Original scientific paper
Mother Teresa of Calcutta - An Example in our time
Brian Kolodiejchuk
Abstract
On Missionary Sunday, on October 19 of this year, which is also the 25th anniversary of his pontificate, the Holy Father John Paul II is to beatify Mother Teresa in Rome. She was born on August 26, 1910 into an Albanian family in Skopje (Macedonia) and died on September 5, 1997 in Calcutta. The beatification will take place only a few years following her death, something which usually requires a much longer interim. All this is indicative of heroism, indeed, of the true and saintly surrender of this humble religious, which was manifested by her serving the poorest of the poor. Her person has become the message itself.
Many ties bound Mother Teresa to Croatia and she visited Croatia many times, mainly for the celebration of major solemn feasts. Her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity, have been labouring in Zagreb since 1979. When she was a young girl in Skopje, her spiritual leader was Fr. Franjo Jambreković, a Croatian Jesuit, with whom she continued to carry on a correspondence while living in India. Regrettably, she demanded that these letters not be published, but rather burnt! In India she also nurtured a deep friendship with our well-known missionary, Fr. Ante Gabrić. This paper depicts the life of love and service of Mother Teresa, a life deeply rooted in prayer and faith. The leitmotiv of this article shall be the words of her favourite saying: "The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace."
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
1207
URI
Publication date:
3.9.2003.
Visits: 6.095 *