged in society.
This led her to found a congregation with the aim of helping the marginalized in society, primarily sick, the poor and homeless.
In the 1970s she was known internationally for her humanitarian work and her advocacy for the poor and defenseless. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and the highest civilian award of India, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. She was also rewarded with a dozen awards and first level recognitions, both nationally and internationally, culminating today with her canonization.
Teresa died on September 5, 1997, with 87 years, having devoted his life to serving the poor.
In the
"Mother House", where she lived for many years, and which still carries
on her mission in Calcutta, one can still feel her holiness flooding the place and
an uplifting atmosphere of peace and freshness. Thousands of volunteers of all
faiths and beliefs keep going to collaborate with her work to help the needy.
It's exciting to visit this place, her small and humble cell, the tomb of the Mother,
witness the prayers and songs of the sisters, and connect with them, with her,
with her great love, feeling that we are part of her history, which is the history
of humanity.
In her words:
“We ourselves
feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was
not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
I do not agree with the big way of doing things.
It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.
We can not do
great things. We can only do little things with great love.
If you can't
feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
I believe in
person to person. Every person is Christ for me, and since there is only one
Jesus, that person is the one person in the world at that moment.
Many people
mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.
If you judge
people, you have no time to love them.
If we have no
peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
One filled with
joy preaches without preaching.
Loneliness and
the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.
Let no one ever
come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of
God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your
smile.
There is hunger
for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for
thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much.
We need to find
God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of
silence. See how nature -- trees, flowers, grass -- grows in silence; see the
stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be
able to touch souls.”
Teresa of
Calcutta
May her example help us as an ideal model of GIVING without expecting anything in return, to seek the welfare of those around us, to be the harbingers of change in our environment, leaving the world better than it was before we had passed by it.
May we be able to transcend our selfishness and, following the example of the Holy Mother Teresa, may we find within ourselves the infinite reward it can be felt when we help others from the heart.
Daya
_____________________
LA
MADRE TERESA DE CALCUTA CANONIZADA EN ROMA, 04/09/2016
¿Quién no ha oído hablar de la Madre
Teresa de Calcuta y su increíble labor con los mas pobres y desamparados de la
India?
¿Quién no se ha emocionado con la
profunda dedicación de este excepcional ser humano?
A partir de ahora podremos llamarla
Santa.
La Santa Madre Teresa de Calcuta, de
nombre secular Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu,
fue una monja católica de origen albanés naturalizada india, que fundó la
congregación de las Misioneras de la Caridad en Calcuta en 1950. Durante más de
45 años atendió a pobres, enfermos, huérfanos y moribundos, al mismo tiempo que
guiaba la expansión de su congregación, en un primer momento en la India y
luego en otros países del mundo. Tras su muerte, fue beatificada por el papa Juan
Pablo II. Su canonización fue aprobada por el papa Francisco en diciembre de
2015, después de que la Congregación para las Causas de los Santos reconociera
como extraordinaria la curación de un brasileño enfermo en estado terminal. El
acto oficial de canonización ha tenido lugar hoy mismo, la mañana del 4 de
septiembre de 2016, en la plaza de San Pedro en Roma.
Agnes, nacida el 26 de agosto de 1910,
descubrió su vocación desde temprana edad, y para 1928 ya había decidido que
estaba destinada a la vida religiosa. Fue entonces cuando optó por cambiar su
nombre a «Teresa» en referencia a la santa patrona de los misioneros, Teresa de
Lisieux. Si bien dedicó los siguientes 20 años a enseñar en el
convento irlandés de Loreto, comenzó a preocuparse por los enfermos y por los
pobres de la ciudad de Calcuta.
Teresa experimentó lo que más tarde
describió como la «llamada dentro de la llamada», en referencia a haber
escuchado a Dios pidiéndole que dedicara su vida a los menos privilegiados de
la sociedad.
Esto la llevó a fundar una congregación
con el objetivo de ayudar a los marginados de la sociedad, primordialmente
enfermos, pobres y personas que no tenían hogar.
En la década de 1970 era conocida
internacionalmente por su labor humanitaria, defensora de los pobres e indefensos. Obtuvo
el Premio Nobel de la Paz en 1979 y el más
alto galardón civil de la India, el Bharat Ratna,
en 1980, por su labor humanitaria. A ellos se sumaron una decena de premios y
reconocimientos de primer nivel, tanto nacionales como internacionales, que
culminaron hoy mismo con su canonización.
Teresa falleció el 5 de Septiembre de
1997, con 87 años, habiendo dedicado su vida al servicio de los más desfavorecidos.
En la “Casa Madre”, el lugar donde ella
vivió durante tantos años, y donde todavía continua su misión en Calcuta, puede
sentirse aun su santidad y una atmosfera de paz y frescura que inundan todo el
recinto. Miles de voluntarios, de todos los credos y creencias, siguen
acudiendo para colaborar con su obra de ayuda a los mas necesitados. Es
emocionante visitar este lugar, su pequeña y humilde celda, la tumba de la
Madre, presenciar las oraciones y los cantos de las hermanas, y conectar con
ellas, con ella, y con su grandioso amor, sintiendo que formamos parte de su
historia, que es la historia de la humanidad.
En sus palabras:
“A veces sentimos que lo que hacemos es tan solo una gota en
el mar, pero el mar sería menos si le faltara una gota.”
“El fruto del silencio es la oración. El fruto de la oración
es la fe. El fruto de la fe es el amor. El fruto del amor es el servicio. El
fruto del servicio es la paz.”
“La paz comienza con una sonrisa.”
“No debemos permitir que alguien se aleje de nuestra
presencia sin sentirse mejor y más feliz.”
“No puedo parar de trabajar. Tendré toda la eternidad para
descansar.”
Teresa de Calcuta
Que su ejemplo nos sirva como un ideal
del modelo de DAR sin esperar nada a cambio, de buscar el bienestar de quienes
nos rodean, de ser los precursores de un cambio en nuestro entorno, dejando el
mundo mejor de lo que estaba antes de pasar nosotros por él.
Que seamos capaces de trascender
nuestro egoísmo y, siguiendo el ejemplo de la Santa madre Teresa, podamos encontrar dentro de nosotros la
infinita recompensa que se siente cuando ayudamos a otros de corazón.
Daya
Dar y...soltar...
ReplyDeleteGracias