St Teresa of Kolkata may have just been made a saint but she has some strong adversaries.
Some, like Christopher Hichens who once described her as “a lying, thieving Albanian dwarf”, say she was no friend of the poor but a friend of poverty.
To others – both Catholic and otherwise, she “… was a generous dispenser of divine mercy, making herself available for everyone through her welcome and defence of human life, those unborn and those abandoned and discarded”.
In his homily at her canonisation on Sunday, Pope Francis offered St Teresa as a “model of holiness”.
Francis said she was “committed to defending life, ceaselessly proclaiming that ‘the unborn are the weakest, the smallest, the most vulnerable’.
“She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die on the side of the road, seeing in them their God-given dignity; she made her voice heard before the powers of this world, so that they might recognize their guilt for the crime of poverty they created.
“For Mother Teresa, mercy was the “salt” which gave flavour to her work, it was the “light” which shone in the darkness of the many who no longer had tears to shed for their poverty and suffering.
“Her mission to the urban and existential peripheries remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the poorest of the poor.
“Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life to the whole world of volunteers: may she be your model of holiness!
“May this tireless worker of mercy help us to increasingly understand that our only criterion for action is gratuitous love, free from every ideology and all obligations, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race or religion.
“Mother Teresa loved to say, “Perhaps I don’t speak their language, but I can smile”.
“Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give it to those whom we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer.
“In this way, we will open up opportunities of joy and hope for our many brothers and sisters who are discouraged and who stand in need of understanding and tenderness.”
Source:
- News.VA
- Image: www.orangenews9.com
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