Hundreds of worshippers joined Auxiliary Bishop Richard J. Garcia and four members of the Missionaries of Charity in St. Peter Church in Sacramento Sept. 3 to celebrate the feast of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the founder of the Missionaries of Charity and a “fearless messenger of love” in the modern world.

Blessed Mother Teresa “lifted up the most vulnerable, the weakest, the most humble – and as she lifted them up, she challenged others to know in their hearts how much they hunger for God,” Bishop Garcia said during the Mass.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Mother Teresa would have been “in New Orleans and the surrounding area right now, lifting them up,” he said. “All of us are called to do the same.”

“What a joy it is to have the sisters in our diocese,” Bishop Garcia said, gesturing to the four Missionaries of Charity who arrived in Sacramento at the end of June and are living in the rectory at St. Peter Parish. “You told me you never met Mother Teresa but the spirit of Mother Teresa continues to live through your lives.”

The four nuns who are living in Sacramento are Sister Damascene from India, Sister Paulinetta from Bangladesh, Sister Jose Clare from Kenya and Sister Christopher from Colombia. Sister Damascene and Sister Jose Clare previously served at the order’s mission in San Francisco.

The sisters are still determining their specific mission in the area. At present they are visiting homes and teaching religious education while planning for expanding their work.

“Mother Teresa did not see life in a mirror but face to face – he beautiful ‘cara, cara’ in Spanish,” Bishop Garcia said. “She never saw others through a mirror but mirrored Christ in herself to others.”

“Her heart was tested and pained by the suffering of the world, but she knew and lived out her life in deep faith, in enduring hope and did all with the greatest gift of all — her constant and unconditional love,” he added.

In his homily, the bishop quoted the late Pope John Paul II’s words when he beatified Mother Teresa on Mission Sunday, Oct. 19, 2003: “With the witness of her life, Mother Teresa reminds everyone that the evangelizing mission of the church passes through charity, nourished by prayer and listening to God’s word. Emblematic of this missionary style is the image that shows the new Blessed clasping a child’s hand in one hand while moving her Rosary beads with the other… Mother Teresa proclaimed the Gospel living her life as a total gift to the poor but, at the same time, steeped in prayer.”

Bishop Garcia concluded with the pontiff’s prayer at the beatification: “Virgin Mary, Queen of all the Saints, help us to be gentle and humble of heart like this fearless messenger of love. Help us to serve every person we meet with joy and a smile. Help us to be missionaries of Christ, our peace and our hope.”

Patrick Joyce is former editor of Catholic San Francisco, newspaper of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

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