MOTHER TERESA

[Father Michael van der Peet, SCJ, a member of the United States Province, was privileged to be a friend of Blessed Mother Teresa. We would like to share a few of his reflections about her.]

Blessed Teresa and Sisters with Father Michael.

Mother Teresa of India was beatified: on October 19, news that is remarkable in the sense that she died only six years ago. During her lifetime many books were written about her and movies portrayed her person, life and work among the poorest of the poor. The reputation of her holiness followed her wherever she went. Even before Rome, millions of Christians and non-Christians had canonized her.

Who was this little woman? Her actual name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born on August 26, 1910 in the town of Skopje, in what later was part of Yugoslavia and what now is Macedonia. Her parents were Albanian. She learned about the Loreto Sisters in Dublin, Ireland and at the age of 18 she volunteered for their Bengali Missions in India. She professed her vows in Darjeeling in 1931 and started teaching at St. Mary's all girls High School in Calcutta, where she taught for 15 years.

September 10, 1946 is called "Inspiration Day" by the Missionaries of Charity. On that day, while traveling on the train to Darjeeling, Mother Teresa heard an inner call, "a Call within a Call," as she herself put it, because Mother Teresa was already a nun through her religious profession. The call this time was, "Go and serve the poorest of the poor." It marked the beginning of the religious Community she was to found and whose aim and mission was in her own words, "to quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the cross for love of souls" by "laboring at the salvation and sanctification of the poorest of the poor." The new congregation of the Missionaries of Charity was officially founded on October 7, 1950.

At Mother Teresa's death on September 5, 1997 the congregation of Sisters, Brothers and Priests numbered at least 4,000 members, established in almost 600 foundations in 123 countries. They are probably the fastest growing religious community in the world.

I had the good fortune to meet Mother Teresa in Rome in October 1975. She invited me to give her and her Sisters a retreat, which was followed by another retreat a year later. I visited her a few more times at her Sisters' convent in the Bronx, NY, where we had ample time for treasured conversations.

What were my impressions of her? Whenever I met Mother, all selfconsciousness left me. I felt at ease right away: she radiated peace and joy. I was often amazed that someone who lived so much face to face with suffering people and went through a dark night of soul herself, still could smile and make you feel happy. One of the sisters told me that Mother Teresa was fully present to each person into whose eyes she looked. That is what I experienced. She was blessed with the deepest awareness that each person was created in the image and likeness of God and was loved and treasured by Him, so much so, that Jesus died for them.

When I was with her, I can say that I felt in God's presence, in the presence of truth and love. I could not help but think: Here is a person God dreamed of in Paradise, truly a touch of God. Yet I have to say at the same time that there was nothing pietistic or exaggerated about her. There always flowed something very genuine, natural and spontaneous from her person. I found her very down-to-earth. We did not talk only of spiritual things. As in her many letters to me she told me much of what was going on in her religious community and showed a lively interest in my ministry, community and family.

A holy woman? Yes, but also a wholesome, delightful human being, who was lifted up by the Holy Father as a blessed one who through her Christlikeness came to us in the Name of the Lord.