Joseph Langford - Mother Teresas Secret Fire

Mother Teresas Secret Fire

Mother Teresas Secret Fire

The Encounter that Changed

St. Teresa of Calcuttas Life,

and How It Can Transform Your Own

Joseph Langford , MC

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

Huntington, Indiana 46750

Nihil Obstat: Rev. Michael Heintz, Ph.D.

Censor Librorum

Imprimatur: John M. DArcy

Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

August 25, 2008

The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat or Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.

Mother Teresas words 2008 Missionaries of Charity c/o Mother Teresa Center, exclusive licensee throughout the world of the Missionaries of Charity for the works of Mother Teresa. Used with permission.

Every reasonable effort has been made to determine copyright holders of excerpted materials and to secure permissions as needed. If any copyrighted materials have been inadvertently used in this work without proper credit being given in one form or another, please notify Our Sunday Visitor in writing so that future printings of this work may be corrected accordingly.

Copyright 2008, 2016 by Joseph Langford, MC. Published 2016

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All rights reserved. With the exception of short excerpts for critical reviews, no part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Write:

Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division

Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.

200 Noll Plaza

Huntington, IN 46750

ISBN: 978-1-68192-048-1 (Inventory No. T1797)

eISBN: 978-1-68192-053-5

LCCN: 2007933561

Cover design: Tyler Ottinger.

Cover art: Tekee Tanwar/Getty Images; Marie Constantin.

Interior design: Sherri L. Hoffman.

Interior art: Magnum Photos;

Missionaries of Charity Fathers; Mother Teresa Center.

P RINTED IN THE U NITED S TATES OF A MERICA

I came to bring fire to the earth,
and how I wish it were already kindled!

Luke 12:49

(NRSV)

For all those rich and poor,

empty in spirit, pummeled of heart,

who mark the hours

of long inner night

a night this saint of the gutters traversed

and overcame

before you, and for you:

May these pages reflect

the light that overtook her

one September day,

plunging her, for loves sake,

into the dark

homes and hearts of the poor.

May her gentle, guiding light

born of the heart of the Almighty

be yours:

A light that flies not from darkness

But ever towards it.

Contents

Foreword

The book you hold in your hands is itself the fruit of an encounter one that took place years ago, as you will read, through the mediation of a photograph on the cover of a paperback book. As Providence would have it, that seemingly insignificant occurrence progressively involved Father Joseph Langford in Mother Teresas life and work, to the point of founding with her the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, something for which I personally am particularly grateful. Throughout the years, he has prayed, reflected, and written on the charism spirituality and mission given to Mother Teresa for her religious family, striving to discover and articulate its depths and implications, something Mother Teresa herself did not do. This book can be said to be a synthesis of his work. It lays a groundwork for others to follow and build upon, for, as we discovered through her private letters contained in Come Be My Light, Mother Teresas charism, like her holiness, contains unsuspected profundity yet to be fully appreciated.

With his distinctive style and gift of eloquence, Father Joseph delves into the questions about Mother Teresa that shaped his own spiritual journey since that first encounter with her and through her, with God thirty-six years ago. In Secret Fire, he not only presents his reflections on what made Mother Teresa who she was and how we, too, can become who we are called to be, but provides meditations that have been a source of grace to many over the years.

The fire in Mother Teresas heart, born of her encounter with the thirst of Jesus, expressed itself by love in living action (to use one of her favorite expressions). Her heart was filled with love, affection, compassion, and mercy, which was made concrete through the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that make up the charitable work of the Missionaries of Charity. Fr. Joseph Langfords book helps us to understand, appreciate, and live this in our own response to the thirsting love and mercy that God has for each one of us.

In the last years of her life, Mother Teresa would exhort those she met, either individuals or groups, to take up the challenge to strive after holiness: I want I will with Gods grace be holy. May these pages enrich that striving and encourage you on your way.

Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.

Postulator

Director, Mother Teresa Center

Editor, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light

Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, edited and with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C. (New York: Doubleday, 2007).

Section One

Fire in the Night

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:5

Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.

One

Why Mother Teresa?

It seemed as if she had always been there, on the horizon of our awareness, part of the way things should be. There was Mother Teresa, on the covers of our magazines and the back of our minds, touching hearts and mending lives, turning the world upside down without trying. From all around the globe we watched, as her labor of love drew both rich and poor, believer and skeptic, into the shelter of Gods embrace.

We followed the unfolding of her life writ large across our newspapers. Her name had become a synonym for compassion and goodness, and she graced our daily lives, from conversations over coffee to sermons on Sunday. Her image added a note of goodness to the evening news, making a home for her not only in Calcutta, but in living rooms around the world. Effortlessly, almost without our noticing, she had made her way into our hearts. As the poor of the world clung to Mother Teresas sari, and the rulers of nations showered her with accolades, we watched and in some deepest part of us, we understood. We saw in people all over the globe, and experienced within ourselves, the attraction of her small, humble frame and her vast, resplendent work.

She had become a living icon, a symbol of things better and nobler, a reminder of how we and our world could be. Through the humble portal of her work for the poor, the immense goodness of God poured forth on us all. She became a reflection of Gods glory in miniature, like the suns full radiance dazzling off a tiny shard of glass.

God had sent her to soften the rude landscape of human suffering. She would accomplish this by being his light and radiating his love, illuminating the darkness that descends on the bearers of unrelenting hardship.

The day it was announced that Mother Teresa of Calcutta had won the Nobel Peace Prize, I had just arrived on campus at Southern Illinois University, where I was chaplain. Within minutes of the announcement, I received a call from Mother Teresas Sisters in St. Louis, whom I had gotten to know during my chaplaincy. They were asking if I would come over to field questions from the newspaper and TV reporters who were gathering outside their convent. The reporters comments revealed their understanding, and even delight, at Mother Teresas nomination. They seemed genuinely intrigued that the prize winner had not been a president, scientist, or politician. For the first time, the Nobel Prize had been won by a diminutive, humble religious woman who worked obscurely in a third-world country. This disruption of the usual order had charmed the world and piqued their curiosity.