BIG C CATHOLICS

September 5th, is the feast of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, (1910-1997) the Catholic religious, missionary and foundress of the Missionaries of Charity who experienced a “call within a call” to devote herself to caring for the sick and the poor. She was born, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, in the Ottoman Empire (now the Republic of Macedonia), in the city of Skopje. By the age of 12 she resolved to commit herself to a religious life and to go to India to care of the poverty-stricken. At 18, Agnes left home to enter the Sisters of Loreto Abbey in Ireland as a missionary. She took her first religious vows on May 24, 1931. Six years later, she took her solemn vows on May 14, 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in Calcutta. Teresa would serve there for almost twenty years. On September 10, 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" to help the suffering and the marginalized. From her Vatican biography: "On that day, i

I Thirst for You. (A meditation attributed to St. Mother Teresa, read by Fr. John Riccardo on "Christ is the Answer" ). "Behold, I stand at the door and knock ..." (Revelation 3:20) It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter. And I want you to know that whenever you invite Me, I do come - always, without fail. Silent and unseen I come, but with infinite power and love, and bringing the many gifts of My Spirit. I come with My mercy, with My desire to forgive and heal you, and with a love for you beyond your comprehension - a love every bit as great as the love I have received from the Father ("As much as the Father has loved me, I have loved you.."[Jn. 15:10]). I come- longing to console you and give you strength, to lift you up and b

In honor of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s canonization here are twenty-five quotations from the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity who exuded joy and selflessness while serving the poor and uncared for. What is my thought? I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, This is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus. ***  Be kind to each other in your homes. Be kind to those who surround you. I prefer that you make mistakes in kindness rather than that you work miracles in unkindness. Often just for one word, one look, one quick action, and darkness fills the heart of the one we love. ***  We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty. ***  We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just