Mother Teresa's Dream & Suffering

• "We must never think any of us is indispensable."

Teresa's Dream

• Mother Teresa dreamt she died and went to heaven
• St. Peter denied her entry, stating heaven had no slums and thus no need for her
• Teresa retorted she would return to Earth to fill heaven with the homeless and hopeless
• The dream revealed she would storm the gates of heaven for those lacking shelter, food, health, or love
• She would persistently advocate for her "children" (those she and her Missionaries helped).

Suffering and Health

• Willingness to suffer for others and share their material poverty was a mainstay of Teresa's spirituality
• She believed in sharing Christ's passion
• Ill health added to her suffering in the final decade of her life.
• 1989: Diagnosed with heart problems, she refused to reduce her schedule
• Post a tour to the US and Mexico, she collapsed with flu turning into pneumonia and arterial blockage.
• Cardiologists performed an angioplasty which saved her life
• Feb 1992: Hospitalized in Rome due to illness
• The following year, she fractured or bruised three ribs in a bathroom fall
• Three months later, hospitalized due to malaria relapse, weakening her heart and lungs.
• Cardiologists unblocked another clogged artery
• 1996: Two falls led to a broken collarbone and sprained ankle, requiring wheelchair use
• Rushed to the hospital that summer with heart failure
• She returned to the Calcutta motherhouse, but endured weakness, heart pain, breathlessness, and dizziness
• She suffered confusion and died on September 5, 1997, after praying for Princess Diana
• Diana and Teresa were friends, last meeting two months earlier and died in a car crash.

Teresa's Troublesome Treatment

• Mother Teresa was a troublesome patient
• She avoided hospitals due to cost, believing funds were needed for the poor
• She tried to leave a hospital once, prompting caution from the matron
• She resisted medications and advice to curtail activities and travel
• Redoubled efforts in her final months

Burden of Leadership

• Teresa wanted to relinquish her role as superior general of the Missionaries of Charity
• She feared her increasing frailty
• She wanted to mentor her successor, stating the order didn't belong to her
• The Vatican had repeatedly exempted her from the term limit rule
• She jokingly said she would be a bathroom cleaner if she stepped down
• The Sisters and Pope John Paul II wanted her to stay
• She accepted reelection out of obedience to God's will and stepped down 7 years later in January 1997
• Sister Nirmala Joshi became her successor

Death and Funeral

• After death, Teresa's body was washed and dressed by Sisters, taken to St. Thomas Church
• "Mother" was written on the ambulance windshield
• The church was accessible to Calcutta's slums, where she had ministered after leaving Loreto
• Thousands paid respects, including Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs
• Given a state funeral as an Indian citizen and best-known Indian along with Mohandas Gandhi
• Her body was carried through Calcutta on the same gun carriage used for Gandhi and Nehru's funerals
• Observers noted the grief-stricken mourners and their offerings of parting gifts
• Lepers from Titagarh offered tears, and others sang with gratitude

Funeral Mass

• Her funeral Mass was in Calcutta's largest indoor stadium due to the rainy season
• Bishops, cardinals, Missionaries of Charity Sisters, and visitors from across the world attended
• Mourners included the Indian President and Prime Minister, First Lady Hillary Clinton, the Vatican Secretary of State, and royalty
• Eulogies were delivered by representatives of India's different faith traditions
• Hymns were sung in English, Hindi, and Bengali
• An orphan laid flowers on her coffin
• A reformed prisoner, a handicapped person, and a leper brought the wine, bread, and water for the funeral
• Mother Nirmala laid an empty chalice on the coffin
• A sister placed a pencil on the coffin, symbolizing her belief that she and her nuns were instruments through which God was acting

Canonization

• Teresa's body was laid to rest in an unadorned tomb in the motherhouse chapel
• Pilgrims visit to pray, light candles, and place flowers
• Admirers called for her canonization after her death
• John Paul II waived the standard five-year waiting period and the process for sainthood began in June 1999
• A commission scrutinized her life and accomplishments
• The process of proclaiming a saint is arduous
• Canonization requires miracles

The process

• Approval to begin the canonization process
• Candidate is recognized as a Servant of God
• Recognition as Venerable requires evidence of leading a life of heroic virtue
• Beatification requires a thoroughly vetted miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession
• The candidate is then called "Blessed".
• Canonization requires another miracle
• Martyrs are exempt from the miracle requirement.
• Pope Francis declared Pope John XXIII a saint in 2014
• Testimonial documents were gathered in Calcutta, Rome, New York, San Diego, and London
• Teresa's advocates delivered eighty volumes of material to the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Each volume was nearly five hundred pages long

Miracles and canonization

• Establishing the authenticity of miracles was demanding
• Standards for healings are stringent and investigated by the Consulta Medica
• Medical experts determine if anything inexplicable by the laws of nature occurred
• The team examines patient histories, CT scans, X-rays, and lab reports
• An illness must be present and cured miraculously
• Three of the five physicians must concur before a miracle is announced
• Healings must occur soon after intercession
• Cancer healings require a decade to ensure the cancer never returns
• Miracles must be physical, follow intercession quickly, and be permanent
• Over half of the miracle reports are rejected
• Many attestations were examined and dismissed
• One was eventually accepted by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Monica Besra, a West Bengalian, had an abdominal swelling since March 1998
• Diagnosed with tuberculosis, drugs had little effect
• In August, her belly was swollen and she couldn't walk or lie down
• On September 5, a Sister of Charity placed a medal touched to Teresa's body on Besra's stomach and prayed
• Besra had the impression of a ray of light
• The following day, Besra awoke to find the cyst had disappeared
• The Congregation for the Causes of Saints accepted the Consulta Medica's judgment that Besra's healing was miraculous

Beatification and Sainthood

• On October 19, 2003, Mother Teresa was beatified
• John Paul II made the announcement
• A report from Brazil stated that a man suffering from cancerous tumors in his brain was healed when his family and priest prayed for Blessed Mother Teresa's intercession
• On September 4, 2016, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta became Saint Teresa
• Teresa was known as the "saint of the gutters"
• She dedicated life to alleviating the thirst of the Christs in slums, ghettoes, hospitals, hospices, and orphanages
• She helped people find God, even though she could no longer sense his presence in her own life
• She accepted Our Lord's passion in order to bring comfort to those most in need of love
• "Saint of darkness" will continue her work