Thanksgiving islandwide :

Mother Teresa attains sainthood

Thanksgiving Masses will be held in all convents of the Missionaries of Charity, in Sri Lanka, today, September 4 to celebrate the canonization of Mother Teresa, said Sister M. Johannes MC, the regional superior of the Order founded by Mother Teresa.

She said, the community in Sri Lanka began a 'Spiritual Pilgrimage' four months ago in preparation for the canonization of Mother Teresa. The community, throughout the world held a day of thanksgiving with the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on July 14.

"Prayers for the founder, gifts and meals were shared among the inmates and the less fortunate in streets. Children from less privileged families in the North, Kandy and in the up-country were taken out on leisure trips; and counselling sessions held for youth in various cities" Sister Johannes said.

The community in Sri Lanka also held a Youth Day in July to steer the young in the right direction. Prayers and thanksgiving Masses will be held in every parish across the country in preparation for the canonization of a missionary who had a great zeal to serve God through the abandoned and the down-trodden.

The community of 'Shanthi Nivasa' Mutwal will celebrate a special thanksgiving Mass on September 11 at St. John the Baptist Church Mutwal at 8 a.m. presided over by Archbishop Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, Apostolic Nuncio to Sri Lanka.

"This parish was selected because Mother Teresa paid a visit to it when she visited Sri Lanka in 1986. Some of the parishioners who met her will never forget this day. They will pray fervently to the saint to intercede for them" Sister Johannes said.

A Mass will be celebrated in all homes on September 5, and also at the Shanthi Nivasa in Mutwal at 7.30 a.m., to mark the feast of Mother Teresa and the day she passed away in 1997, in India.

"We have sent two sisters to represent the community in Sri Lanka, at the celebration in the Vatican" the Nun said.

Pope Francis will elevate Mother Teresa, an iconic Nun and zealous missionary in Asia, whose life inspired many to follow the footsteps of Jesus to sainthood. Her mission is spread over 120 countries with around 5,000 sisters taking care of the less fortunate. A large number of lay missionaries and volunteers serve the homes of Missionaries of Charity throughout the world.

Mother Teresa was beatified after Pope St. John Paul II recognized her miraculous healing of an Indian woman with a tumour in her abdomen on October 19, 2003. The miraculous healing through the intercession of Mother Teresa was recognized by Pope Francis on December 17, 2015.

Mother Teresa known as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje Macedonia and died on September 5, 1997.

- Lalin