On December 4, 1985, Father Gruner met Mother Teresa in Rome. We published this in Issue No. 19. Recently she wrote:

April 7, 1986
+LDM
Missionaries of Charity

Dear Fr. Gruner,

May the peace of our Risen Lord be yours!

Thank you very much for your letter And the enclosed Fatima Crusader ISSUE No. 19

May Our Lord continue to bless your dedicated efforts to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

God bless you, Keep the joy of loving Jesus - through Mary and share this joy with all you meet.

God bless you,
Ae Teresa

In response to Mother Teresa's letter encouraging us to spread devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, we publish here a talk of hers. Mother Teresa gave this talk in Moncton, Canada, in the presence of Archbishop Donat Chaisson and thousands of the faithful gathered at the Catholic Foundation for Human Life's Rally for Life.

CONTINUED FROM ISSUE NO. 21

I was in Ethiopia for Christmas. We have many Sisters there working, a number of houses. And what I saw was something unbelievable - hundreds of people dying of hunger, dying for a glass of water. And as you know, Ethiopia is communist. And the man, the top man, came to visit me in our convent; a very strong communist. But when he saw what the Sisters were doing, the tenderness and love they were giving - because we are very sure it is Jesus in the distressing disguise, very sure - what they were doing, how they were lifting, how they were taking care, the tenderness and love they were giving, he looked and he said, "Only a life consecrated and dedicated can do what you Sisters are doing." See, the joy and love for life, the life of Christ, in that person. That is why Jesus made Himself the bread of life - to satisfy our hunger for His love. And as if this were not enough for Him, He made Himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, so that you and I can satisfy His hunger for our human love. How wonderful is it that we have that opportunity.

PRAY TOGETHER AT HOME

And where does this love begin? At home. How? How does it begin? By praying together. For a family that prays together - a man, a woman, a child that prays - stays together. And if we stay together, we will love one another as God loves each one of us. Also, the fruit of prayer is a clean heart and a clean heart can see God. Jesus said, "Blessed are the clean of heart, they shall see God." And if we see God in each other naturally we will love one another as He loves each one of us. Jesus has said it again and again, "Love one another as the Father has loved Me." How did the Father love Him? He gave Him to us. How did Jesus love you and me? Let us look at the Cross - we know how He loved us. If we look at the tabernacle, we know how He loves us now. And He wants us to love. And how will we love each other? We must love until it hurts. And where does this love begin? At home. How does it begin? First with the little unborn child.

GO TO CONFESSION

Now they are talking of destroying even the born one, even the crippled one, even the mental one, and so on. Well, what has happened to our love that we have been created for? That's why it's very important for us to have a clean heart. And for us Jesus' tender love is so great, His forgiving love is so great, we can go to Him in confession. We go to confession as a sinner full of sin. We come from confession a sinner without sin.

And it is very important to be able really to pray. Teach your children to pray, ask your teachers in your schools to teach your children to pray and pray with them.

THE ROSARY: A WONDERFUL GIFT

Our Lady's Rosary has been a wonderful gift of God to us. Yesterday there were over 10,000 people as we prayed together the Rosary. It was such a wonderful experience to hear that joyful song, so to say, of those voices glorifying God; wonderful that He had given us an opportunity to pray together and to glorify His Mother who He had given to us. And where did He give Our Lady to us? At the birth. The moment Our Lady said "Yes," She became our mother, the moment She received Jesus. Annunciation was Our Lady's first Communion day.

DAILY EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

When we receive Holy Communion do we get that zeal? Our congregation is very much woven to the Eucharist. Up to 1973, we used to have adoration once a week because we have a day of recollection every week one day. And then at our Chapter there was one voice, "Mother, we want adoration every day." And I said, "How can we have adoration every day when we have so much work to do?" We deal with thousands of people, thousands of sick people, poor people, we have to do everything for them. We take care of 158,000 lepers; from the streets of Calcutta we have picked up 48,000 people sick and dying and over 22,000 have died with us a most beautiful death. So I said, "How can we have it daily?" But still everybody said, "No, Mother, we want it." I was very happy that they wanted. So I said "Yes." And I can tell you, we didn't have to cut down the work at all. We have daily adoration one full hour. And I can tell you something very beautiful. From that time, from the time we had daily adoration I find in our congregation love for Jesus is more intimate, love for each other more understanding, love for the poor more compassionate. And we have twice much more vocations. What a beautiful gift of God.

And I'm glad to thank the parents of some of our Sisters who have joined from Canada and are with us; a beautiful gift of God. And because I believe that that is the greatest gift of God to a family - to have a son or daughter given to God. It is the greatest gift.

OFFER UP YOUR SUFFERINGS

And in your life suffering, sorrow, pain will come - to purify you, to sanctify you, to make you holy. It's a gift of God. Accept it. Accept the suffering and offer it. Accept it as a gift of God, not as a punishment but as a gift of God. And offer it for peace in the world. I never forget, I went to visit a lady who was dying of cancer. And she was in such terrible pain. So I said to her, "This terrible pain is but a kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close to Jesus on the Cross that He can kiss you." The next day after she was dead. I think Jesus continued kissing her in heaven. This is something so beautiful. Make use of suffering. Don't let it make you miserable. Share it and offer it, especially today. Offer it for peace in the world because there's so much hatred, so much disturbance and so you can help with the acceptance of the joy of suffering as a gift and offering it to God.

And you must try to experience the joy of loving. A few weeks ago two young people came to our house. We looked after about 9,000 people every day in Calcutta. And they gave me lots of money, and I asked, "Where did you get so much money?" And they said, "Two days ago we got married. And before marriage we decided we will not buy wedding clothes, we will not have a wedding feast, we will give you the money." And I know in India what a big sacrifice they made. So I again asked, "Why did you do that?" And they said, "We love each other so tenderly that we wanted to share the joy of loving with the poor you serve." To share the joy of loving. This is something so beautiful. Have you experienced the joy of loving? Where does this joy of loving begin? At home, in our own home, in our own family. But they had the courage to share it with those people that had no love. This is my prayer for you: that you experience the joy of loving.

PRAY FOR THE JOY OF LOVING

To be able to experience the joy of loving, pray. For prayer will give you a clean heart and a clean heart can see God in each other and you will be able to love one another as God loves each one of you. I will pray for you. I will pray for your families, for each one of you - that you may grow in holiness. Holiness is not the luxury of the few, it's a simple duty. Jesus said, "Be holy, like My Father in heaven is holy." So it's a simple duty. Where does this duty begin? Where does this holiness begin? At home - if we have love, peace and joy at home, that comes through prayer together. Grow in that holiness by loving one another.

And you pray for us also, that we may continue God's work with great love and that we don't spoil His work, that it may remain His. And pray also that more and more Jesus will choose your children to consecrate their lives to His service so that through them - through their sanctity, through their purity, through their joy of loving - they may save the world.

ASK YOUR PARISH PRIEST FOR EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

I will pray especially that all of you together may pray also that God's blessing be in this new work that you have joined together, the Catholic Foundation and the unborn child, that it will give a chance to Jesus to be born again in our families, in our hearts so that we make our homes another Nazareth. To be able to do that, go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Ask your priest to give you the joy of adoration, to be alone with Jesus. Open your heart to Him and He will speak to you in the tenderness of your heart.

God bless you.

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