Apply St. Teresa’s teachings in your lives, faithful urged

Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo celebrates yesterday’s Thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of St. Teresa of Kolkata at the St. Joseph the Patriarch Parish in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City (CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

The faithful are encouraged to apply St. Teresa of Kolkata’s teachings in each one’s life, especially in helping those in need.

Cebu Auxiliary Bishop Dennis Villarojo made this call to the faithful to emulate the heart of service of St. Teresa, the Saint of the Gutter, during yesterday’s Thanksgiving Mass for Mother Teresa’s canonization by Pope Francis last Sunday.

Villarojo, who presided over yesterday’s Mass, described Mother Teresa’s sainthood as a gift and a challenge to everybody, the church and the community.

“This is a gift to us and at the same time a challenge that her teachings and her life will bear fruit in each one’s life, in each believer’s faith and in our church as a community. And like a community, as one group of people, we will work together to help those in need,” said Villarojo in Cebuano in his description of the significance of the sainthood of Mother Teresa.

He said that Mother Teresa’s canonization is a confirmation that even while she was still alive, she was already a saint in her writings, thoughts and especially in her deeds.

He also reflected on the recent Davao bombing that had rocked the country in the past few days.

He reminded everyone to continue to be prayerful and not to let their faith falter in the midst of this tragedy.

He said that Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo had already issued a prayer for the victims of the bombing, which had been adopted by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and forwarded to the different dioceses in the country to serve as the prayer of the Church as a whole.

“In this trying time, we need to turn to God, call his name, continue to trust him and to remember St. Peter’s advice to ‘conquer evil with good’ — that we should always uphold goodness and love despite the evil that others had done,” Villarojo said in Cebuano.

Sr. Kiddushin, who was with a group of Missionaries of Charity, said she was happy that Mother Teresa had been canonized as St. Teresa of Kolkata as this would help spread the saint’s message to the people.

“Actually, I am very happy,” she said. “Most of all, it’s because Mother wants people to know that God loves them and I think this is an opportunity for Mother to speak that God is really longing to give comfort and His mercy to all. He wants everyone to come back to Him so that he could give His happiness.”

At least a hundred people attended yesterday’s thanksgiving Mass at the St. Joseph the Patriarch Parish, including a 70-year-old woman in a wheelchair, Trining Cabag, who said that she continued to pray to Mother Teresa to give her good health.

Designer Jed Sevilla, who also attended yesterday’s Mass, said that he was happy at the canonization of Mother Teresa because it completed her life’s journey as she was already considered a “living saint” when she was alive.

After the mass, those who attended lined up to kiss the relics of St. Teresa of Kolkata.