SAINT TERESA OF KOKLATA, NOW WORTHY OF OUR DEVOTION AMONG THE SAINTS IN HEAVEN!

Catholic Herald: Mother Teresa to be canonised on September 4

Source: Catholic Herald
by Staff Reporter
posted Tuesday, 15 Mar 2016

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta pictured in 1993 (AP)

The canonisation Mass will conclude the Vatican Jubilee for 'workers and volunteers of mercy'

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta will be canonised on September 4, the Vatican has announced.

The canonisation Mass at which Mother Teresa will be declared a saint will conclude the Vatican Jubilee for “workers and volunteers of mercy”, according to Catholic News Service.

The canonisation, which was approved at a consistory at the Vatican today, comes the day before the 19th anniversary of Blessed Teresa’s death, September 5, 1997.

On December 17, Pope Francis approved a second miracle attributed to Blessed Teresa’s intercession. That miracle involved the healing of a now 42-year-old mechanical engineer in Santos, Brazil, who was in a coma after being diagnosed with a viral brain infection that resulted in multiple brain abscesses

The Vatican has also announced that Blessed Stanislaus Papczynski and Blessed Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad will be canonised on June 5.

Argentine priest Blessed Gabriel del Rosario Brochero and Mexico’s Blessed Sanchez del Rio to be canonised on October 16.

Mother Teresa’s canonization date expected on March 15 ‎

Source: Vatican Radio 2016-March-07

Pope Francis will hold an ordinary public consistory of cardinals in the Vatican March 15, during which he will sign the decree for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa of Kolkata and four others. The dates and venue of their sainthood ceremony are expected to be declared at the consistory. Pope Francis had officially cleared Blessed Mother Teresa for sainthood on Dec. 17, 2015, recognizing the miraculous healing through her intercession of a Brazilian man with multiple brain abscesses. Mother Teresa was conferred the title Blessed in Rome, Italy, on October 19, 2003, after Pope St. John Paul II recognized the miraculous healing of an Indian woman with a tumour in her abdomen.

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu‎ of Albanian parents on ‎August 26, 1910, in Skopje, in what ‎is ‎Macedonia today, Mother Teresa died in Kolkata, formerly Calcutta, on September 5, ‎‎1997. ‎Affectionately known as the "saint of the gutter" for her unconditional ‎love ‎for the poor, abandoned and the marginalized, she earned several international honours, including ‎the ‎Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. ‎

SAINT MOTHER TERESA OF KOLKATA, PRAY FOR US!

Mother Teresa to be made a saint by Catholic Church

Source: Inforum
By Reuters Media

Catholic nuns from the order of the Missionaries of Charity gather under a picture of Mother Teresa during the tenth anniversary of her death in Kolkata, India, in this September 5, 2007 file photo. REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw/Files

VATICAN CITY - Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Nobel peace laureate who dedicated her life to helping the poorest, is to be made a saint of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said on Friday.

Pope Francis has cleared the way for sainthood by approving a decree recognizing a second miracle attributed to her intercession with God, a requirement of sainthood.

The nun, who died in 1997 at the age of 87, became an international icon but has also been criticized for trying to convert people to Christianity.

The late Pope John Paul II bent Vatican rules to allow the procedure to establish her case for sainthood to be launched two years after her death instead of the usual five. She was beatified in 2003, a mere six years after her death.

Beatification requires one miracle and is the last step before sainthood, which requires a second.

The church defines saints as those believed to have been holy enough during their lives to now be in Heaven with God.

Francis, who has made concern for the poor a major plank of his papacy, was keen to make Mother Teresa a saint during the church's current Holy Year.

Church officials say Mother Teresa's second miracle involved the healing of a Brazilian man suffering from a viral brain infection that resulted in multiple abscesses with hydrocephalus.

Relatives prayed to Mother Teresa and he recovered, leaving his doctors mystified, they said. A Vatican medical commission deemed the sudden recovery "inexplicable in the light of present-day medical knowledge," according to Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, the chief promoter of the sainthood cause.

"CHRISTMAS GIFT"

In Kolkata, as Calcutta is now called, Sunita Kumar, spokeswoman for the Missionaries of Charity religious order which Mother Teresa founded, said the nuns were "over the moon" at the news.

"We thought her whole life was a miracle. Her whole life was dedicated to the poor and there was nothing else in her mind than service. Everyone was accepted and there was no obstruction in her work," she told Reuters.

Archbishop Thomas D'Souza of Kolkata told Reuters the news from Rome was "the best Christmas gift," adding: "Her entire life and work was for the poor. Now it is in a way officially recognized. We are grateful to God."

In the years since her death, some have accused Mother Teresa and the order of having ulterior motives in helping the destitute, saying their aim was to convert them to Christianity.

The order rejects that, saying, for example, that most of those helped in the Kalighat Home for Dying Destitutes in Kolkata were non-Christians with just a few days left to live and noting that conversion is a lengthy process.

The order has also denied allegations of financial mismanagement of the huge sums it received from donors.

Known as the "saint of the gutters," the diminutive nun is expected to be canonized - formally made a saint - in early September. It is not clear if the ceremony will take place in Rome or if the pope will travel to India to preside.

It would be the first trip by a pope to India since 1999.

Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in Macedonia in 1910 in what was then part of the Ottoman Empire.

She founded the Missionaries of Charity with about a dozen nuns in the 1950s to help the poor on the streets of Calcutta and the religious order spread throughout the world. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

The "little" woman who united the UN assembly in prayer

How Mother Teresa's 100th Birthday is Being Celebrated

Blessed Teresa is Being Honored Worldwide

Share by Tim Drake from National Catholic Register

While the Empire State Building won’t be lit up in the blue and white colors of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, there are many other ways that Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday – August 26 - is being honored worldwide.

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, who originally asked for the Empire State Building to be lighted, instead will hold a rally outside the Empire State Building on behalf of Mother Teresa on August 26.

Meanwhile, the Peace Bridge, on the Niagara River in New York, and the Hutchinson Metro Center’s two office buildings in the Bronx will be lit blue and white.

Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. is not only lighting several campus buildings in blue, but is also naming its new nursing program building in honor of Mother Teresa. The grand opening of the Mother Teresa Center for Nursing and Health Education will take place on Aug. 26 at 12:15 p.m. Several campus buildings, including St. Benedict’s Abbey Church tower and St. Scholastica Hall tower, will be lit from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5 (the day of her death). The campus is launching its “Do Something Beautiful for God” college ministry program, will host a block party for students in honor of Mother Teresa’s birthday, and is installing an original oil painting of Blessed Teresa in the Mother Teresa Center. The college will also say a prayer for the canonization of Blessed Mother Teresa at the first home football game.

Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif. will mark the day with a memorial Mass at 11:30 a.m. and by publishing videos from her visit and Commencement Address at the school in 1982. The videos will remain online through Blessed Teresa’s Feast Day, Sept. 5.

“We will long remember the honor of Bl. Mother Teresa’s visit to Thomas Aquinas College,” says President Michael F. McLean, who noted that the saintly foundress of the Missionaries of Charity visited only three colleges during her 1982 trip to the United States. “We join the faithful everywhere in thanking God for her example of humble service to ‘the poorest of the poor,’ in whom she saw Christ in ‘His most distressing disguise.’”

The Hindustan Times reports that Indian publisher Amar Chitra Katha will publish a comic book about Mother Teresa. The 40-page comic book will tell the story of how Mother Teresa came to India and about her life serving the poorest of the poor. It’s based on stories told to ACK Media by Sister Gertrude, one of the first sisters to join Mother Teresa.

“She recalled several inspiring instances, which are lesser known and authentic,” said Reena Puri, editor of ACK Media. “She became a key source of information for us. Without her assistance, the book wouldn’t have materialized.”

A new book featuring writings from Blessed Teresa is being published. “Where There is Love, There is God: A Path to Closer Union with God and Greater Love for Others” was edited by Brian Kolodiejchuk.

In the U.S., the Mother Teresa postage stamp is being issued. Similar stamps are being issued in Austria, Kosovo, and Monaco. France is issuing four collector-edition coins, one which shows Mother Teresa with Pope John Paul II.

The Knights of Columbus Museum in New Haven, CT is hosting the American premiere exhibit of Mother Teresa: Life, Spirituality and Message,

And, the Mother Teresa International Film Festival is being held Aug. 26-29 in Kolkata, India.

The Mother Teresa Express Train will be launched on her birthday in India.

In Rome, Cardinal Angelo Comastri, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, is presiding over a Mass in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Damascus. The celebration will be preceded by the opening of an exhibition of photographs, titled Blessed Teresa of Calcutta: Life, Works, Message.

Cardinal Ivan Dias, prefect of the Congregation of Peoples, is marking her liturgical feast with a vigil of prayer on Saturday, Sept. 4, and a Eucharistic celebration on Sunday, Sept. 5.

An extensive list of celebrations and initiatives can be found online at the Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center.

“Her life and work continue to be an inspiration for young and old, rich and poor from all walks of life, religions and nations,” said Sr. M. Prema M.C., Superior General.

The Hindu: Mother Teresa Converted non-Christians to be better followers of their own religion

Nuns from Missionaries of Charity paying tribute to
Mother Teresa during mother's birth centenary celebrations in Bhopal on Tuesday.
Photo Source: The Hindu

On The HINDU newspaper

"She [Mother Teresa of Calcutta] was criticised for conversion. Yet in all the 23 years I knew her she never once whispered a suggestion regarding conversion. However, I asked her if she did convert. Without a moment's hesitation, she said, “I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Protestant, and a better Sikh. Once you have found God, it is up to you to do with him as you wish.” While she never deviated an inch from her path and was a religious, not a social worker, she was quick to realise that in India, Catholicism was practised by a small segment, and the 19th century proselytising approach could not be sustained."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta: 26 August 1910 - 26 August 2010

What It Means To Be Blessed

For many, even in the Church, the Catholic practice of beatifying and canonizing is an enigma. Why does the Church do it? How does the Church do it? What are the implications of being canonized, or in the case of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, beatified?

General History.

First it should be noted that according to the testimony of Sacred Scripture every Christian is a saint. The Greek New Testament speaks in many places of the hagios (Acts 9:32; Rom 15:25, 31; Eph 1:1; Col. 1:2; Jude 1:3 and others). The Latin Vulgate speaks of the sancti, which is rendered in some English translations as the saints and in others as the holy ones. As St. Peter tells Christians, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." The saints are set apart by God through baptism, filled with His divine life (the Kingdom of God within), and called to announce that Kingdom's presence in the world to the whole human race. Thus it is that in the Scriptural usage all of those baptized into Christ and in the state of grace can rightly be called saints.

In another sense, stricter and more technical, the saints are those in whom Christ's victory over sin, the devil and death has not just begun, as it has in us, but has been completed. This is the case when the wayfaring state of earthy life is concluded and the holiness of life attained in the pilgrim's state is realized perfectly in heaven. Even while saying that no one is truly good but God (Mt 19:17), Christ called us to the perfection of goodness, of holiness, "be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48, Mt 19:21; Col. 4:12, James 1:4), since nothing imperfect will enter into heaven (Rev 21:27)...

Read More at EWTN on Mother Teresa of Calcutta