Mother Theresa, what I learnt from her English

What I learnt from Mother Theresa
Saint Mother Theresa, whom I met in 1979 at the Morning Star Seminary in Calcutta, is the 3rd Saint before canonisation, I have met in my life.(the other two being Popes John XXIII & Pope Paul VI) But I am sure there are thousands of others whom I have met and are worthy of canonisation, though not yet canonised.
Although I have met two others who are already declared as saints - Saint John XXIII in 1962 as a student in Rome and Saint John Paul II. In an audience in June 1984, this Mother Theresa stands out for me as a heroine of the love for others.

She came to us - a Group of Rectors and Professors from Asian Major seminaries, Meeting in Calcutta for a post Vatican II renewal of our Major seminaries in Asia. She came - carrying a child in her arms, as usual, and spoke to us of the importance of Prayer, as a personal way of strengthening oneself with God.

We priests, as administrating-Rectors and lecturing-professors, very often are not a model for our students with regard to personal prayer! I myself was participating at this meeting, not as Rector but as a theologian called to give my thoughts about the subject of inculturation of ministries in Asia.

We all can talk and work efficiently through our rational and intellectual strength. But we cannot effect the real change at the spiritual level without being ourselves nourished by the constant, if not the frequent contact with God.

We listened to this simple humble lady who spoke soft and in simple words her own experience with God in prayer and emphasised that prayer as the vital link for our spiritual energy from God to love our neighbour more and more.

When I look back at my life as a priest - pastor, professor, theologian, rector and so on - and evaluate myself, I must ask pardon from all my past students and faithful that I was many things to them, but not a model for a life enriched by personal and frequent prayer.

Thank God this self-exile period after 1996, especially after 2007, which  has given me a chance to   review my life closely and  discover new ways of coming into contact with God while serving humanity in His name.

The word prayer immediately links many of us to a church, liturgy, prayer book etc., not so much an immediate and personal contact with the Almighty God in all situations. I have come to understand prayer, not merely in the traditional ways of saying formulated-prayers during liturgies in the church or at prayers elsewhere, but also as an act in the world of the macro-cosmic and micro-cosmic universe, namely in the greater universe of planets but also in the tiniest of creations. Moments whereby we stay wondering about the creations and their author! Moments in which we join our hands and raise them in thanksgiving and worship of the author of creation. These are far superior to the psalms we recite from the bible!