Winter: Saint Teresa of Calcutta
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WINDSOR to WOODSTOCK, GODERICH to PORT DOVER and COMMUNITIES IN-BETWEEN Winter 2016 • #164 OF NEWSPAPER THE DIOCESE OF LONDON Amherstburg | Aylmer | Belle River | Blenheim | Brights Grove | Brussels | Chatham | Comber | Corunna | Courtland | Delaware | Delhi | Dresden | Dublin | Emeryville | Erieau | Essex | Exeter | Forest | Glencoe | Goderich | Grand Bend | Harrow | Ingersoll | Kingsville | Kinkora | Langton | LaSalle | Leamington | Listowel | London | Lucan | Maidstone | McGregor | Merlin | Mitchell | Mount Carmel | Oxley | Pain Court | Parkhill | Pelee Island | Petrolia | Port Dover | Port Lambton | Ridgetown | River Canard | Rondeau | Sarnia | Seaforth | Sebringville | Simcoe | St. Joseph | St. Marys | St. Thomas | Stratford | Strathroy | Tecumseh | Thamesville | Tilbury | Tillsonburg | Wallaceburg | Walsh | Waterford | Watford | West Lorne | Wheatley | Windsor | Wingham Woodslee | Woodstock | Zurich “Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” - Mother Teresa Saint Teresa of Calcutta On Sunday, September 4, with St. John Paul II waived the discarded, . seeing in them of her homes for children in between you and God. great joy the Church celebrated five-year period normally their God-given dignity.” Calcutta. I include them here: It was never between you and the canonization of Mother observed before initiating the them anyway. People are often unreasonable, Teresa of Calcutta, a woman of beatification process, and, In 1979, Mother Teresa was irrational, and self-centred. extraordinary faith and charity in 2003, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Mother Teresa gave the world Forgive them anyway. who dedicated her life to beatified. for her work to overcome a powerful witness of God’s If you are kind, people may serving the poorest of the poor. poverty. She refused to go to love for the poor. Her witness At the Mass of her the ceremonial banquet given accuse you of selfish, ulterior of holiness inspires all of us. Albanian by birth, she knew canonization, Pope Francis to laureates and asked that motives. May we follow her example from an early age that she was stated: the money, $192,000, be given Be kind anyway. and support one another in called to religious life. When to the poor in India. On that If you are successful, you will living generous and holy lives God is pleased by every act of she was 18 years old, she occasion, she spoke out strongly win some unfaithful friends and of humble service, especially to mercy, because in the brother entered the Sisters of Loreto about the evils of abortion: “the some genuine enemies. the poor and vulnerable. With or sister that we assist, we at Loreto Abbey in Ireland. At greatest destroyer of peace,” she Succeed anyway. God’s grace, may we be bold recognize the face of God which the Abbey, she learned English, said, “is abortion.” When asked If you are honest and sincere, and courageous witnesses of the no one can see (cf. Jn 1:18). the language used by the Sisters what we could do to promote people may deceive you. joy and hope that Jesus brings Each time we bend down to to teach school children in world peace, she answered: “Go Be honest and sincere anyway. us. the needs of our brothers and India. The next year, she went home and love your family.” She What you spend years creating, sisters, we give Jesus something to India and, on May 24, 1931, pointed out how difficult it was others could destroy overnight. Sincerely yours in Christ, to eat and drink; we clothe, we made her first profession of to remove poverty, not only in Create anyway. help, and we visit the Son of vows. She chose Teresa as her poor countries but also in the If you find serenity and God (cf. Mt 25:40). religious name after St. Théresè West. happiness, some may be jealous. Most Rev. Ronald Fabbro, csb of Lisieux, the patron saint In his homily, the pope Be happy anyway. The “Paradoxical Bishop of London of missionaries. Following emphasized that Mother Teresa The good you do today will Commandments”, often twenty years of missionary was “a generous dispenser of often be forgotten. attributed to Mother Teresa, work in India, she founded God’s mercy, making herself Do good anyway. were actually written by Dr. the Missionaries of Charity, available for everyone through Give the best you have, and it Kent M. Keith. Mother Teresa a congregation of women her welcome and defence of will never be enough. was so moved by them that she dedicated to helping the poor. human life, those unborn Give your best anyway. put them on the wall of one and those abandoned and In the final analysis, it is Regardless of age, pre-planning your cemetery arrangements together simply makes sense - financially and emotionally. See back page for details Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta I Thirst For You describe My love for you: I Thirst For You. I thirst to A meditation attributed to Mother Teresa, read by Fr John love you and to be loved by you- that is how precious Riccardo on “Christ is the Answer” you are to Me. I Thirst For You. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it I Thirst For You. You must never doubt My mercy, My could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to your response, even the least whispered invitation that will bless you and live My life in you. I Thirst For You. If you allow Me to enter. feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do the entire world than you. I Thirst For You. Open to me, come - always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but come to Me, thirst for Me, give Me your life - and I will with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts prove to you how important you are to My Heart. of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your Don’t you realize that My Father already has a perfect comprehension- a love every bit as great as the love I have plan to transform your life, beginning from this received from the Father (“As much as the Father has loved moment? Trust in Me. Ask Me every day to enter and me, I have loved you .. “ [Jn. 15:10]). I come - longing take charge of your life - and I will. I promise you before to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and My Father in heaven that I will work miracles in your bind all your wounds. I bring you My light, to dispel your life. Why would I do this? Because I Thirst For You. All darkness and all your doubts. I come with My power, that I ask is that you entrust yourself to Me completely. I will I might carry you and all of your burdens; with My grace, do all the rest. to touch your heart and transform your life: and My peace I give to still your soul. Even now I behold the place My Father has prepared for you in My Kingdom. Remember that you are a pilgrim I know you through and through - I know everything in this life, on a journey home. Sin can never satisfy you, about you. The very hairs of your head I have numbered. or bring the peace you seek. All that you have sought Prayer for the Intercession of Nothing in your life is unimportant to Me. I have followed outside of Me has only left you more empty, so do not you through the years, and 1 have always loved you even cling to the things of this life. Above all, do not run from Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta in your wanderings. I know every one of your problems. Me when you fall. Come to Me without delay. When Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, I know your needs and your worries. And yes, I know you give Me your sins, you give Me the joy of being your you allowed the thirsting love of Jesus on the Cross to all your sins. But I tell you again that I love you - not for Savior. There is nothing I cannot forgive and heal: so what you have or haven’t done - I love you for you, for the come now, and unburden your soul. become a living flame within you, beauty and dignity My Father gave you by creating you in and so became the light of His love to all. His own image. It is a dignity you have often forgotten, a No matter how far you may wander, no matter how often Obtain from the Heart of Jesus (here make your beauty you have tarnished by sin. But I love you as you are, you forget Me, no matter how many crosses you may request). and I have shed My Blood to win you back. If you only ask bear in this life; there is one thing I want you to always Teach me to allow Jesus to penetrate and possess remember, one thing that will never change: I Thirst For Me with faith, My grace will touch all that needs changing my whole being so completely that my life, too, may You - just as you are.