Missionaries of Charity: Mother Teresa taught us to see Jesus in the Eucharist and in the poor
Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The life "and the teaching of our Mother Teresa was all for Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus in the poor. She insisted on purity of heart, that allows us to see and adore the presence of Christ in the humble appearance of bread and the suffering face of the poor", said sister Mary Prema MC, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa, speaking at the National Eucharistic Congress being held in Mumbai. This year's theme is "Nourished by Christ to feed others." The missionary recalls her first meeting with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, speaks of her religious vocation, in constant struggle with the temptations of earthly life but with the aspiration to "only be filled by Jesus." The value of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the importance of abandonment to the Lord who has "become the source, the object and the heart of my service." The risk that missionary work will turn to personal gratification and the admonition of Mother Teresa: "Sister, work with a humble heart, otherwise the work will destroy you." Below the full text of her intervention.
“May the Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar be praised, adored and loved with grateful affection at every moment in all the Tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.”
I grew up in a practicing catholic family in a rural area. Life revolved around the Sunday Mass and the Liturgical Seasons. The celebrations of Baptisms, First Holy Communion and Marriages were events that have given me an abiding sense of belonging to God and the Catholic Church.
During my early adulthood the transition from inherited devotion to personal faith and commitment came about through the frightening experience of doubt regarding the Divinity of Christ. The battle in my mind lasted till I made the deliberate adherence to the articles of the Creed.
I wanted to serve the poor. I wanted to do Missionary work in far away places. I searched for independence and freedom and nothing satisfied me. At last I surrendered my will and plans. My cry: “Father, show me your will” was answered soon. The peace and joy I experienced in embracing my religious vocation has ever since been my strength. Jesus is journeying with me into freedom, not along my road of independence, but along the Eucharist road of submission and self-emptying, leading me to on going conversion.
I experienced my consecrated life in the image of walking on the water. I cannot do it, but Jesus has beckoned me to come to Him, to fix my gaze on Him, and to trust Him. With my eyes fixed on Jesus I am taking the risk of loving, of losing myself.
As soon as I turn away my sight form Jesus and busy myself with creatures I start to sink. Creatures is first myself, my egoism, my coveteusness , my fears and then the people and things which are dear to me and also the cares of this life. It is a constant struggle to allow the Lord to take care of my concerns and on my path to be only busy with Him.
One day I was sitting in the chapel in great turmoil about the situation in my own family. Anxiously I considered what I should do for them. Jesus spoke in my heart: “Do you want to help them? You become holy and I will take care of them.” Since that day family concerns no longer worry me.
During my first meeting with Mother Teresa she led me into the chapel and placed me before Jesus in The Eucharist. Our Mother’s life and teaching are all about Jesus in the Eucharist and Jesus in the poor. She insisted on purity of heart which enables us to see and adore the presence of Jesus in the lowly appearance of bread and in the distressing disguise of the poor. I realize that the regular, even weekly reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been the greatest help for me to advance in my spiritual life. Jesus’ unconditional forgiveness compels me to live my life in faith and to be compassionate with others who are also weak.
Slowly I am learning that the power of God is perfected in my weakness, that when I am weak, I am strong. God in His mercy has given me a thorn in my flesh, which keeps me aware of my need for Him. I realize that my generosity in giving service to others may be rooted in my neediness to be recognized and affirmed. I may do much hard and efficient work for my own gratification and the exercise of power. One day our Mother told me: “Sister, you have a responsible work to do, do it with a humble heart or else the work will destroy you.”
Mother was very concerned, that we fall in love with Jesus, that we personally meet the living Jesus in the Eucharist, to be loved by Him and to love Him. When this happened to me, Jesus became the centre of my life. He became the source, the object and the sin of my service.
I earnestly pray, that Jesus may make my heart meek and humble, that He may keep me right on the ground, that I may not be an obstacle to His Will, that I may not spoil His work. Often during the day I entrust myself to Our Lady that she may keep me in her Most Pure Heart, so that I may please Jesus through her, in her and with her.
I may take the privilege of living under the same roof with the Eucharistic Lord for granted. The daily participation in the celebration of Holy Mass may become daily routine. “O Priest of God, celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass, your only Mass” is written on a plaque in our sacristy. It is not so much the decorations and singing that help me to enter consciously and actively into the spirit of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, but the careful preparation of the altar, of the liturgy and of my own disposition and oblation.
In 1947 Pope Pius XII wrote: “In order that the oblation by which the faithful offer the Divine Victim in this Sacrifice to the Heavenly Father may have its FULL EFFECT, it is necessary that the people add something else, namely the offering of themselves AS A VICTIM....
Each should concentrate himself to the furthering of the Divine Glory, desiring to become as like as possible to Christ in His most grievous sufferings.” (Mediator Dei, 20 November 1947, p.98-99)
My religious consecration is the offering of myself with Christ to be broken and given to the poor. This victimhood I live first and foremost in my community. Mother exhorts us: “Let the sisters and the poor eat you up. In the Eucharist Jesus makes Himself the Bread of Life that I may eat Him. In the poor He makes Himself the hungry one that I may feed Him.” I wonder: “Are not the sisters and poor completing in their bodies what is lacking in the suffering of Christ on behalf of the Church, when they willingly and lovingly embrace their pains, sorrows and humiliations of sickness and of old age? Are they not being transformed into Christ? Are they not one with all those who suffer?
Suffering in itself is unacceptable and to be avoided. But suffering shared with Christ’s Passion, and with the sufferings of all peoples is a wonderful gift and bears the fruit of holiness in the world. Some of our sisters who are most effective in their mission to bring God to souls and souls to God are permanently confined to the sickroom. In their presence I feel consoled and refreshed.
When Jesus comes to me in Holy Communion I entrust to Him the sisters and the people, who painfully long to receive Him sacramentally but are deprived, because there is no priest available. I entrust to Him also those who do not know Him, and do not want Him.
In the late eighties I was deeply impressed to witness the anguish in the heart of our Mother when she shared with us, that since forty years there had been no Eucharistic Presence in Albania. She obtained permission to carry the Blessed Sacrament on her first visit there. Soon after she gave Jesus a tabernacle in Albania. This is the expression Mother used for every new convent she founded. Her ardent desire was to love Jesus as He had never been loved before and to carry His Presence and Light into the lives of those in darkness of sin, error and ignorance of God.
I treasure the daily one hour Eucharistic Adoration which allows me to rest in Jesus to whom I belong. I allow him to love me, heal me, mould me and fill me. Together with Our Lady I love and console Him for the sacrileges and indifferences He receives in the Eucharist and in the world.
As a witness of Jesus whose love I have experienced I go out to the poor. I need not speak to them so much about God, but I must act like Jesus and speak like Jesus to them. The more Jesus draws me to Himself, the more I am in communion with others. I observed that as I greet Jesus in the tabernacle when I pass by the chapel, with the same spirit of deep gratitude and profound reverence I also greet the sister on her sick-bed and the beggar at the door.
My vocation is to belong to Jesus. I am a missionary totally at God’s disposal. May He bring the work He has begun in me to completion. Please pray for me.
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