On Esteem

[Rich]

On Esteem

All perfection is founded upon only two principles, by means of which,
with due attention to the daily actions suited to our state, we shall
certainly arrive at the summit and fullness of it. The first
principle is a very low esteem for all created things, but, above all,
for ourselves. This low esteem should show itself, in practice, by
renouncing ourselves and all creatures; in our hearts, by a firm
resolution; and in our lives, in such ways as may be suitable,
especially by manifesting contentment and cheerfulness when the Lord
takes from us any good. The second principle is a very high esteem of
God, which may be easily acquired by the light of faith, as He is
Omnipotent, the Supreme Good and our End; as also because He has loved
us so much, and is ever present with us, and guides us in all things,
both as to nature and grace, and, in particular, has called us and
leads us by a special vocation to a lofty perfection.
--Fr. Achille Gagliardi

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September 5th - Blessed Mother Teresa
of Calcutta Albania now Skopje, Macedonia Ottoman
d. 1997

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the
world for her work among the poorest of the poor, was beatified
October 19, 2003. Among those present were hundreds of Missionaries of
Charity, the Order she founded in 1950 as a diocesan religious
community. Today the congregation also includes contemplative sisters
and brothers and an order of priests.

Speaking in a strained, weary voice at the beatification Mass, Pope
John Paul II declared her blessed, prompting waves of applause before
the 300,000 pilgrims in St. Peter's Square. In his homily, read by an
aide for the aging pope, the Holy Father called Mother Teresa “one of
the most relevant personalities of our age” and “an icon of the Good
Samaritan.” Her life, he said, was “a bold proclamation of the
gospel.”
Mother Teresa's beatification, just over six years after her death,
was part of an expedited process put into effect by Pope John Paul II.
Like so many others around the world, he found her love for the
Eucharist, for prayer and for the poor a model for all to emulate.

Born 1910 to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia (then
part of the Ottoman Empire), Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu was the youngest
of the three children who survived. For a time, the family lived
comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But life
changed overnight following his unexpected death.

During her years in public school Agnes participated in a Catholic
sodality and showed a strong interest in the foreign missions. At age
18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was 1928 when she said
goodbye to her mother for the final time and made her way to a new
land and a new life. The following year she was sent to the Loreto
novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and
prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for
girls in Calcutta, where she taught history and geography to the
daughters of the wealthy. But she could not escape the realities
around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers of
destitute people.

In 1946, while riding a train to Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister
Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call within a call. The
message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor while
living among them.” She also heard a call to give up her life with the
Sisters of Loreto and, instead, to “follow Christ into the slums to
serve him among the poorest of the poor.”

After receiving permission to leave Loreto, establish a new religious
community and undertake her new work, she took a nursing course for
several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived in the slums
and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and
sandals (the ordinary dress of an Indian woman) she soon began getting
to know her neighbors—especially the poor and sick—and getting to know
their needs through visits.

The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for long. Volunteers
who came to join her in the work, some of them former students, became
the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Other helped by donating
food, clothing, supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of
Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a former hostel, which became a home for
the dying and the destitute. As the Order expanded, services were also
offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics, the aging and
street people.

For the next four decades Mother Teresa worked tirelessly on behalf of
the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy, as she
crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see
the face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. In 1979 she was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize. On September 5, 1997, God called her home.


Saint Quote:
He who wishes to love God does not truly love Him if he has not an
ardent and constant desire to suffer for His sake.
--St. Aloysius Gonzaga

Bible Quote:
I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through
the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of
cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be
ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his
sake; but bear your share of the hardship for the gospel with the
strength that comes from God.--St. Paul in his second letter to
Timothy (2 Tim 1:6-8)


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The spouse of the Church cannot be defiled.

The spouse of the Church cannot be defiled. Whosoever separates from
the Church and is joined to an adulteress is separated from the
promises of the Church. Nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ
attain the rewards of Christ: He is a stranger; he is a worldling; he
is an enemy.
-- Saint Cyprian of Carthage