Читать книгу Encountering Mother Teresa - Linda Schaefer - Страница 10

Beatification

Mother Teresa was beatified on October 19, 2003, in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. I joined a pilgrimage group from Charlotte, North Carolina, led by retired bishop William Curlin. The morning of the beatification, our group left the Hotel Michelangelo at 5:30 in order to be in line early, because of the anticipated enormous crowds. I met a producer from CNN near a magazine stand, and because I had been invited to appear live on CNN during the beatification, she took me to the rooftop of a building overlooking the square. I was able to stand near the edge of the roof with a stunning, bird’s-eye view of the morning’s events. I pulled out both my still photography camera and my small video camera in time to document Pope John Paul II being driven in a circle around the square before being helped to the microphone. His fragility at this time was all too clear, yet he spoke firmly and with great love of Mother Teresa, describing her as the icon of the Good Samaritan. As I leaned over the ancient Roman balcony, I felt compelled for the first time to join the Catholic Church. In fact, I would do so when I returned to Atlanta. My son and I joined the Church, and after fifteen years of attending Mass as a photographer, I went to Mass to pray.

A group of sisters gathers in St. Peter’s Square following the beatification of Mother Teresa. Religious brothers and sisters from all over the world were present on that momentous day. (October 19, 2003)

In a world grown increasingly attached to material things, Mother Teresa’s life and legacy provide a timeless example of how to follow Jesus.

On that October day in Rome, my tears were swept away by the wind, and once again I was completely mesmerized by how one tiny nun could make such a difference in my life and in the lives of millions around the world. Since that day, Mother Teresa has become my patron, and her presence in my life today is as important to me as it was when I first met her in 1995. In a world grown increasingly attached to material things, Mother Teresa’s life and legacy provide a timeless example of how to follow Jesus.

From my perch with other members of the press, I had an expansive view of the three hundred thousand people gathered in St. Peter’s Square that day. Seeing so many gathered to celebrate her life and example, I had a clearer understanding of how beloved she was to the world. My personal encounters with Mother Teresa had been so intimate and individual that it was almost mind-boggling to realize that I, along with hundreds who had been privileged to sit alone with her, would now have to share her with the rest of the world. Since the beatification, her tomb in Calcutta at the motherhouse has also become a pilgrimage center, and the Missionaries of Charity have also been called to open their community to the world.

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Mother Teresa first heard the inner call from Jesus while she was on a train ride to Darjeeling, India, on September 10, 1946. He spoke to her in the intimacy of her heart and asked her to begin an unprecedented religious order committed exclusively to serving those most in need of assistance. Today, more than eighty years later, her charism still connects us to the most fundamental source of our faith. She lived to satiate the thirst of Jesus on the cross. She understood his suffering and saw him in each person she picked up off the street or found on her doorstep. Mother Teresa’s commitment to this mission was so deep that the Missionaries of Charity even add a fourth vow to their profession: They commit to poverty, chastity, and obedience, and to give “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.”

Religious sisters and brothers from multiple orders were among the 300,000 gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica for the beatification of Mother Teresa.

Author in St. Peter’s Square for the beatification of Mother Teresa.

Crowds swarmed St. Peter’s Square during the beatification.

Mother Teresa taught us how to serve those most in need with our hearts and with our hands.

Mother Teresa never had any physical children of her own, but people of all faiths and nationalities considered her a mother figure. She cared for thousands of “children” of all ages, from all walks of life, and from all over the world — myself included. When Mother Teresa first looked into my eyes, I discovered the unconditional love of a mother — something I had never been certain of with my own mother. I was not alone in this experience. The world was drawn to this diminutive woman because through her we experienced God’s love. Mother Teresa showed us that motherhood is not just a physical reality. When we are really in tune with God and doing his work, we too can offer maternal, life-giving love to everyone we meet, just as Mother Teresa did and continues to do. In her lifetime, Mother Teresa said that she would be busier in heaven than she was on earth. That is hard to imagine, since she opened more than five hundred homes worldwide during her life. Yet now, as a saint in heaven, she works without ceasing for all those who call on her prayers of intercession.

After all, a mother’s work is never done. Mother Teresa taught us how to serve those most in need with our hearts and with our hands. She assured us that we could all become saints by responding generously to God’s call in our lives. We do this by tuning in to God’s will rather than trying to walk the path alone. Mother Teresa teaches how to respond in an age of growing family dysfunction, increased worldwide poverty, violence in homes and communities, and growing skepticism toward religion. Like Mother Teresa, we must be ever more vigilant as motherly figures in the world. No matter how broken we are, we can offer the gift of love to everyone we meet. And that opens the way for true, lasting healing.

Following the beatification ceremony, as I looked at the framed image of a newly beatified Mother Teresa in St. Peter’s Square, I was struck by a seeming paradox. During her lifetime, Mother Teresa never embraced her fame — on the contrary, she despised it, according to a number of priests I interviewed in the years following her beatification. Yet now here she was, more famous and celebrated than ever.

A sister perches on a chair in front of St. Peter’s Basilica following the beatification of Mother Teresa.

The author’s bird’s-eye view of the massive crowds present for the beatification. (2003)

We are all called to recommit to our callings and to delve deeper into our faith.

I was untrained as a public speaker, yet during the four years after the beatification I was invited to speak about Mother Teresa for audiences around the United States. I came to realize that my witness was a gift that needed to be shared with people who would never be able to make the journey to Calcutta or to meet Mother Teresa personally. Standing that day on the rooftop overlooking St. Peter’s Square, I knew this new journey would not be an easy one, and it would require faith and confidence in God. Yet, probably thanks to Mother Teresa’s intercession, I realized also that we are all called to recommit to our callings and to delve deeper into our faith.

Pope John Paul II addresses a multitude of pilgrims as he announces the newly beatified Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. (October 19, 2003)

The author attended the beatification of Mother Teresa with a group of pilgrims from North Carolina, led by Bishop Emeritus William Curlin, a friend of Mother Teresa and an advocate for the poor.