St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church
Transcription
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church
St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME SEPTEMBER 4, 2016 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27 CLERGY PRIESTS: Rev. Salvador Guzmán Rev. Dominic Colangelo DEACONS: George Polcer, John Rapier, Juan Jorge Hernández, Sid Little Parish Office: 972-542-4667 Fax: 972-542-4641 Faith Formation Office: 972-542-4685 Mailing Address: 411 Paula Road McKinney, Texas 75069 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Website: www.stmichaelmckinney.org Office Hours: Monday - Friday: 9:00am - 5:00pm Office is closed on Saturday & Sunday After Hours Sick Call & Funeral Request: 469.667.7324 Daily Masses Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 8:00 am Tuesday and Thursday: 5:30 pm Weekend Mass Schedule: Saturday: Vigil Mass 5:00pm Sunday: 8:00am & 11:30am Spanish: 9:30am & 1:30pm VIGéSIMO TERCER DOMINGO DEL TIEMPO ORDINARIO 4 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2016 “Y el que no carga su cruz y me sigue, no puede ser mi discípulo.” Lucas 14:27 Confessions Adoration Thursday 6:00pm - 7:00pm Saturday 3:00pm - 4:00pm Thursday 6:00pm - 7:00pm 1st Friday of the month 8:30am - 12noon Holy Family (Quasi-Parish) 919 Spence Road P.O. Box 482 Van Alstyne, Texas 75495 903.482.6322 Website: www.holyfamily-vanalstyne.org Mass Times: Sunday 9:00am English 12 noon Spanish Thursday 9:00am English Holy Family Hall Food Distribution is held on the Tuesday & Thursday Open: 2:00 - 4:00 pm 2nd Saturday of the month 8:30am - 9:45 am Helpline: 214-314-5698 Thrift Store Pickup: 214.373.7837 Email: [email protected] Mother Teresa of Calcutta When we think about the difference that love can make, many people very often think of one person: Blessed Mother Canonization on Teresa of Calcutta. A tiny woman, just under five feet tall, with no tools except prayer, love and the unique qualities God had Sunday, September 4, 2016 given her, Mother Teresa is probably the most powerful symbol of the virtue of charity today. Mother Teresa wasn’t, of course, born with that name. Her parents named her Agnes—or Gonxha in her own language—when she was born to them in Albania, a country north of Greece. Agnes was one of four children. Her childhood was a busy, ordinary one. Although Agnes was very interested in missionary work around the world, as a child she didn’t really think about becoming a nun; but when she turned 18, she felt that God was beginning to tug at her heart, to call her, asking her to follow him. Now Agnes, like all of us, had a choice. She could have ignored the tug on her heart. She could have filled her life up with other things so maybe she wouldn't hear God’s call. But of course, she didn’t do that. She listened and followed, joining a religious order called the Sisters of Loreto, who were based in Dublin, Ireland. After two months in Ireland , spent mostly learning how to speak English, Agnes got on a boat (in 1928, hardly anyone took trips by plane) and 37 days later she arrived in the beautiful busy, complicated country of India. In India, Agnes took her final vows as a sister and took the name Teresa, after Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower. She spent 15 years teaching in a girls school in Calcutta, a job that she loved and was very good at. But then one day, she heard that call again. The voice in her heart was telling her that she was to make a very big change in her life - that she should leave her teaching position and go into the streets of Calcutta and care for the poor. So Sister Teresa listened and said yes. She had lived in India for years , and she knew how desperate the poor of that country were, especially in the big cities. It was these people, the dying poor, that Sister Teresa felt a special call to love. After all, these were people who had absolutely no one else in the world to love them. Not only were they poor, but they were also dying. Why did their feelings matter? Wouldn’t they be gone soon enough? Teresa saw these people differently. She saw them through God’s eyes, which means that she saw each of them as his dear child, suffering and yearning for some kind touch or word, some comfort in their last days on earth. She heard that call and chose to live it out - to let God love the forgotten ones through her charity. As is the case with all great things, Teresa’s efforts started out small. She got permission to leave her order, to live with the poor, and to dress like them, too. She would be white with blue trim, the blue symbolizing the love of Mary. She didn’t waste time, either. On her very first day among the poor of Calcutta, Mother Teresa started a school with five students, a school for poor children. That school still exists today. She quickly got some training in basic medical care and went right into the homes of the poor to help them. Within two years, Teresa had been joined by other women in her efforts, all of them her former students. She was soon “Mother Teresa” because she was the head of a new religious order: The Missionaries of Charity. The Missionaries of Charity tried to care for as many of the dying as they could. They bought an old Hindu temple and made it into what they called a home for the dying. Hospitals had no room or interest in caring for the dying especially the dying poor - so the dying had no choice but to lie on the streets and suffer. The sisters knew this, so they didn’t wait for the poor to come to them. They constantly roamed the streets, picking up what looked from the outside like nothing but a pile of rags, but was actually a sick child or a frail old person. When a dying person came or was brought to Mother Teresa and her sisters, they were met with nothing but love. They were washed and given clean clothes, medicine, and - most important - someone who could hold their hand, listen, stroke their foreheads, and comfort them with love in their last days. One of the most feared disease in the world is leprosy. It’s a terrible sickness that deadens a person’s nerves and can even cause their fingers , toes, ears and nose to eventually fall away. You know that in Jesus’ time, lepers were kept away from communities. Lepers in poor countries like India, where they have a hard time getting the medicines to treat the disease, are often treated the same way. So Mother Teresa saw people with leprosy in the same way - through God’s loving eyes. She got the help of doctors and nurses, gathered lepers from the slums, and began treating and caring for them in a way that no one before her had tried to do. Mother Teresa’s work of love started out small, but it isn’t small anymore. There are more than four thousand Missionaries of Charity today, living, praying, and caring for the helpless in more than a hundred different houses around the world, including the United States. Mother Teresa died in 1997, but even now, when we think about her work, we can learn all we need to know about love: It doesn’t take any money or power to love. It doesn’t take great talent or intelligence. It simply takes love. Mother Teresa did wonderful, brave work in caring for the forgotten, but if there’s one thing she would want you to remember about love, it’s that you don’t have to travel to foreign countries to practice the virtue of charity. In fact, love has to start where you live. - Taken from loyolapress.com “Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” - Mother Teresa 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. - Mother Teresa of Calcutta We pray for those in need of healing May the Holy Spirit Light Their Way Mercedes Peltz, Kay Dayton, Irma Avila, Antonio Garcia, Leonor Dominguez, Alejandro Gomez, Kristina Greer, Frank Stevens, Art Burke, Al Frettoloso, Joseph Bell, Kay Stevens, Starnes Family, Andrew Hernandez, Elizabeth Sanchez, Jose Arturo Ramos, Gabriela de la Torre,.Bertha Villasana, Bonnie Wilkerson, Maria Faz Hernandez, Casimiro A. Diaz, Madeline Prugh, Priscilla Rodriguez, Narciza Bravo, Cipriano Castillo Aguilar, Cheri Mills, John Christopher Cortes, Patricia Trejo, Luis Gonzalez, Florene Hendricks, Susie Alvarez, Fabiola Afanador, Narcisa Bravo, Lourdes Diaz, Maria Louise Sanchez, Dan Crum, Collville Bain, Judy Coenen, Andrew Karl, Kelly Claffey, Alexandra Venegas, Maria Niño, Yuritza Huerta Ibarra, Antonio Garcia, Andrew Hernandez, Christy Lane, Erin Knapik, Walker Phillips, Carroll Family, Marcy Roberts, Cathy Greise, Maria Nerios, Mary Williams, Maria del Rocio Garcia Calles, Evan Flores, Terry Hanoski, Emiliano Peña, Jason McCune, Susy Martilla, Paula Carrion, Pat Guidry, Toni Hawley, Lupe Gomez, Jeff Frazier, Francisco Morales, Steven Neville, Franziska McGinty, Steve Macias, Bettye Holmes, Margarita Rodriguez, Lorenzo Vasquez, Lilia, Carlos Enrique Lopez, Kenadi Pearson, Hunter Starnes, Gina Portillo, Maria Bueno, Judith Lopez, Milagros Balderas, Isidra Arrellano, Rick Hart, Rose Marie Snell, Brenda Bulot, Sherry Campbell, Marguerite Martin, Francisco Olvera, Jeff Hull, Natalie Alexander, Mike Sullivan, Sherry Matthews, Roberto Segura, Angela Soto, Andrew Sanchez, Graciela Espinoza, Nina Roger, Alejandra Moreno, Jennifer Peck, Ana J. Ruiz, Karen Beaty, Patrick Greise, Juanita Beasley, Terry Good To add someone to the prayer list for healing, please kindly call the parish office. Readings for the week of: Sept. 4th - 11th 4th of September, Sunday: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 9:13-18b; Ps 90; Phlm 9-10,12-17; Luke 14:25-33 5th of September, Monday: LABOR DAY 1 Cor 5:1-8; Ps 5:5-7, 12; Lk 6:6-11 6th of September, Tuesday: 1 Cor 6:1-11; Ps 149:1b-6a, 9b; Lk 6:12-19 7th of September, Wednesday: 1 Cor 7:25-31; Ps 45:11-12, 14-17; Luke 6:20-26 8th of Septmeber, Thursday: The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mi 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30; Ps 13:6; Mt 1:1-16, 18-23 9th of September, Friday: St. Peter Claver 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27; Ps 84:3-6, 12; Luke 6:39-42 10th of September, Saturday: Blessed Virgin Mary 1 Cor 10:14-22; Ps 116:12-13, 17-18; Luke 6:43-49 11th of September, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; Ps 51; 1 Tm 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32 OUR OFFERING Sunday, 28th of August - 1st Collection: $15,195.00 Online Giving: $2,180.00 Total Giving: $17,375.00 Sunday, 28th of August - 2nd Collection: (Mortgage Reduction): $5,289.00 Online Giving: $547.00 Total Giving: $5,836.00 Attendance: 3,113 Thank you for your constant giving. “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7 Mass Intentions for the week of: September 3rd - September 10th Saturday, September 3 5:00 pm Deceased Family Members of Emile Haydel Sunday, September 4 8:00 am Deceased Burblis Family Members 9:30 am For the People 11:30 am Arthur Paul 1:30 pm Hermanos Galvan Monday, September 5 8:00 am Isabel P. Lopez Tuesday, September 6 5:30 pm Claudio Espinoza Mesita Wednesday, September 7 8:00 am Mike Sullivan Thursday, September 8 5:30 pm James W. Pazora All departed and forgotten souls Friday, September 9 8:00 am Claudio Espinoza Mesita Saturday, September 10 5:00 pm Leonard Perles The parish office will be closed on Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day. How can we show others the mercy of God? We say that God is compassionate, but we ignore the poor. We say that God loves us and has mercy on us, but we hold grudges against our friends. Our actions need to authentically reflect God's mercy. Monthly Mass for Catholics in Recovery This month’s Diocesan Calix Mass will be offered at 8:30 am on September 10th in the St. Jude Parish chapel (1515 N Greenville Ave, Allen). The Mass, and meeting that follows, is open to members of all parishes who are recovering alcoholics, addicts, and their families and friends. For more information on the Calix Society, call your parish or 214-906-0605, or see www.calixsociety.org. Dallas Ministry Conference Sept. 29 – Oct. 1, 2016 Join us at the 10th annual UD Ministry Conference and be a part of the South’s largest annual Catholic ministry conference opened to the public. Attend some of over 170 breakout sessions in English, Spanish and Vietnamese, presented by nationally, local and international known speakers. Participate in Mass and prayer services, peruse the exhibits, admire the liturgical art display, and listen to Catholic musical performances. This three-day event only costs $66! Find out more at our website: www.udallas.edu/dmc GOD’S NATURE – EXUBERANCE OR THE CROSS? AUGUST 22, 2016 It’s funny where you can learn a lesson and catch a glimpse of the divine. Recently, in a grocery store, I witnessed this incident: A young girl, probably around 16 years of age, along with two other girls her own age, came into the store. She picked up a grocery basket and began to walk down the aisle, not knowing that a second basket was stuck onto the one she was carrying. At a point the inevitable happened, the basket stuck to hers released and crashed to the floor with a loud bang, startling her and all of us around her. What was her reaction? She burst into laughter, exuding a joy-filled delight at being so startled. For her the surprise of the falling basket was not an irritation but a gift, an unexpected humor happily fracturing dram routine. If that had happened to me, given how I’m habitually in a hurry and easily irritated by anything that disrupts my agenda, I would probably have responded with a silent expletive rather than with laughter. Which made me think: Here’s a young girl who probably isn’t going to church and probably isn’t much concerned about matters of faith, but who, in this moment, is wonderfully radiating the energy of God, while, me, a vowed religious, over-serious priest, church-minister and spiritual writer, in such a moment, too often radiate the antithesis of God’s energy, irritation. But is this true? Does God really burst in laughter at falling grocery baskets? Doesn’t God ever get irritated? What’s God’s real nature? God is the unconditional love and forgiveness that Jesus reveals, but God is also the energy that lies at the base of everything that is. And that energy, as is evident in both creation and scripture, is, at its root, creative, prodigal, robust, joy-filled, playful, and exuberant. If you want to know that God is like look at the natural exuberance of children, look at the exuberance of a young puppy, look at the robust, playful energy of young people, and look at the spontaneous laughter of sixteen-year-old when she is startled by a falling basket. And to see God’s prodigal character, we might look at billions and billions of planets that surround us. The energy of God is prodigal and exuberant. Then what about the Cross? Doesn’t it, more than anything else, reveal God’s nature? Isn’t it what shows us God? Isn’t suffering the innate and necessary route to maturity and sanctity? So isn’t there a contradiction between what Jesus reveals about the nature of God in his crucifixion and what scripture and nature reveal about God’s exuberance? While there’s clearly a paradox here, there’s no contradiction. First, the tension we see between the cross and exuberance is already seen in the person and teachings of Jesus. Jesus scandalized his contemporaries in opposite ways: He scandalized them in his capacity to willingly give up his life and the things of this world, even as he scandalized them equally with his capacity to enjoy life and drink in its God-given pleasures. His contemporaries weren’t able to walk with him while he carried the cross and they weren’t able to walk with him either as he ate and drank without guilt and felt only gift and gratitude when a woman anointed his feet with expensive perfume. Moreover, the joy and exuberance that lie at the root of God’s nature are not to be confused with the bravado we crank up at parties, carnival, and Mardi Gras. What’s experienced there is not actual delight but, instead, a numbing of the brain and senses induced by frenzied excess. This doesn’t radiate the exuberance of God, nor indeed does it radiate the powerful exuberance that sits inside us, waiting to burst forth. Carnival is mostly an attempt to keep depression at bay. As Charles Taylor astutely points out, we invented carnival because our natural exuberance doesn’t find enough outlets within our daily lives, so we ritualize certain occasions and seasons where we can, for a time, imprison our rationality and release our exuberance, as one would free a caged animal. But that, while serving as a certain release-valve, is not the ideal way to release our natural exuberance. When I was a child, my parents would often warn me about false exuberance, the exuberance of wild partying, false laughter, and carnival. They had this little axiom: After the laughter, come the tears! They were right, but only as this applies to the kind of laugher that we tend to crank up at parties to keep depression at bay. The cross however reverses my parents’ axiom and says this: After the tears, comes the laughter! Only after the cross, is our joy genuine. Only after the cross, will our exuberance express the genuine delight we once felt when we were little, and only then will our exuberance truly radiate the energy of God. Jesus promises us that if we take up his cross, God will reward us with an exuberance that no one can ever take from us. - Ron Rolheiser, OMI, Speaker, Columnist and Author, www.ronrolheiser.com Children’s Liturgy Corner 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Jesus teaches about the demands of discipleship. In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is giving us two examples of what it means to put first things first. What are the two examples? (a person building a tower; a king marching into battle) What does the person building a tower need to think of first? (how much money he has) What does the king going into battle need to think of first? (how big his army is) What does Jesus want us to put first in our lives? (God) What does it mean to put God first in our lives? (to love him, to love others, to go to Church, pray and so on) If we don’t put first things first, we make things much more difficult. In the Gospel this week, Jesus said we must put him first or we will never be happy. - Taken from Sunday Connection, Loyola Press NUESTRA OFRENDA Tú, Señor, nuestro refugio. - Salmo 89 Lecturas de la Semana: 4 a 11 de septiembre 4 de septiembre: 22° Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario Sab 9:13-18; Sal 90; Flm 9-10, 12-17; Lucas 14:25-33 5 de septiembre, lunes: Día del Trabajo 1 Cor 5:1-8; Sal 5; Lucas 6:6-11, 6 de septiembre, martes: 1 Cor 6:1-11; Sal 149; Lucas 6:12-19 7 de septiembre, miércoles: 1 Cor 7:25-31; Sal 45 ; Lucas 6:20-26 8 de septiembre, jueves: La Natividad de la Santísima Virgen María Mi 5:1-4 o Rom 8:28-30; Sal 13; Mateo 1:1-16, 18-23 [18-23] 9 de septiembre, viernes: san Pedro Claver 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-27; Sal 84; Lucas 6:39-42 10 de septiembre, sábado: Santa María Virgen 1 Cor 10:14-22; Sal 116; Lucas 6:43-49 11 de septiembre, 23° Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario: Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; Sal 51; 1 Tim 1:12-17; Lucas 15:1-32 [1-10] domingo, 28 de agosto - Primera Colecta: $15,195.00 Donaciones Online: $2,180.00 Total: $17,375.00 domingo, 21 de agosto - Segunda Colecta (Reducción de Hipoteca): $5,289.00 Donaciones Online: $547.00 Total: $5,836.00 Asistencia: 3,113 Gracias por su apoyo constante. “Que cada uno dé como propuso en su corazón, no de mala gana ni por obligación, porque Dios ama al dador alegre.” - 2 Corintios 9:7 Salón Sagrada Familia Despensa de Comida cada martes y jueves de 2 pm a 4 pm El segundo sábado del mes de 8:30 am-9:45 am Teléfono: 214-314-5698 Correo Eletrónico: [email protected] Tel. para Donar a Thrift Store 214.373.7837 Los Bautismos en español se celebran el segundo y el cuarto sábado del mes a las 11am. La próxima clase de bautismo será lunes, 24 de septiembre en la iglesia de 7:00pm – 9:00pm. Por favor sin niños. Pasen a la oficina para registrarse antes de la fecha. Los requisitos se encuentran en nuestra página web: ww.stmichaelmckinney.org (Oprima SACRAMENTS y luego Bautismos) Próximas Fechas y Horarios Para Bautismos: 10 de sept., 11:00am 24 de sept., 11:00 am 8 de octubre, 11:00am 22 de octubre, 11:00am ¿Tienes la sed de saber mas de la fe católica? ¿Quisieras saber que se requiere para poder recibir los sacramentos que todavía no has podido? El programa de RICA es para ti. Están invitados a participar en nuestro programa de instrucción. Cualquier persona interesada en acompañarnos este otoño, por favor llame a la oficina de la parroquia, 972-542-4667 x0, y pida hablar con el Padre Salvador. Primer Clase será el jueves, 8 de septiembre a las 7pm en el salón de Santa Rosa. La Oficina Parroquial estará cerrada el lunes, 5 de septiembre en observancia del “Labor Day”. ¡Regresamos el martes! Este Día del Trabajo, volcamos nuestra atención a nuestros hermanos y hermanas que enfrentan crisis paralelas: profundas pruebas tanto en el mundo del trabajo como en el estado de la familia. Estos tiempos difíciles pueden empujarnos a la desesperación y a los muchos peligros que trae consigo. Dentro de esta realidad, la Iglesia comparte una palabra de esperanza, dirigiendo los corazones y las mentes a la dignidad de cada persona humana y la santidad del trabajo mismo, que es dado por Dios. Ella busca reemplazar la desesperación y el aislamiento con la preocupación humana y la solidaridad verdadera, reafirmando la confianza en un Dios bueno y bondadoso que sabe lo que necesitamos antes de que se lo pidamos (Mt 6:8). La Buena Nueva sigue siendo buena Jesús dijo: "Vengan a mí, todos los que están fatigados y agobiados por la carga, y yo les daré alivio. Tomen mi yugo sobre ustedes y aprendan de mí, que soy manso y humilde de corazón, y encontrarán descanso, porque mi yugo es suave y mi carga, ligera" (Mt 11:28-30). Empecemos acudiendo al Señor, poniendo nuestras cargas al pie de su cruz y entregando nuestros corazones para que podamos encontrar descanso. El papa Francisco describe la imagen de una respuesta duradera al creciente aislamiento y desesperación que vemos a nuestro alrededor. Para contrarrestar la desesperanza, nos dice que la comunidad cristiana "se mete con obras y gestos en la vida cotidiana de los demás, achica distancias… y asume la vida humana, tocando la carne sufriente de Cristo en el pueblo".3 Ante una actividad interminable y frenética y el interés individuaTú eres, Señor, lista, la Iglesia "sabe de esperas largas y de aguante apostólico", así nuestro refugio. como "tiene mucho de paciencia, y evita maltratar límites".4 El tipo de encuentro que ofrecemos puede ser transformador, llenar a los demás con el sentido de su dignidad dada por Dios, y ayudarlos a saber que no están solos en sus luchas. La historia de la Iglesia está llena de comunidades que se tomaron en serio el llamado a ser el "guardián de su hermano" (Gn 4:9), que enfrentaron desafíos juntas, y que elevaron el "clamor de los pobres" (Salmo 33:7). Aquellos que hoy en día se sientan abandonados, sepan que la Iglesia quiere caminar con ustedes, en compañía del Dios que les formó sus "entrañas" y que sabe que ustedes están "formados maravillosamente" (Salmo 138:13-14). El trabajo digno está en el centro de nuestros esfuerzos, porque a partir de él percibimos lo que somos como seres humanos. San Juan Pablo II nos ha recordado que el trabajo humano es una clave esencial para comprender nuestras relaciones sociales, vital para la formación de la familia y la construcción de la comunidad de acuerdo con nuestra dignidad dada por Dios. Escribió que el trabajo es la dimensión "...de la que la vida del hombre está hecha cada día, de la que deriva la propia dignidad específica".5 Sabemos que el trabajo tiene dignidad porque Jesús "dedicó la mayor parte de los años de su vida terrena al trabajo manual junto al banco del carpintero. Esta circunstancia constituye por sí sola el más elocuente 'Evangelio del trabajo', que manifiesta cómo el fundamento para determinar el valor del trabajo humano no es en primer lugar el tipo de trabajo que se realiza, sino el hecho de que quien lo ejecuta es una persona".6 La pobreza, por tanto, aparece "como resultado de la violación de la dignidad del trabajo humano: bien sea porque se limitan las posibilidades del trabajo —es decir por la plaga del desempleo—, bien porque se deprecian el trabajo y los derechos que fluyen del mismo, especialmente el derecho al justo salario, a la seguridad de la persona del trabajador y de su familia".7….. - Tomado de la Declaración del Dia de Trabajo 2016 Arzobispo Thomas G. Wenski de Miami Presidente del Comité de Justicia Nacional y Desarrollo Humano Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de los Estados Unidos Septiembre 2016 Canonización de la Madre Teresa de Calcuta - 4 de septiembre 2016 (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu; Skopje, Capital de Macedonia, 1910 - Calcuta, 1997) Religiosa albanesa nacionalizada india, premio Nobel de la Paz en 1979. Cuando en 1997 falleció la Madre Teresa de Calcuta, la congregación de las Misioneras de la Caridad contaba ya con más de quinientos centros en un centenar de países. Pero quizá la orden que fundó, cuyo objetivo es ayudar a "los más pobres de los pobres", es la parte menor de su legado; la mayor fue erigirse en un ejemplo inspirador reciente, en la prueba palpable y viva de cómo la generosidad, la abnegación y la entrega a los demás también tienen sentido en tiempos modernos., Nacida en el seno de una familia católica albanesa, la profunda religiosidad de su madre despertó en Agnes la vocación de misionera a los doce años. Siendo aún una niña ingresó en la Congregación Mariana de las Hijas de María, donde inició su actividad de asistencia a los necesitados. Conmovida por las crónicas de un misionero cristiano en Bengala, a los dieciocho años abandonó para siempre su ciudad natal y viajó hasta Dublín para profesar en la Congregación de Nuestra Señora de Loreto. Como quería ser misionera en la India, embarcó hacia Bengala, donde cursó estudios de magisterio y eligió el nombre de Teresa para profesar. Apenas hechos los votos pasó a Calcuta, la ciudad con la que habría de identificar su vida y su vocación de entrega a los más necesitados. Durante casi veinte años ejerció como maestra en la St. Mary's High School de Calcuta. Sin embargo, la profunda impresión que le causó la miseria que observaba en las calles de la ciudad la movió a solicitar a Pío XII la licencia para abandonar la orden y entregarse por completo a la causa de los menesterosos. Enérgica y decidida en sus propósitos, Teresa de Calcuta pronunció por entonces el que sería el principio fundamental de su mensaje y de su acción: "Quiero llevar el amor de Dios a los pobres más pobres; quiero demostrarles que Dios ama el mundo y que les ama a ellos". En 1948, poco después de proclamada la independencia de la India, obtuvo la autorización de Roma para dedicarse al apostolado en favor de los pobres. Mientras estudiaba enfermería con las Hermanas Misioneras Médicas de Patna, Teresa de Calcuta abrió su primer centro de acogida de niños. En 1950, año en que adoptó también la nacionalidad india, fundó la congregación de las Misioneras de la Caridad, cuyo pleno reconocimiento encontraría numerosos obstáculos antes de que Pablo VI lo hiciera efectivo en 1965….. El enorme prestigio moral que la Madre Teresa de Calcuta supo acreditar con su labor en favor de "los pobres más pobres" llevó a la Santa Sede a designarla representante ante la Conferencia Mundial de las Naciones Unidas celebrada en México en 1975 con ocasión del Año Internacional de la Mujer, donde formuló su ideario basado en la acción por encima de las organizaciones. Cuatro años más tarde, santificada no sólo por aquellos a quienes ayudaba sino también por gobiernos, instituciones internacionales y poderosos personajes, recibió el premio Nobel de la Paz. Finalmente, tras superar varias crisis, cedió su puesto de superiora a sor Nirmala, una hindú convertida al cristianismo. Pocos días después de celebrar sus 87 años ingresó en la unidad de cuidados intensivos del asilo de Woodlands, en Calcuta, donde falleció. Miles de personas de todo el mundo se congregaron en la India para despedir a la Santa de las Cloacas. Seis años después de su muerte, en octubre de 2003, y coincidiendo con la celebración del 25º aniversario del pontificado de Juan Pablo II, la Madre Teresa de Calcuta fue beatificada en una multitudinaria misa a la que acudieron fieles de todas partes del mundo. A finales de 2015, el Papa Francisco aprobó su canonización; el 4 de septiembre de 2016 es la fecha prevista para la ceremonia que ha de elevarla a los altares. - Tomado de http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/t/teresa_decalcuta.htm