Mother Teresa’s canonization brings cheer at Shanti Bhavan

Nagpur: There is a murmur of activity in the otherwise quiet precincts of Shanti Bhavan at Katol Road. A cable is being drawn hurriedly and a television set is being installed in the hall. Halogen lights are being placed strategically to illuminate the statue of Mother Teresa that adorns the compound. “Our well-wishers are taking this effort so that we can watch live the procedure of canonization of Mother Teresa as it will happen at Vatican,” says the soft-spoken Sister Jossica who is in-charge of this home for destitute.All the eight sisters who serve here have had an association with Mother. “We were all trained by her at the Missionaries Of Charity, Kolkata,” says Sister Jossica.
Remembering Mother as a compassionate person who worked tirelessly for the dying and abandoned, the Sister says, “She would pick people from roadside saying that they were all God’s children and nobody should die on the streets.” Sharing her experience of Mother’s healing powers, sister Jossica says, “When I was at the mission in Ahmedabad, Mother visited us. I had been suffering from ear pain for more than a month and no medicine was helping me. I told Mother about it and she placed her hand on my ear and prayed for me. After that I never needed any medicine,” she says.
Rejoicing the fact that a nun from India has become a saint, vicar general of SFS cathedral father Jerome Pinto says Mother came to India leaving behind a comfortable life and helped those who had nobody to turn to. “I had the good fortune of meeting her in 1974 when she had come here to set up a small home for children at Gaddigodam. It was called the DVD House. I shook hands with her and at that time too, I could see that her eyes were always looking beyond, as if she was in a hurry to spread the good work.” Lauding her work for the destitute, the priest says that Mother never preached or converted people. “Her only purpose was to spread the good news that Jesus loved every one.”
Former principal of SFS School Ivan Lobo had the privilege of being present when Mother Teresa opened her first home in Nagpur in 1975. “She was too human and saintly. A divine aura emanated from her and even when she addressed a crowd of thousand persons, an individual would feel as if she was speaking to him alone,” he says. “The mother and the sisters all live in such austerity and yet are so joyful. Mother had a terrific sense of humour too. I am so proud that she is being adorned with sainthood,” he adds.
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