By Leela Ramdeen, Chair, CCSJ (http://rcsocialjusticett.org) & Director, CREDI
“Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same – with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta
Today (September 4), we thank God as Pope Francis canonises Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (now Kolkata). She was born on August 26, 1910 as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Macedonia. She was the third child of an Albanian grocer and his wife.
Each time we say the Creed, we profess our belief in the Communion of Saints. As St Teresa joins this Communion of Saints in heaven, let us ask her to intercede for us and strive to imitate her life – a life of prayer and action; a life of unshakable faith, devoted to the sick, the poor, the wounded and the marginalised. She died of heart failure at the age of 87 years old in 1997 in Calcutta.
