Bangalore (AsiaNews) – Mother Teresa of Calcutta “was always calm and resolute, an inexhaustible source of love, even beneath the bombs which hit Iraq during the first Gulf War”. This is how Sr Raphael remembers the Blessed to AsiaNews, a nun who for 14 years lived out her mission in the war-racked middle-eastern nation.
Currently the religious directs the Missionaries of Charity house in Bangalore. Here a fibre-glass statue of the Blessed will be unveiled this evening by the Archbishop, Msgr. Bernard Moras. The statue is part of public festivities to mark the tenth anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa which took place on September 5th 1997.
Sr Raphael joined the Missionaries of Charity in 1960: “Mother was a mother to me and to every one who came in contact with her, a mother full of love and compassion. The greatest moment of my life was when I travelled together with her to Baghdad in 1991 to try to open a new house”.
The search “lasted quite some time. Finally Mother approved of an old house, and immediately began the work of cleaning the place, she went down on her knees and began scrubbing the floors, she swept and swabbed one room first and as soon as it was clean, she prepared the place for Adoration of the Eucharist and welcomed people for the Adoration”.
That Adoration “was a moving sight to see, mostly women, who bore the scars of war, who had lost husbands, sons or fathers in the war. Mother Teresa was always present, kneeling, with the rosary in her hand, and head bowed down, silently praying”.
During her stay in Iraq, just as she had during her entire life, the Blessed ““would always be available them, even in the middle of the night, she would get up and comfort them with her welcoming embrace. It’s almost as if Mother never went to sleep and yet, there was never any hint of tiredness on her face”.
Sr Raphael is certain that having known Mother Teresa is “an immense blessing. She taught me by example the Power of the Eucharist and Adoration of the Eucharist. She was an inexhaustible source of her love and compassion for the weakest and defenceless. Through Mother, I have deeply understood the joys of giving Love and service. I receive abundantly from these precious ones, much more, than I can ever give”. (NC)