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           India is rich in its varieties of cultures, languages, religions, philosophies etc., co-existing with each other and has a highly developed religious consciousness and tradition. The fact that all major religions of the world are not only present but flourished in India. There is no country in the world, as India, with such a deep realization of superiority of the spiritual power. So it is rightly said ‘to all countries one can go as a tourist but to India one must come as a pilgrim’, because of the religious consciousness.  At the same time, there is the frightful picture of inequality, exploitation, corruption, unemployment and child-labor are the permanent scenarios of the Indian panorama. Particularly, the land of Mahatma is fast becoming a slaughter-house in which innocent people are mercilessly treated. These complex realities situate a tension-filled atmosphere and become a great challenge in the present day context.


         Moreover, the false ideology of the country is ‘one nation-one religion- one culture’ which raise a question mark to the unity in diversity.[1] In this regard, majority of the people think that only Hinduism is the religion of the country and all the other religions are untrue.[2] On account of this, several atrocities and fighting took place in the past and taking place in some parts of the country even now. However, the main purpose of a religion is to promote love, peace, unity and brotherhood etc., but now religion has turned to be a source of hatred, violence and division. Moreover, the anti-conversion bill has been passed in order to place a block to Christian missionaries and imposed restrictions on foreign missionaries in the recent times. Amidst the culture of violence, the life and services of St. Teresa of Calcutta proclaimed silently and insistently that love and compassion can touch the lives of the people. Christian mission in India gets its importance and admiration in the modern times from her who seemed to have succeeded in clothing her faith in a widely accepted mission, doing small things with great love.


     Generally, it is believed that mission in India had its own way to produce the expected results. There were zealous missionaries like St Francis Xavier, John De Britto, and Robert de Nobili who had worked on the conversion. However, looking into the present realities of India, the Church has to be present and active as a changing pattern of Indian society. In this regard, Pope Francis explains, mission should be a witness of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living that attracts many people towards Jesus.[3] Therefore, mission today has to move away from the central position and go to the peripheral areas to make difference and to bring change in the lives of the people. From the life and the ministry of St. Teresa of Calcutta, one gets a new mission theology, which is mainly concerned on the poor and the needy. However, the post-synod document Ecclesia in Asia points out ‘mission of love and service in Asia…” Here mission is conceived in terms of love and service. Such a mission will evoke positive response; conversion of hearts, communal conflicts and mutual distrust will disappear; there will be inter-religious collaboration which will contribute to the emergence of new humanity.



Specificity of Mission – St. Teresa of Calcutta

       A missionary is the one, who is sent with a mission and a message to deliver. Just as Jesus was sent, each faithful is being sent to be a witness of His Gospel of love and compassion. In this regard, St. Teresa of Calcutta experienced God’s love in her personal life tremendously. When the people were confronted with disease, destitution, poverty, famine and having lost their identity in the family and in the society, she found a rich inspiration to instil and implant God’s love in the hearts of the poor and the needy. This mission of love derives its force and power from her personal intimacy with God. She did not perform any little work for her name and fame but for God. She depended totally on Divine providence to support her work on behalf of the poorest of the poor. She believed to have a person-to-person contact in implanting the values of the Gospel in the hearts of the poor. Every human individual is Christ for her and since there is only one Jesus and the person who suffers on the road side is the one in the world at the moment.[4] She considered the personal contact was essential to communicate the love of God. 

Poor Centered Mission
   
       It is clear that the human person is created in the image and likeness of God. This image has been obscured and even violated. For this reason, the Church is called to be on the side of the poor in every possible way. Moreover, Pope Francis, during his visit to Manila insisted “The poor are at the center and the heart of the Gospel, if we take away the poor from the Gospel, we can’t understand the message of Jesus Christ”.[5] Thus it is clear that the message of Jesus can be understood only in relation with the poor and the needy. Added to this, Cardinal Robert Sarah emphasized, “The Church has to go out of herself and to go to the peripheries: those of the mysteries of sin, of pain, of injustices, of ignorance and of religious indifference, of thought, of all misery. Through daily contact with these peripheries the Church is called to bring healing and love through her charitable service”.[6] The main concern of St. Teresa of Calcutta was that she did not want to leave the poor and the sick to suffer individually. She did not allow them to die unwanted, unloved and uncared, because she identified the face of Jesus in them. In this connection, Pope Francis states, “Evangelizing the poor means drawing closer to them, having the joy of serving them, healing the wounds, transforming human according to the logic of love”.[7] To her, the Christ on the crucifix was not different from the one who was dying at her hospice.

Kingdom of God Centered Mission
       
         In this connection, Legrand correctly points out “Kingdom would describe a situation that responds to all the ecological, socio-economic, psychological and spiritual demands of a fulfilled humanity. Moreover, “Kingdom is basically an action of God coming with his sovereign power and saving concern”.[8] Hence, if one enjoys love from God, naturally one is called to create a community and to share that same love and kindness with one another. However, freedom, justice and liberation are the parameters of the Kingdom thrust towards the total liberation of the human being.[9] Jesus has left an enormous legacy of freedom in all his ministry. Moreover, all the healing miracles bring freedom of every individual affected with sickness and disease. St. Teresa of Calcutta had experienced and personalized within herself the love of Jesus. Nevertheless, one of the primary aspects of the Church’s witness to the Kingdom, which is “a new human community of freedom and fellowship, of justice and love”.[10] Thus, the Kingdom of God is not a purely otherworldly reality but God’s loving kindness which manifests itself particularly as care and liberation for the poor and the needy.[11] It is a call to conversion and a call to turn to God to transform one’s life to love the other and by sharing God’s life in communion with others. The main aim of mission is to build up the Kingdom of God through works of liberation from evil from all its forms.[12] In this sense, the participation in the transformation of the human society appear as a constitutive dimension of the preaching of the Gospel. Hence, the Church is the witnessing community tangibly make the truth of the Kingdom accessible to the world. In fact, “God’s mission is heavily flavored with his grace”.[13] Through the grace of God one can claim to have entered into the Kingdom fellowship.



          It is obviously clear that St. Teresa of Calcutta came to India from Albania, she was not fluent in the native language but she won the hearts of the people. She inspired very much through the powerful ministry of compassion. It is compassion which will generate within oneself to be a missionary.[14] More than that during the natural calamities like famine and epidemics the compassion is shown to the poor and the needy. Especially the loving service of St. Teresa of Calcutta was the greatest witness for God’s love and compassion to the poor and the needy. She made all sorts of loving services with the purpose of universal brotherhood[15] and no individual should feel that there is no one to love and care for them. She performed the ministry of compassion in her life and transformed the deep and intimate love of Jesus for them. She succeeded in presenting Christ by her witness in charity to everyone she served regardless of religion, culture and language. Deeply rooted with the power of God, she boldly proclaimed and remained as a witness to God’s love.  She saw the sufferings of the poor equal like that of the cry of Jesus on the Cross and made several ways to fulfill them through her loving services. She was a simple and ordinary woman but a powerful communicator to reach out the hearts.

       The specialty of St. Teresa of Calcutta was very simple and ordinary. She focused Jesus and engaged herself in all sorts of possible ways of giving Jesus. In her missionary praxis, there was no preaching, no proclamation, no baptism, no catechesis, no distribution of Christian literature, no attempt at numerical increase, she did not undertake any missionary journey after the example of St. Paul or St. Francis Xavier. There is only one simple truth that she communicated through her word and deed the unconditional love of God. Her mission consisted in intensely loving and caring the poorest of the poor and to proclaim the compassion and love of God. She had a special concern for the least and the lost. Her understanding of mission is: “A missionary is one who is sent with a mission with a message to deliver. Just as Jesus was sent by His Father, the faithful are sent by Him to be a witness of His Gospel of love and compassion”.[16] The people are longing for love and kindness because in the modern world there is hunger not only for bread but also hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness. She pronounced that the biggest ailment in the world is not tuberculosis or leprosy, rather hunger for love, the feeling of being unwanted.[17] Therefore, St. Teresa of Calcutta manifested the love of Jesus to every individual who came in contact with her.

Kenotic Mission

       In the present scenario, the people are on the move to accumulate money, name and fame. However, the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta by following the ways of Jesus, stands as an example for a life of poverty and simplicity. She broke all barriers through love and service. She believed “A life of poverty, prayer and sacrifice will lead to the service of the poor”.[18] She spoke of charity not by words but by her actions and “Served Christ in the poor and brought Christ and his love to the poor whom she served”.[19] To her, the priority in life was Jesus, Church and the poor. She experienced the personal love in her life for which she lived and worked. She believed that the words of Jesus ‘you did it to me’ (Mt 25.40) became her life principle and practiced it in her life. She exemplified her faith in loving service to the poor. In this connection, Henning Wrogemann correctly describes “Mission is no longer understood to be an expansion, but a kenosis: a journey into the unknown and a letting go of personal security and thus allowing God to work in us”.[20] This new approach for mission is essentially based on the aspect of witness. Thus, Jesus-Angel Barreda states that to understand the mission of dialogue in the present world is to be kenotic, humble and near to the Cross and to the people.[21] Therefore, it is evidently clear that one can understand from the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta, charity becomes the greatest proclamation of the Gospel. Proclamation of the Gospel through the life witness has the great impact and she becomes a model.

St. Teresa of Calcutta a Self-Kenotic

        The life and ministry of St. Teresa of Calcutta is centered on her total surrender and dedication to Jesus. Her life of self-surrender is seen in her service to God. The self-surrendering and self-sacrificing life of St. Teresa of Calcutta is precisely understood as a kenotic expression of love for Jesus. She had numerous sacrifices done for the welfare of the poor and the sick. Such a great act of kenosis could be identified in relation with that of the sacrifice of Jesus and the service she rendered to the poorest of the poor. The life-style of St. Teresa of Calcutta could be very well placed within a spirituality of self-kenosis.[22] She left her own family, friends and beloved ones which made her to be expressive of a kenotic. Moreover, the self-emptying could be seen as the completeness of Christ’s self-renunciation. The life of Jesus is the revelation of God’s self-giving love, which is evidently seen in the actions of Jesus’ self-giving love.

        It was the conviction of St. Teresa of Calcutta that with praises she was not puffed up; and with the insults she did not get hurt and depressed because charity does not act in this way.[23] She had to endure several hardships and humiliations in her witnessing mission. Initially, she did not have enough money, place to accommodate the poor and the needy, experts and personnel to look after them. There was no one to support and help her. Moreover, the poor did not accept her and they chased her out from their place and houses by stoning at her. There were several tortures and she was not granted permission to perform the work. To look after the poor and the needy engaged practically in begging. Furthermore, when the pilgrim place of Kali temple was given to St. Teresa of Calcutta as the first home for the dying, the Brahmin priests and the people thought that the Kali temple had been handed over to a Christian missionary. They protested and petitioned several times to the higher authorities.[24] Even then she felt that it was important to touch the broken bodies and unattended souls with her compassion and she had shaken the conscience of the city.


        God’s love has been manifested to the world through the incarnation of Jesus. St. Teresa of Calcutta felt that everyone is sent into the world with the purpose of communicating God’s love to one another. Like any other missionary, she formulated her own methods to evangelize the poor and the needy. She diagnosed the malady that affected the society of her time and came up with a radical remedy for it. She analyzed the needs of the society and evolved an answer to meet the greatest challenge and expressed that we should not be afraid to proclaim Christ’s love. The work however small and humble it may be, it has to make Christ’s love in action. Hence, she understood that the mission in her life is a love in action.

Head Involved Mission

         St. Teresa of Calcutta surrendered her head to the realm of God because she understood that the head is important for a human person to direct oneself to God. However, she made up her mind and thought to be filled by the power of God and allowed God to work in and through her.[25] She had the personal encouragement, will and desire for Jesus in her head, which motivated her desire and thought to decide for the poor and to express that deep love in the disguise of the poor.[26] She always had the intention and the desire to perform what pleases Jesus. Her whole head was completely filled by the power of Jesus. Such was the deep conviction that she trained up her mind to engage herself with the poor. She had the thirsting desire of Jesus and dedicated herself completely in her actions. One can clearly say that her head was completely filled by Jesus and the poor. Therefore, she was constantly thinking on her charitable activity and planned in her heart to express them through her loving actions.

Heart Involved Mission

      Heart is the origin and source of all feelings for a human person. St. Teresa of Calcutta filled her heart with the intimate love of Jesus. One can very well understand that her heart could not contain other than Jesus and the poor.[27] All the more, she never kept her heart closed for the poor.[28] She said frequently to her followers those who are filled with joy in the heart preach without preaching.[29] However, she filled her heart with God’s grace that made her to dedicate her heart. Only a heart that experienced real love can understand the heart of others. Since she allowed God to work within herself, it was easy to manifest her love for the poor.[30] Thus she motivated the heart of the poor to hear the message of love in their personal life.

Hands Involved Mission

        There was no dichotomy in her heart and hands but there was a closeness in her thought and feelings. Thus she transmitted the power, grace and God’s love to the poorest of the poor. She played an important role to carry out the love of Jesus to the poor and the sick. This was possible for her because she expressed the same love what she had within her heart. She preached Christ every moment of her life especially through her acts of charity. She focused her heart and mind on Jesus therefore it was possible. She radiated the presence of Christ by her compassion and through her presence with the poor, sick and the dying. She preached everywhere about the dignity of God’s children irrespective of their social conditions, race or religion. It is very clear that St. Teresa of Calcutta has been sent to the world to be the presence of God’s love and compassion. Therefore, she gave witness to the Gospel every moment of her life. The deep love that she had for Jesus had been transmitted in and through her loving services to the poor and the needy.

Person to Person

       St. Teresa of Calcutta agreed to render her charity to be a simple and ordinary level and not a big way of doing things. She insisted that one must come into close contact with the individual. In the modern world one should not wait until to get the numbers to express love and respect then no one will get the expected numbers.[31] The method what she kept in her heart was the personal contact with the individual person. She believed in a person to person contact and saw Christ in every person. This type of personal contact can take place in anywhere, on a street, in a city square, during work, on a journey etc., here the individual is essential and important to communicate the message of love. This type of contact will take place in a personal dialogue, when the person speaks, shares their joys, hopes, concern and many other heartfelt needs. This was the specific way that she followed to communicate the love of God to the poorest of the poor.

       She completely placed her total confidence in God and she expressed when two persons met, there the mission begins. She considered this type of personal contact an essential one to communicate to enter into dialogue with them and to share the love of God. Since there is only one Jesus and there is only one person at a moment longing to experience love, she accepted that there were thousands of poor but she attended and served one at a time since every individual was important.[32] For this she started to encounter a single person at a time, an abandoned child, a dying person, a leper to care for them and to share the love of God to the least individual. This personal experience of St. Teresa of Calcutta consoled the poor. Though this is purely a simple action, it was filled with richness of love for the poor individual. She did not do any of this work for her name and fame but for the glory of God. The best and effective way for the transmission of the Christian faith and the Love of God would be ‘one to one and door to door evangelization methods’. This was the method Jesus practiced to bring good news to the poor. Similarly, St. Teresa of Calcutta practiced to share God’s love and kindness to the poorest of the poor door to door method. This was the approach, to meet, to touch and to heal the poor through her presence.[33]



      Love does not have a specific knowledge of a language, but real love can understand the heart of the individual. There was no hesitation for St. Teresa of Calcutta in working for the promotion of the civilization of human love in the society. With great love, she was ready and willing to render her service to the poor in the slums. Pope John Paul II during his audience insisted the role of St. Teresa of Calcutta in the following words: The Lord made this simple woman, who came from one of the Europe’s poorest regions a chosen instrument to proclaim the Gospel to the entire world by acts of love.[34] Such a clear statement proves that St. Teresa of Calcutta promoted the gospel values in her life. However, real love demands self-less service, she did not worry about time and place but for all her work she had the power from God. However, the approach of St. Teresa of Calcutta in transmitting the love of Jesus to the poor was through her witness in charity and service to the poor. Moreover, she was striving to build a civilization of love founded upon the gospel values of peace, solidarity and freedom.



       St. Teresa of Calcutta is a real missionary in the context of India. She left herself to be possessed by the love of Jesus and proclaimed the values of simplicity and poverty of Jesus. A simple woman, God has chosen to be an instrument to proclaim the Gospel of love to the entire world. It is worthy to remember the words of Cardinal Fernando Filoni, “St. Teresa of Calcutta was a great evangelizer, but she was first evangelized by the poor”.[35] Though, she did not use mere words to proclaim God’s love but her method of giving Jesus to the poor was unique especially by acts of love and by ways of charity. In the Indian context, she did not engage herself in her mission with the ways of increasing the numerical values of the Indian Church. It was possible for her to be a real missionary in the Indian context because of her practices of virtues in her personal life, such as courage, commitment, conviction, openness, fidelity and inner-freedom. All these virtues made and lead her to appropriate actions in all the situations of her life. These virtues inspired her to be spontaneous in her actions of compassion, kindness, mercy and sensitivity to all sorts of sufferings of the human persons.

       The Method of St. Teresa of Calcutta was entirely different. She did not find important to make someone Christian by baptism, rather to make someone Christian by practice and to live a life of witness. There cannot be a true proclamation of the Gospel unless the Christian offers the witness of lives in harmony with the message that one preaches. Therefore, the goal of evangelization in the eyes of St. Teresa of Calcutta is the renewal of humanity and the establishment of the kingdom of God. She was primarily responding to the new mission offered by Jesus in her works of charity.  Moreover, she practiced the formula of love to communicate the message of compassion of Jesus. It is only in love; one can reach beyond the boundaries; and does not have exclusion but has the preference for the most forsaken. She had followed through her works of charity the kindness therapy to transmit God’s love to the poorest of the poor.

      In the Indian context, one understands that the power of God is transmitted and shared with the works of evangelization. The methodology of St. Teresa of Calcutta for evangelization would be apparently questionable, especially before the command of Jesus ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ (Mt 28.19). In principle one cannot consider, St. Teresa of Calcutta was refuting this missionary command of Jesus; On the contrary she gives a solid foundation to this missionary command. A metanoia- conversion of the heart is sought and proclaimed by St. Teresa of Calcutta which is required in the present day Indian context. Such a conversion of the heart can instill in the heart of the individual to experience and to realize the compassion and the love of God.

Conclusion

     In the context of India, Christian discipleship lived in daily fidelity is most effective and at the same time non-threatening and non-aggressive form of evangelization is the need of the day. Through this, one can build up relationships and promote peace in the society. Moreover, the present day society faces a lot of conflicts, division and communalism and Christian mission must play the role of a bridge building. One needs to transcend various differences of culture, religion, language etc., in order to give Jesus and his message and to reach out to all sorts of people without any discrimination. St. Teresa of Calcutta globalized love, compassion and care through which she has brought the poor, the sick and the abandoned to Jesus. The purpose of mission is centered on the conversion of heart than in conversion of religion and in a pluralistic context like that of India witnessing model would be an appealing one. There is one indispensable requirement to be effective evangelizers in the present day society is that by the virtue of gentleness, love, care, concern, kindness and compassion, to enrich human relationships and dignity. Thus the Church by transmitting the Gospel values has to transform the society. The approach of St. Teresa of Calcutta in proclaiming the Gospel to the poor was unique. Amidst the atrocities, cultural violence and religious fundamentalism, St. Teresa of Calcutta proclaimed silently and insistently that love and compassion can touch the lives of the poor, the sick and the abandoned who are in need of ‘good news’ of life, care, love, concern and friendship. However, she transmitted the love of God in her actions by crossing the boundaries of religions, cultures, races, nationalities and languages by way of entering into dialogue with poor.




[1] Vinoy Valachathenakathu, “Modern Hindu Fundamentalism and Fanaticism”, Vinai, 14 (2003), p. 44.
[2] Thomas Naickamparambil, “Mission and Social Transformation”, Aikya Samiksha, 3 (2006) 1, p. 15.
[3] Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, No. 15.
[4] Jaya Chaliha and E. Le Joly, ed., The Joy in Loving: A Guide to Daily Living With St. Teresa of Calcutta, New Delhi: Viking Penguin Books, 1996, p. 226.
[6] Robert Sarah, “UN Tribute to St. Teresa of Calcutta”, L’Osservatore Romano, No. 37 (September 2013), p. 15.
[7] Pope Francis, “The Poor at the Centre of the Gospel”, L’Osservatore Romano, (January 2016), p. 5.
[8] Lucien Legrand, “Good News, Kingdom and Conversion”, in Aloysius Xavier, A. & Stanly Kumar M. (eds.), The Word is Near You, Bangalore: Vol. II, St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, 2002, p. 2.
[9] G. Soares-Prabhu, “The Kingdom of God: Jesus’ Vision of a New Society”, in D.S. Amalorpavadass, ed., The Indian Church in the Struggle for a New Society, Bangalore: NBCLC, 1981, p. 601.
[10] Michael Amaladoss, “Creativity in Mission”, Mission Today, 1 (1999) 4, p. 293.
[11] Michael Amaladoss, “Kingdom of God as the Goal of Mission”, Vaiharai, Vol. 1, No.4 (1996), p. 281.
[12] Pope John Paul II, Redemptoris Missio, No. 15.
[13] Gnanakan, Ken, R., Kingdom Concerns, Bangalore: Theological Book Trust, 1989, p. 118.
[14] Jesus-Angel Barreda, “Tendenze della Missione Oggi”, Urbaniana University Journal, 67 (2014)1, p. 158.
[15] Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, London: Rider Publications, 2007, p. 247; Christian Feldman, Mother Teresa: Love Stays, New York, The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2000, p. 76; Mother Teresa’s Letter, 19th December 1974; 2nd June 1974; 19th March 1972.
[16] Mother Teresa, No Greater Love, ed., B. Benenate, Becky and J. Durepos, Novato: New World Library, 1997, p. 145.
[17] Navin Chawla, Mother Teresa, New Delhi: Gulmohur Press Pvt.Ltd, 1992, p.208; See also Mariasusai Dhavamony, “St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Mission of Love for the Poorest of the Poor”, Studia Missionalia, Vol. 39 (1990), p.137.
[18] Mother’s Letter, 7th March, 1979.
[19] Palatty Koonathan, “The Missionaries of Charity: A Most Challenging Mission”, Indian Missiological Review, (1998), p. 22.
[20] Henning Wrogemann, Missionstheologien der Gegenwart. Globale Entwicklungen, kontextuelle Profile und ökumenische Herausforderungen. Lehrbuch Interkulturelle Theologie / Missionswissenschaft, Band 2, Gütersloh: 2013, p. 21.
[21] Jesus-Angel Barreda, “Tendenze della Missione Oggi”, p. 157.
[22] Bryan Lobo, “Mother Teresa: Self-Kenotic Sanctity for Evangelization a Christian-Hindu Reflection”, Studia Missionalia, Vol. 61 (2012) p. 272 He states that Her life of self-kenosis within a Hindu context kept echoing the divine spirituality of self-sacrifice and self-less service, which is to be understood as niskama karma.
[23] Mother’s Instructions, Vol. 1, p. 10.
[24] Navin Chawla, Mother Teresa, New Delhi: Gulmohur Press, 1992, p. 181.
[25] Mother’s Letter, 29 March 1996.
[26] Mother’s Letter, 24 April 1996.
[27] Mother’s Letter, February, 1964.
[28] Mother’s Letter, March 22, 1976.
[29] Mother’s Letter, April, 1964.
[30] Mother’s Letter, 24th September, 1973.
[31] Malcolm Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God, London: Harper Collins Publisher, 2009, p. 124.
[32] M.K. George, Mother Teresa: an Apostle of Love, New Delhi: Indian Publishers, 1998, p. 27.
[33] Mother’s Letter, 2nd June, 1974.
[34] Pope John Paul II, “The Profound Lesson of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Life: Being Christian Means Being Witnesses of Charity” L’Osservatore Romano, No. 43 (October 2003), p. 6.

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