Meeting Mother

Caitlan Rangel reflects on the experience of visiting Mother Teresa’s home in Rome, and what encounters like this mean for us.

The first time I walked into my great-grandmother’s home after she died, I was bowled over with emotion. I fell to my knees at the weight of goodbye to a woman I loved so dearly. Her home still looked and smelled the same—purple fabric covered sitting chair, Italian trinkets in all the nooks and crannies, the scent of my Nan. A place can hold incredible power and communicate presence.

When I read a book, A Simple Path, by Mother Teresa over a decade ago, it changed my life, and she has been a spiritual mother to me ever since. I do not live in a slum or work daily with the poorest of the poor. But Mother’s love, simplicity, and joy resonate with me. She has helped me make life decisions and encourages me in my daily vocation as a wife and mother.

My husband and I recently traveled to Rome. Part of our trip included a visit to the Missionaries of Charity’s home in Rome, where Saint Teresa of Calcutta had often stayed. The trip was hosted by a group, and I had no part in the planning, so when I learned about this opportunity, I could not believe the gift of it.

When a Sister opened the door to us, her face radiated joy. Her sari was bright white and blue and she held a rosary in her hand.

We walked into the home, which used to be a large chicken pen. Yep, a chicken pen. It has a stone floor and concrete walls, is divided into small rooms, and the middle walking path opens to the sky above.

The priest with us told us we would all get to go into Mother’s room and while in Mother’s room we would be blessed with a relic of her blood. I stood in line and the Sister who welcomed us told me I could pray in the chapel while I waited. So, I left the line and walked into the simple chapel.

I dropped to my knees somewhere between and before the tabernacle and crucifix, which typical to Missionary of Charity chapels, has the words “I THIRST” on the wall with it. I was overcome with emotion. I knelt and wept, covering my face with my hand.

Where the emotion in my Nan’s home was a deep goodbye, the emotion I experienced in that chapel was an intimate hello. I was kneeling where she knelt, praying where she prayed, before the Lord in the same space. It sounds odd, but I noticed my knees and how they felt grounded in a different way—like my body sensed this space was holy and that the presence of this saint still abides there.

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I stayed in the chapel until the line dwindled to the end. I was invited to go into Mother’s room and be blessed by her relic. The priest asked me, “Who would you like to pray for? What are their names?” I could hardly speak the names of my children and other special intentions through tears and my closed throat. He began to pray over me and I wept. He touched the relic to my forehead, and spoke the word “peace.” My weeping ceased. The relic was smooth against my head and he held it there while he continued to pray …”peace.”

Sister invited me to take a prayer card with a relic of Mother Teresa in it and a message on it that “sister intended just for you.” And then I proceeded to ugly cry as I left Mother Teresa’s room.

God bless my husband who surely anticipated my tears. “Do I have mascara all over my face?” I asked my husband. “No, you look great,” he tenderly replied.

As we walked back toward our hotel, I pondered the experience. It was peaceful, joyful, and overwhelmingly emotional. I felt immense gratitude and some embarrassment for all of my tears.

Later that evening, we saw the priest who accompanied us and blessed us with Mother’s relic that day.

I told him, “I have loved Mother Teresa for a long time. Today was very emotional for me because I felt like I was meeting Mother for the first time.”

He looked at me and replied, “Mother was meeting you.”

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Click to tweet:
Saint Teresa went out to meet people. She welcomed people in to meet them. She met Christ in them. #CatholicMom

I suppose that may sum Saint Teresa up (not that one can sufficiently sum up a saint!). She went out to meet people. She welcomed people in to meet them. She met Christ in them.

What a witness from her life that she continues to exercise from heaven—to meet us where we are, as we are, and to love us with God’s love.

Perhaps each of us can ask for the grace to do the same for those we meet in our lives. As Mother Teresa said,

Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely, right where you are—in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have eyes to see.

When we do so, we show others (and remind ourselves) that “God still loves the world through you and through me today” (Saint Teresa of Calcutta).