Chapter 7 Chapter 7 The Angel of the Slums

O Lord, we believe You are here; We adore you, we love you with all our hearts, Because you deserve all our love. We long to love you as the saints of heaven love you, We adore all that your providence spreads, We submit completely to your will. We love our neighbor as we love ourselves and for you; We sincerely forgive all those who have hurt us, Also ask all those we have hurt to forgive us. Dear Jesus, help us, Let us spread your fragrance wherever we go, So that our lives are but a gleam of your radiant splendor. shine through us, and keep the light upon us, so that everyone we come into contact with,

We can all feel your presence in us. so that when they look up they no longer see us, but only you, Stay with us so we'll shine like you; Oh Jesus, it's all your light and none of it comes from us. It is you who shine through us to others. So let us praise you in your favorite way, This is to shine light on those around us. Let us preach your gospel without preaching, No words needed, if we set an example, As long as we radiate the power of attraction through what we do with resonant influences, As long as our hearts overflow with love for you, It is so clear in the eyes of others.

--Prayers recited daily by Mother Teresa and her nuns ghetto angel In March 1949, the bishop of Calcutta found out that four girls followed Mother Durham into the slums to serve the poor. The bishop was very angry. He immediately summoned the priest and the dean. How is it decent? These girls from the best families in India are running around in Calcutta city without anyone's supervision, what do you think it looks like?" The priest explained: "It's not that there are no guardians, Your Excellency, Mother Teresa is a headmaster, and she knows how to protect them."

The dean didn't see it that way, she said: "I agree with the archbishop, it will shame the whole church." The bishop nodded and said, "I want this to stop immediately. Father, you do it right away. Obviously, this experiment has gotten out of control." Hearing this, the priest was very excited. He stood up and said, "Forgive me, Your Excellency, it should be said that we have lost control. Mother Teresa inspired young girls to dedicate themselves to the poorest..." The bishop interrupted him: "Why are these girls with such a bright future willing to give up everything to dedicate themselves to the poor?"

The priest replied: "I am sure they must think that they are offering themselves to the Lord." The dean interrupted: "Your Excellency, for the safety of herself and those girls, I think they should be asked to return to the monastery immediately." Just as the bishop was about to speak, the priest hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, I beg you, please give her some more time, at least let her complete this year, which is also agreed by the Pope." The bishop sighed resignedly and stopped speaking, but this did not mean that the bishop had changed his mind.So the next morning, the priest went to Motiji in person.

Sister Delam was busy repairing a cot, and she was working skillfully like an experienced weaver. The priest briefly relayed the bishop's thoughts, and then said tactfully: "Welcome to Lloyd Abbey." Come back years later, but the problem now is that these young girls are involved in this incident." Mumu asked in puzzlement, "Is there any problem? Although they are not nuns yet, they live a life of faith according to strict rules." The priest replied, "Yes, they can be trained perfectly, and when you come back, they can join the Lloyd Order and become ascetics."

Mumu stopped what she was doing and asked the priest, "Go back? What about my work?" She pointed to the patients in the room, "I can't help them half, so let's leave them alone." "Then what do you want to do?" asked the priest. Mumu buried her head again and continued her work. After a while, she raised her head and said slowly, "Father, I want to apply for the establishment of a religious order." The priest was taken aback for a moment, and then laughed.He said: "Did you know, nun? The Vatican has not sanctioned a new order since 1850. As for your work, they will think it can be taken over by private charities."

Mu Mu shook her head and said firmly: "No, serving the poor among the poor is a hard and never-ending job. In order to work hard for a long time, a strong force is needed, and only the religious life can do it. do it." The priest said: "Application for a congregation involves many aspects. You need to submit a plan and your work records, explain why you want to establish a new congregation, write down your regulations, and so on." Mumu didn't make a sound, she stood up, walked to another corner of the room, took out a stack of thick documents from the paper bag she carried, and handed them to the priest: "I will take care of planning documents, records, and regulations." Get ready, Father."

When the priest took the heavy stack of documents from Mumu, he was very surprised, but at the same time he felt that it was expected.Because, Mother Delam is such a person who often surprises people. The priest finished reading Mumu's plan as quickly as possible, and then sent the plan to the bishop as quickly as possible. One morning a few days later, the priest went again to the bishop's residence. The bishop threw a newspaper that was still smelling of ink in front of the priest: "Look, look at this article, 'The Angel of the Slums', the media in Calcutta always like to report her like this, even the city council supports it she."

The priest said: "If her order is recognized, then those girls will be eligible to take the oath to become nuns. She has always attached great importance to their spirituality." The bishop said: "Yes, yes, but I saw that in addition to poverty, chastity and obedience, there is also the fourth commandment in the planning document: dedicating wholeheartedly to the poorest master." The Catholic Church stipulates that if a girl wants to join a congregation, no matter which congregation it is, she must swear to abide by three basic precepts, namely poverty, chastity and obedience, also called abstinence from wealth, abstinence from sex, and abstinence, which means personal will. The so-called keeping the poor means living a life of poverty.Jesus said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Jesus' poverty in spirit not only refers to material life, but also refers to a spiritual or psychological state.Complete self-emptiness is the highest state of poverty.And Mother Delam stipulates that in addition to observing these three precepts, members of her congregation must also take an oath to observe the fourth precept, that is, the precept of serving the poor of the poor wholeheartedly.

"This is what sets her order apart," said the priest. The bishop corrected: "That's not her order yet." But the priest still stubbornly said: "Her congregation has more than 200 regulations, explaining the responsibilities and obligations of congregation members." The bishop interrupted him: "I know, I have read all these documents. Father, I am going to Rome next month. Before that, if I have not heard any criticisms about Mother Teresa, then I will consider sending Brought on her application." The priest was so surprised that he couldn't even speak: "But your Excellency, you mean, no, I mean, thank you, Your Excellency." The priest of Lloyd Abbey is called Father Fanru. He is a thin and serious old man. He looks very serious and even a bit rigid, but in fact, he is an old man full of enthusiasm. Lamb is very important and very helpful.If it were not for his generous help and enthusiastic promotion, the Missionary Sisters of Charity, which had a great influence on the whole world, would not have been established in Calcutta with the special approval of the Vatican so soon.Of course, the bishop of Calcutta was not bad, although he seemed to be criticizing or embarrassing Mother Teresa, but in fact he admired her.Everyone will have their own responsibilities, he is just fulfilling the duties of a bishop. Missionary Sisters of Charity established One day in October 1950, an important letter from the Vatican was sent to Lloyd Abbey. After reading it, the priest did not delay for a minute, and immediately brought the letter to Gaoma's house.But Mumu was not there, and Mrs. Gaoma asked Xiao Meibao to find Mumu back. Mumu was sad about a family matter, and the Albanian government refused to allow her mother and sister to leave the country.This made Mumu lose the chance to meet her mother forever.Seeing Mumu enter the room, the priest smiled and said to Mrs. Gomar: "Look, she has returned from the battlefield." The priest is right, Motiji is a battlefield - for all the good people in the world who serve the poor Every slum is a battlefield. Mrs. Gomer stood up quickly and said to Sister Mumu, "I know you don't accept anyone's hospitality, but, nun, can I pour you a cup of tea?" Mumu replied, "Thank you, I'm not thirsty." After Mrs. Gao Ma went out, the priest asked the mother, "Is this true?" The priest was referring to the matter of not accepting entertainment. Mom replied: "Whether poor or rich, there are always people who like to invite us to drink tea or eat together. We absolutely do not accept alms from the poor, but only accepting invitations from the rich will hurt the poor, so we simply refuse." .” "I'm sure it will make a lot of people feel like a failure, Dean Teresa," said the priest. Although Father Fanru looks serious, he is sometimes humorous.When he called Mrs. Delan, Mrs. Mumu didn't understand it for a while. She followed the priest's words and said: "We are not worried, but..." Before she finished speaking, she immediately understood from the priest's mysterious smile. Realizing that something important had happened, she asked in surprise, "What did you say? Dean Delan?" The priest has always been solemn, but now, he also smiled mischievously, and made a face with Mrs. Duran like a child, and then took out the important letter from his purse, stood up and solemnly Pass it to Mumu. Sister Durham couldn't believe it, and she looked at the priest suspiciously.The priest nodded to her, encouraging her, but she still couldn't believe it.After hesitating for a while, she mustered up the courage to open the envelope carefully.For Mum, this was great news that the Holy See had approved her application and allowed her to establish a brand new congregation in Calcutta.The religious order of the Tenno religion is usually an international organization, but there are also some religious orders that are diocesan, that is, they can only carry out work in a certain specified diocese.The Missionary Sisters of Charity were diocesan at first - belonging to the Diocese of Calcutta. On October 7th, the Missionary Sisters of Charity held a solemn founding ceremony in the cathedral in Calcutta. This important ceremony was presided over by the archbishop. The bishop wore a red robe, which looked extravagant and grand.The holy robes of the Tenno religion have several colors such as red, white and purple. White represents purity and celebration, red represents solemnity and celebration, and purple represents repentance, penance and mourning.For different ceremonies, the officiant—the bishop or the priest—must wear different vestments or robes to show respect and importance for the ceremonies performed. Kneeling before the altar, Mother Delam humbly accepts the bishop's blessing.The bishop said: "Those who are homeless, hungry, homeless, abandoned, you will take care of them, help them, visit them, let them feel the love of God, arouse them to the love of God. response." The Bishop concluded by saying: "Through you the work of the Lord will be manifested, Holy Abbot Teresa, welcome to the Diocese of Calcutta." Mumu raised her head and said sincerely, "Your Excellency, please call me Mother Teresa. My small body cannot bear such a long title." The bishop smiled. At this time.The music started and the girls began to sing hymns.The broad, simple, transparent, and sweet hymn is both exciting and calming. It is a kind of prayer that pierces the soul. Today, the girls who have finally become nuns hold candles in their mother's house. Under the leadership, they walked to the altar with a solemn expression and began to read their sacred oath: "To relieve Christ's endless longing, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to the poorest, to care for the disabled and lonely, to educate street children, to visit beggars and their children, to house the abandoned and deported and the unloved, and to show it in works of love the love of God." At this great moment, Sister Durham's eyes glistened with tears.Sunita, Maria, and Gertrude all had tears in their eyes.In fact, not only them, but also the people watching the ceremony.I think it is not only this beautiful ceremony that moves people to tears—not just the beautiful music, the flickering candles, the white clothes, the sacred vows, but Mother Teresa and her nuns It is their great love and devotion and their positive and absolute response to the Lord that they have devoted themselves to this extraordinary cause.Yes, their response was an absolutely shocking response, and they were true followers of Christ. This ghetto Christ's Charity Spreading Society, led by Ms. Delam and composed of middle-class girls, was finally established in Calcutta. Its full English name is: Carriers of Christ'S Iovein the Slums, but people prefer or are more used to it. Call it: Missionaries of Charity, namely: Missionaries of Charity. It was October 1950, and the charitable cause of Sister de Lamb had only been in operation for a little over two years, yet the Pope of Rome had recognized this young new Order.This is an extremely quick and extremely rare acknowledgment for the well-regulated Holy See. Since then, Mumu's followers have grown rapidly, and they are all young girls.But Mumu is not over-the-top about this, she knows that they are still young after all, and no one can guarantee that each of them can stick to their choice, some may be out of a romantic idea, or a momentary impulse .Therefore, Mumu left a retreat for each of them and allowed them to change their minds at any time. For the female students of St. Mary's Secondary School, for a long time, Mumu insisted on giving classes to those girls who had not completed their studies and urged them to study on their own. , and insisted that they go back to school to take the graduation exams. In the end, these girls all graduated from St. Mary's High School with honors, and none of them dropped out of the group. Soon, the number of this young congregation reached 12 people, and the small attic obviously couldn't accommodate so many people. At this moment, a businessman named Michael Takagi approached Mumu and said that he was in Calcutta. There is a building in Brook Lane, the second floor is completely empty, and if Mumu wants to make it work a little, then he is willing to give it. So Mumu took the girls out of the attic of Gao Ma's house. Because it is on the second floor, Mumu called it the "upper room". Upper House did not exist as the headquarters of the Missionary Sisters of Charity for a short time, because the order developed rapidly.When the members of the congregation reached 28, there was no room for the upper house.So they moved to a small complex at 54 Lower Ring Road, Kolkata. This is a three-story building, and the most gratifying thing is that there is a yard in the middle of the small building.The owner of the house is a devout Muslim, but he agrees with the enthusiasm and concern of the Missionary Society of Charity for social work, and especially admires what Mother Teresa has done for the poor, because he wants to move his family to Palestine at the cheapest price Sold the house to the Missionary Sisters of Charity. With this little building, and the communal life that went with it, it was like being back at Lloyd Abbey.Every day, she and the nuns start and end with prayer, which is the source of their strength.If life were a car, prayer would be its fuel without which the car would never reach the end of its journey.Prayer is to the soul what blood is to the body.Through prayer, they gain a pure heart. With a pure heart, they can listen to God, speak to God, and see God and His love in others. In this faith-based collective, the girls are happy and rich, but at the same time they are absolutely poor. All the personal property that each nun had was a cross, a few books, three sets of white congregational dresses with blue borders—one to wear, one to wash, and one to dry, a pair of sandals, a A bed-cover, an enamelled plate--for eating, a bar of soap--in a cigarette case, a wash-basin, an iron pail with a number on it--for everything. They usually share a room with three or four people, and basically only eat rice and vegetarian dishes every day. They don't have a TV, at most they have a radio, just for listening to the news; they don't use electric fans, even if the temperature is as high as 40 degrees.Because in India, electric fans are a symbol of prosperity. Every girl who voluntarily joins the Missionary Sisters of Charity actually knows the life she wants to live before joining the order.But this doesn't stop them from pursuing—there must be deep mysteries hidden in it.Mother Delam once proudly said: "There are very few nuns who choose to leave after a period of time, and that is only a handful of girls." In order to bless these departed girls, Mother dedicated One of the more than two hundred clear rules was added: pray for all those who once belonged to this order, may the Lord protect them. Later, a rich and kind businessman saw how hard and poor they were, so he brought them a brand new washing machine.The sisters held a special meeting for this purpose, and let the young nuns decide whether to accept it or decline it politely. As a result, the nuns agreed that they would rather do their own laundry than live in poverty like Jesus did. And this kind of poverty is not limited to material things, but also means a kind of spiritual poverty, that is, emptying the self, smashing the self, and eliminating fame and fortune, vanity, etc. in all things. There is a prayer they say every day that clearly illustrates the mystery of this abject poverty. "Oh Jesus, release me from longing to be loved, longing to be praised, longing to be honored, longing to be praised, longing to be liked, longing to be loved, longing to be approved, longing to be welcomed. "The fear of being humiliated, the fear of being scorned, the fear of being blamed, the fear of being defamed, the fear of being forgotten, the fear of being wronged, the fear of being ridiculed, the fear of being doubted." During the founding period of the Missionary Sisters of Charity.A nun named Andrea won a gold medal in a medical examination. When she happily took the beautiful medal to announce the good news to Mumu, Mumu asked her: "So, little sister, would you like What are you going to use it for?" Andrea replied: "I haven't thought about that." So Mumu said, "You should understand that this medal means nothing to you. You don't run a clinic, you don't put any academic title after your name, you are a nun working for the poor, a medal What use can it be?" Andrea understood immediately, and she returned the beautiful medal.As a result, she gained a sense of freedom—honor is not a kind of bondage or burden. This kind of voluntary poverty not only makes people free, but also makes people free and independent.Saint Francis has long said: "If we have property, we shall have arms to defend it." At the end of this chapter, I want to tell you that the Sisters of Charity are to serve those who are extravagant even to be called poor: they are those who do not go to church because their clothes are dirty; It's the ones who don't eat, because they don't have the strength to eat; they're the ones who die in the streets because they know they're going to die, and people passing by don't look at them; they're the ones who don't cry.Because the tears have dried up. And the Missionary Sisters of Charity will exist for them from beginning to end.And, it exists only for them.Mumu once said to one of her friends: "Our congregation exists for one purpose only, and that is to find something to eat for the poorest. We eat rice and salt on Monday, salt and rice on Tuesday, and again on Wednesday. Rice and salt, and so on." Since then, this small building at 54 Lower Ring Road, Kolkata has served as the headquarters of the Missionary Sisters of Charity until now.