“Come and See Him in the poor”

Establishing

the Sacred Heart

of Jesus

in the

hearts of all men

and

women

A prophesy

Conversation with premiere of China:

“Mother, why do you want to come to China?”

“I want to establish the kingship of Jesus Christ through the Immaculate heart of Mary, by serving the poorest of the poor who are the greatest members of the Kingdom.”

Monsignor Esseff’s council

“Linda, God has given you the opportunity to see what Mother Teresa saw in the poor”

“They are such an authentic group of women.”

Seeing through her eyes

“You can be the eyes and the heart of Mother Teresa and share it with others…..”

Staying out of God’s way

“Mother would say…I pray I stay out of God’s way.”

“Mother had a great love for Jesus and she saw Him in her sisters. Mother showed us the way to find Christ.”

…..And he taught me

That I was not broken

That I was loved by Mother Teresa

That I could see the poor

through Mother Teresa’s eyes.

In the final analysis

Whatever you do to the least

of my brethren

you do it unto me

From Oklahoma to Kolkata

Newspaper reporting class in a Purcell church with Huldah Buntain…once a neighbor to Mother Teresa

Adapting to Kolkata

Prepared with cameras and eagerness

Mother’s presence in Calcutta

Divine presence in a restless heart

God’s work

God’s work has to be done in His own way. He has His own ways and means of making our work known.

Our work is only the expression of the love we have for God

Blessing from heaven

Everyday I stand in front of a picture of Mother and say, “Please give me a blessing.” She told us, “After my death, I will be on earth and I will be with everyone.”

Knowing Mother Teresa and making a difference…one woman at a time

Sister Terecita: Released first group of lady’s from

jail in l980…an apostolate for Mother Teresa...she felt not doing much for the poor…. Could I go to prisons to visit…I wasn’t... asked for superintendent. Alone, what can you do. Visit some ladies. You can’t do much. Tell us some ladies not guilty. In prison because no place to go.-told mother. Mother got ready with Hindu co-workers to release the women from Alipor Central Jail. Thirty women around 1980. That’s how some still live. Very separated. They become mental. Long time abandoned in jail. No one to talk to.

Joining the order

• Student at St. Mary’s• First miracle• Mother is becoming a

beggar• 18th Missionary of

Charity

Mother the teacher…learning discernment

Sister, I know you from school…Sister active person. You couldn’t sit for hours in prayer ... stay active with mother (Father Lazarus)… You don’t belong to contemplatives… She was worrying over me at breakfast. Mother asked me, “what did Father say?”- I am meant to be an active M.C. It was a temptation to join the Carmelites.

Mother the beggar

Accepting the call

To serve the poorest of the poor wherever they might be.

Seeing Jesus in our eyes

Beginning in the slums

Around the world

Healing our bodies

And our souls

Through love

Living in faith without prejudice

“When she met with someone, their faith never made any difference, whether they were Catholic, Muslim, Hindu—she saw Jesus in them. They could feel her great love for them. She began with that great love when she was teaching school”.

How to pray

Prayer: We have seen Mother pray. We like to pray like mother. Morning prayers she said very loud: “When you pray to the Lord, God is attentive to your prayers and the devils run away. Not very loud, but do not keep silent”.

Loud prayers

She was already a saint. She meant every word of the meaning of a prayer. She would say, “I love you with my whole heart and soul.”

Discipline in prayer She would get up at 20 to 5 a.m. when young. When we joined

sleeping in the same dormitory with mother. When bell rang, 20 minutes enough time. She would jump out of bed and say, “Praise be the Lord”. We all replied AMEN. Start with short morning prayer. Make sign of cross after prayer. Dress very fast. Brush our teeth, go toilet. Mother always was the first one to go to the chapel. Lets see if one of you can see Jesus before me. Ten minutes before us. Jesus left alone all night, I have to say good morning. After morning prayer, meditation. Daily gospel passage for Mass. Take that gospel. We read. Mother told us-Many of you go to sleep. Hold your bible out-and she was meditating half hour. Many of us fell asleep. Mother holding her book in hand, grasping everything. Holding book as if she was eating up the words.

Her love for the church and her Pope

She did whatever she could do for the church. The Holy Father used her is places where he couldn’t go. Pope John Paul requested from her that she care of the neglected children of the world.

Mother loved the priests

She loved the church very much-the Pope, the Bishop and each priest… even the youngest priests. She would leave her cell, work, water to attend to a priest. She said, “without a priest we can’t have Jesus—he brings Jesus in the host. She adored her priests. She was deeply in love with the church.

Seeking counsel from Mother Teresa

Mother was deeply in love with people. At the mother house she anticipated those meetings and would be concerned if the hall was empty, “What, is there no one waiting for me?”

Sit among the poor

Arup. How did you travel today. I came in a bus. What did you do in the bus? I looked at the people around me. No, you shouldn’t do that. You can pray when sitting on the bus. You should travel by train, not bus, Mother told him. You should travel by third class. Why? There you become poor. You sit among them and make them happy. Sit among the uneducated.

Dark night stayed hidden Dark night of God. We come to know

only when book was published. We used to see Mother very sad, and at times angry. She would collect us and scold us. I was thinking, “mother is very depressed.” Sharing—she could not share. We were so young. Sister Francis Xavier was the only older sister. Mother and her never sat together. Sometimes they had arguments. Mother kept quiet. Not answer. She had no one to talk to. She went to Father Xavier, Father Narina and the Jesuit priest Father Nayona and the Jesuit House at St. Xavier College. She also spoke with Father Albelo at the college. St. Xavier college was well connected to Mother. The priests for 30, 40 years would come to the mother house.

Journey to Titagarh and the face of Poverty

Revealing the sacred heart of Jesus

Journey to Titagarh and the face of Poverty

Paritosh-inspired to service I was what, so tiny, just a college boy in the final year of graduation

the year she died.  But of course I visited her several times when I attended programs/events where Mother was a guest. I used to visit the Mother House and attend Mass whenever I could. I still visualize where she used to sit in the chapel. But one significant event that I can not forget ever in my life was when I had fallen sick severely. You would not believe I myself started getting the notion that I will die due to Malaria at St. Xavier’s College Hostel. Due to wrong treatment by several doctors in couple of months my health brought a lot of fear in everyone. I would fall sick every 15 days for couple of days. In the hostel, friends even thought that I have HIV AIDS and made me have test. But when all the doctors failed I started going to attend the morning Mass what Mother with all the sisters would attend. Mother blessed me and gave me miraculous medal and I started praying and I in few days time I became alright.

 

Seeing Mary On one occasion I met

Mother all alone, she was waiting on the ground floor of St. Mary’s Church, Ripon Street for Archbishop of Calcutta for a celebration. You would not believe that moment how I felt I can not describe. I felt I am with the Mother Mary.

Begging for alms Strongest part about Mother is the inspiration that I drew from her. I was

blessed by her several times. I would bow and touch her feet how we Bengalis (Indians) do to get blessing of elders by touching feet. I gained courage and confident in the silence and decided to do “something beautiful for God” as she would often say. I was fascinated when I came to know that how she got a ‘call within the call’ to dedicate her life as a nun and to begin the Missionaries of Charity. I was really exploring and imagining more and more how she must have felt on that historic day at the Howrah Railway Station on her way to Darjeeling for her retreat when she encountered a beggar for alms. She found Jesus in him!   

Growing up poor

Linda I do not mind to share with you that I belong to a very poor family, of course due to the atrocities by our relatives to my mother. I really went through a lot of hardship all my life. We used live in a slum until a few years back when I got married and shifted to a newly built house. But I too found Jesus in the poor people. I find myself and my own hardship in the young children. I understand what poverty is in real sense. I get the reflection of what my family went through along with thousands of people with whom lived in those slums.  These personal things probably I would not share with anyone, but somehow I feel like sharing with you.

 

I took up this mission as a young boy when I have many options open in life especially with a degree from one of the top ten colleges of India. We started something with uncertainty to change the lives of deprived children for sustainable development. I would find my own self and of course Jesus, as Mother had said in those poor children and communities. By serving these people I get the real happiness. In the silence and from very far it is Mother whose inspiration worked like ‘MAGIC’ in my life and I am proud to acknowledge that.

 

Starting from Zero

We stared from ‘zero’.. We did not have anything but now its full fledged Organization. Would you believe what tough situation we went through to get funds? At times we had no money but I would go to Mother’s tomb and miraculously something will happen. I heavily depend on Mother’s blessing and I keep praying for all the difficulties and frankly, miracles do take place in my personal life as well as in the events of PARIVARTAN. I’m confident God will find a way out as we pray to Mother!

 

My view of poverty is through the lens of my camera

A Haitian mother in Miami bringing dignity to her family

Finding Him in the eyes of an abandoned child

Finding Him on the Bowery in New York City 1982

Finding Him in Mother Teresa’s Calcutta

In life on the street

Finding company on the street with others in silent acceptance

In those moments of abandoned prayer

The Ganges is a constant companion of prayer for millions who view the water as holy.

Living on the edge

In the end, it is between you and God

Between me and you

Between you and them

And between them and Him

In not knowing the future

Not having a home on earth

Living on the razor’s edge

Maybe a college degree

Or maybe a degree in humility