The canonization of Blessed St. Teresa of Calcutta

Sunday morning, Mother Teresa was canonized following a special Mass presided by Pope Francis.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Vatican Radio provided translations and commentary from Father Tomas Rosica of Salt and Light during the canonization of Saint Mother Teresa, which was celebrated before a crowd estimated to exceed 300,000 at St. Peter's Square.

The crowd of thousands faced Italy's heat to witness the canonization as the choir sang proudly and Pope Francis opened Sunday Mass, which included a reading of Mother Teresa's life.

Pope Francis opened Mass with a prayer. The Holy Spirit was invoked from the beginning in a beautiful hymn.

Cardinal Angelo stated: "After due deliberation and frequent prayer for divine assistance, and having sought the counsel of many of our brother bishops, we declare and define Blessed Teresa of Kolkata to be a saint, and we enroll her among the saints, decreeing that she is to be venerated as such by the whole church.

This humble nun to whom countless turned to...She was always close to anyone she encountered who was in need...Witnessing of God's boundless love to his people."

He briefly added, 'Blessed Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, with family of Albanian origin. As an adolescent...leaving her family, she was received as a postulate ... near Dublin in Ireland.

"Sent to Darjeeling in India and the end of her initiate, she made her final confession and took the name Teresa... [she] spend 17 years at Mary Benghazi ...school, while traveling by train from Calcutta to Darjeeling, she would receive what she would define as 'a call within a call'...infinite thirst of Jesus Christ on the cross.

"...the poorest of the poor. And so she founded the congregation of the Sisters of Charity and she later founded...Mother Teresa was tireless, dedicating herself completely to announcing the Gospel..to the needy with no distinction of rank, religion or race.

"At the heart of all her initiatives, she placed the ...Eucharistic adoration prayer...inspired her to see and serve Jesus and the poor.

"Heroic, even evangelical...In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace prize.

The Holy Father then pronounced the formula to canonize St. Teresa:

"Dear brothers and sisters, let us lift up our prayers to God almighty Jesus Christ....

"...the act which we now must undertake. And now, the Liturgy of the Saints."

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The hymn was a beautiful sound of unity filling St. Peter's Basilica as one voice.

"We ask you lord to graciously accept the prayer of your people. that....through Christ out Lord."

All of St. Peter's Basilica fell entirely in revered silence as Pope Francis invoked the ancient formula of canonization:

"With ...trinity, the exultation ...by the authority of our lord Jesus Christ and the holy apostles Peter and Paul,...frequent prayer of divine assistance...we declare and define Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta to be a Saint.

"We enroll her among the saints, decreeing she be...in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Applause broke out as Pope Francis completed the decree and suddenly the reverent silence became a celebration where once again, the thousands became one voice.

The relic of Mother Teresa, a vial of her blood, was presented on the altar in a simple but beautiful wooden vial embedded in the center of a cross. A large piece of the wood is of Lebanon.

The Pontiff stated: "Father, in the name of the Holy Spirit...I humbly request you decree the epistolic letter of canonization be drawn up. And heavenly father, we shall decree..."

With these simple words, the canonization of Mother Teresa was complete.

"Let us pray. Oh God...that those who believe in Christ, they receive true freedom and everlasting inheritance....unity of the Holy Spirit..forever

The Liturgy of the Word was proclaimed in English.

"A reading from the book of wisdom: What man can know the intentions of God? Who can divine the will of the Lord? The reasonings of mortals are unsure and our intentions unstable, for a perishable body crushed down the soul and the ...of clay weighs down the teeming mind.

"It is difficult for us to know...laborious to know what lies within our reach. Who, then, can discover what is in the heavens? As for your intention...had you not granted wisdom and sent your holy spirit from above, thus have the paths of those on earth been straightened and man, ...taught what pleases you and saved by wisdom."

The psalm response was by Psalm 89: "Oh Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

As the crowd of thousands sang the hymn, several had their heads down while still more proudly and reverently [find synonym] lost themselves in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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The second reading was taken from the letter from Paul to Philomon and was recited in Spanish.

The proclamation of the Gospel was pronounced and another touching hymn was sung.

Luke 14:20-23 was read in Latin and a passage was spoken in Greek, the language of the New Testament.

In his homily, Pope Francis referenced the Book of Wisdom to explain there are always two protagonists in history: God and man.

"...but in order to do his will, we must ask ourselves, 'What is God's will in my life?' We find the answer in the same passage in the Book of Wisdom. People are taught to do what pleases you. To ascertain the will of God, we must ask ourselves, 'What pleases God?'

"...what was pleasing to God. The message found a wonderful...I want mercy, not sacrifice. God is pleased by every act of mercy because .... each time we bend down to .... we give Jesus something to eat and drink. We clothe, we help, and we visit the Son of God.

"We have touched the flesh of God, the flesh of Christ. We have been schooled to translate into concrete act that which we invoke in prayer and in faith. There is no alternative to charity.

"Those who put themselves in service to others, even when they don't know it....in times of need. If it is just this, it can certainly be a ...but it is sterile because it lacks root.

"The task which the lord give us, on the contrary, is the invocation to charity in which each of the disciples...entire life in service...in love. We heard in the gospel, large crowds were traveling with Jesus.

"today, this large crowd is seen in this great number of volunteers who have come together here for the jubilee of mercy. You are that crowd who follows the Messiah and who makes visible his love for each concrete person.

"I repeat to you the words of the apostle Paul" 'I have indeed received...saints been repressed through you.'

"How many hearts have been comforted by volunteers? How many hands have they held? How many years have been wiped away? How many...hidden, humble service?

"...praiseworthy service...mercy of the Father, who draws near to those in need. Following Jesus is a serious task but at the some time one fills with joy. It takes a certain daring and courage to recognize ...the master...and give oneself in ...

"In order to do so, volunteers who, out of love for Jesus and the poor and the needy, do not...rather, they renounce all this because they have discovered true love.

"Each of us can say that just as the Lord has come to meet me and has stooped down to my level in my hour of need, so too do I go to meet him, bending low...who lived as if God did not exist... before families in crisis...before the weak and defenseless...before abandoned children...wherever someone is reaching out, asking for a helping hand in order to get up, this is where our presence, and the presence of the church, which sustains and offers hope, must be.

"And we remember this when we think of our Lord stretching His hand out to us when we were literally down and out. Mother Teresa in all aspects of her life was a generous dispenser...and her defense of human light, those....She was committed to defending ...ceaselessly...smallest, the most vulnerable.

"She bowed down before those who were spent, left to die at the side of the road, seeing in them the God-given dignity. She made her voice heard in the powers of this world so they might...poverty they created.

"Before the crime, poverty, that the powers created. For Mother Teresa, mercy was the salt which gives flavor to the work. It was the light which ...poverty and suffering.

"Her mission to the urban and existential periphery, remains today an eloquent witness to God's closeness to the poorest of the poor.

"Today, I pass on this emblematic figure of womanhood and of consecrated life to the whole world of volunteers: May she be your model of holiness.

"We might have some difficulty in calling her "Saint Teresa," with great spontaneity, I think we'll continue to call h er, 'Mother Teresa.'

"May this tireless worker of mercy help us ... understand...criteria for action is: 'Love, freely given...freely offered to everyone without .... race...Mother Teresa loved to say, 'Maybe I don't speak their language, but I can smile.' Let us carry her smile in our hearts.

"Let us carry her smile in our hearts and give that smile to those we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer. In this way, we'll open up so many horizons of joy and hope for our many brothers and sisters who are discouraged and in need of understanding and tenderness."

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A few moments of silence to reflect and take Pope Francis' words to heart were observed following his homily.

A procession of people offering prayers in Albanian, French, Bengali, Portuguese and Chinese.

"Lord, grant them interior freedom, freed from all earthly care. May their lives be dedicated to all the riches of Heaven. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord, hear our prayer."

Prayers were offered for the people, governments and persecuted Christians.

"Comfort them, Lord, by your presence....Let us pray to the Lord."

The prayer for persecuted Christians was especially powerful as Christians continue to be denied in China...

Gifts were presented at the altar, some of which were symbolic of Mother Teresa's life.

Holy Communion was taken, Pope Francis concluded Mass and everyone greeted one another.

The massive crowd sang the beautiful hymn "Adoro Te Devote" followed by a moment of silence.

Pope Francis spoke of Mother Teresa, violence in other countries, fears and opening ourselves to the Blessed Mother.

He offered the final blessing and, with that, the Mass celebrating the Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta becoming Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta was concluded.

Her humility, loving heart, wonderful smile and giving nature perfectly encompass the message behind this Year of Mercy. Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with Saint Teresa, who has taught us all to love as your Son loved.

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