Superhuman motive that transfigures the countenance of the poor. 

“The work of Mother Teresa shows the inexhaustible potential energies of good, the resources of the human heart, are unveiled. They are poured out and become operative when the leaven of personal sacrifice, as well as of courage, makes them, with God’s help spring up and sets them to work… The charitable undertaking becomes witness; a double witness of witness consists in the silent preaching, of not only the necessity but the possibility of resolving the problem. This is something to marvel at. A new element has emerged. It is the superhuman motive that transfigures the countenance of a poor hungry person, a sickly child, a person repulsive with leprosy, a formidable criminal and a feeble man on his deathbed into the mysterious countenance of Christ.”  

  Apostle of brotherhood and the messanger of peace.

“The person whom we are honouring today is just such a witness to this supreme value: man, the image of God, the member of Christ and the mirror of the one who gazes and discovers there himself, finds here a brother.     Humble Mother Teresa, in whom we like to see the thousands and thousands of people dedicated full-time to the personal service of the neediest, becomes an example and symbol of the discovery, in which lies the secret of the world’s peace…. And she who comes to us as Missionary of Charity is the apostle of brotherhood and the messenger of peace.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta lit a flame of love.

“At the close of a century which has known terrible extremes of darkness, the light of conscience has not been altogether extinguished. Holiness, goodness, kindness, love are still recognized when they appear on history’s stage. The Holy Father Pope John Paul II has given voice to what so many people of every condition have seen in this woman of unshakable faith: her extraordinary spiritual vision, her attentive and self-sacrificing love of God in each person she met, her absolute respect for the value of every human life and her courage in facing so many challenges. … Mother Teresa of Calcutta lit a flame of love which her spiritual daughters and sons, the Missionaries of Charity, must now carry forward. The world badly needs the light and warmth of that flame.”   

IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE 

“Mother Teresa of Calcutta understood fully this gospel of love. She understood it with every fiber of her indomitable spirit and every ounce of energy of her frail body. She practiced it with all her heart and through the daily toil of her hands, crossing the frontiers of religious and ethnic differences she has taught the world this lesson – it is more blessed to give than to receive.”

Her faith gave her an energy and radiance which is unforgettable. 

“For our generation, Mother Teresa has been a unique example of genuine holiness. Ordinary people around the world have been inspired by her unshakeable trust in God, her absolute commitment to the poor, and the strength of her love of humanity. The utter sincerity with which she lived out her faith gave her an energy and radiance which is unforgettable. Her vision will live on in all those touched by her example.”

She made the world – believers and non-believers – read pages of a living Gospel.

“Mother Teresa died in the house where she and her sisters had lived in Calcutta since the 1940s. She was 87 years old and her face – tiny like her whole figure and deeply wrinkled – had become the very epitome of charity and of the total gift of self to others. She was called the Mother of the poor. But even among the various forms of poverty Mother Teresa managed to push herself to the extreme limit, just as her love of Christ was extreme and total. She chose to be with the poorest of the poor and, in this search she made the world – believers and non-believers – read pages of a living Gospel, of a Gospel at work among the conquests and contradictions of our times.”