Readings for the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Readings
for the Memorial of

Saint Teresa of Calcutta
Virgin and Foundress

September 5

(Go to the Liturgy of the Hours)

MASS

From the Common of Virgins: For One Virgin, or from the Common of Holy Men and Women: For Those Who Practiced Works of Mercy.

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Come, you blessed of my Father, says the Lord: I was thirsty and you gave me to drink; behold now I give you the water of everlasting life.

COLLECT
God,
who called the virgin Saint Teresa to respond
to the love of your Son thirsting on the Cross
with outstanding charity to the poor,
grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession,
to minister to Christ in our suffering brothers and sisters.
Who lives and reigns...

FIRST READING      Isaiah 58:6-11
Thus says the Lord:
This is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking off every yoke?
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: "Here I am!"
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the accusing finger, and malicious speech;
If you lavish your food on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then your light shall rise in the darkness,
and your gloom shall become like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and satisfy your thirst in parched places,
will give strength to your bones
And you shall be like a watered garden,
like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM          33:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

R. (2a) I will bless the Lord at all times.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
on the ten-stringed lyre offer praise.
Sing to him a new song;
skillfully play with joyful chant.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
For the LORD’s word is upright;
all his works are trustworthy.
He loves justice and right.
The earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
By the LORD’s word the heavens were made;
by the breath of his mouth all their host.
He gathered the waters of the sea as a mound;
he sets the deep into storage vaults.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all who dwell in the world show him reverence.
For he spoke, and it came to be,
commanded, and it stood in place.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.
The LORD foils the plan of nations,
frustrates the designs of peoples.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever,
the designs of his heart through all generations.
R. I will bless the Lord at all times.

SECOND READING  (In places where it is a solemnity)    1 Jn 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is of God;
everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God.
Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.
In this way the love of God was revealed to us:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God.
Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us,
and his love is brought to perfection in us.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us,
that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify
that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,
God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.

God is love, and whoever remains in love
remains in God and God in him.

ALLELUIA          Mt 11:25
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom.

GOSPEL           Matthew 25:31-46 (or 31-40)
Jesus said to his disciples:
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him,
he will sit upon his glorious throne,
and all the nations will be assembled before him.
And he will separate them one from another,
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right,
`Come, you who are blessed by my Father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
a stranger and you welcomed me,
naked and you clothed me,
ill and you cared for me,
in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will answer him and say,
`Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you,
or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you,
or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?
And the king will say to them in reply,
`Amen, I say to you, whatever you did
for these least brothers of mine, you did for me.'
[Then he will say to those on his left,
`Depart from me, you accursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.
For I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
a stranger and you gave me no welcome,
naked and you gave me no clothing,
ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.'
Then they will answer and say,
`Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison,
and not minister to your needs?'
He will answer them, 'Amen, I say to you,
what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.'
And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."]

PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS
Receive, O Lord, the homage of our humble service,
which we present to you in commemoration of the Virgin Saint Teresa,
and grant through the one unblemished sacrifice
that we may constantly burn with devoted and holy love in your sight.
Through Christ our Lord.

PREFACE          Missionary of Charity

It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God.

For you granted Saint Teresa
a share in the thirst of your Son dying on the Cross,
making her a missionary of Charity:
she took upon herself the rejection of the poor and,
placing herself at their service,
she radiated the light of your merciful love.

And so, with all the Angels and Saints,
we praise you as without end we acclaim:

Holy, holy, holy...

COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Amen, I say to you: Whatever you did to one of the least of my brethren
you did it to me, says the Lord.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
May the sacred mysteries we have received, O Lord our God,
foster within us the fire of charity
by which Saint Teresa, with a joyful spirit,
served Jesus Christ your Son in the poor.
Through Our Lord.

Liturgy of the Hours
Teresa of Calcutta

From the Common of Virgins, except the folowing:

The Office of Readings

From the last letter of Mother Teresa, M.C. to the Missionary of Charity Sisters.
(September 5, 1997)

My dearest Children,

This brings you Mother’s love, prayer and blessing that each one of you may be only all for Jesus through Mary. I know that Mother says often–“Be only all for Jesus through Mary”–but that is because that is all Mother wants for you, all Mother wants from you. If in your heart you are only all for Jesus through Mary, and if you do everything only all for Jesus through Mary, you will be a true Missionary of Charity. Thank you for all the loving wishes you sent for the Society Feast.

We have much to thank God for, especially that He has given us Our Lady’s spirit to be the spirit of our Society. Loving Trust and Total Surrender made Our Lady say “Yes” to the message of the angel, and Cheerfulness made her to run in haste to serve her cousin Elizabeth. That is so much our life--saying “Yes” to Jesus and running in haste to serve Him in the poorest of the poor.

Let us keep close to Our Lady and she will make that same spirit grow in each one of us. September 10th is coming very close. That is another beautiful chance for us to stand near Our Lady, to listen to the Thirst of Jesus and to answer with our whole heart. It is only with Our Lady that we can hear Jesus cry, “I Thirst”, and it is only with Our Lady that we can thank God properly for giving this great gift to our Society.

Last year was the Golden Jubilee of Inspiration Day, and I hope that the whole year has been one of thanksgiving. We will never come to the end of the gift that came to Mother for the Society on that day, and so we must never stop thanking for it. Let our gratitude be our strong resolution to quench the Thirst of Jesus by lives of real charity–love for Jesus in prayer, love for Jesus in our Sisters, love for Jesus in the poorest of the poor–nothing else.

And now I have heard that Jesus is giving us one more gift. This year, one hundred years after she went home to Jesus, Holy Father is declaring Little Flower to be a Doctor of the Church. Can you imagine–for doing little things with great love the Church is making her a Doctor, like St. Augustine and the big St. Teresa! It is just like Jesus said in the Gospel to the one who was seated in the lowest place, “Friend, come up higher.”

So let us keep very small and follow Little Flower’s way of trust and love and joy, and we will fulfill Mother’s promise to give saints to mother Church.

RESPONSORY
Come, O blessed of my Father,
inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,
you did it to me.
- For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

COLLECT
God,
who called the virgin Saint Teresa to respond
to the love of your Son thirsting on the Cross
with outstanding charity to the poor,
grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession,
to minister to Christ in our suffering brothers and sisters.
Who lives and reigns...

The English translation of Psalm Responses, Alleluia Verses, Gospel Verses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL); the English translation of Antiphons, Invitatories, Responsories, Intercessions, Psalm 95, the Canticle of the Lamb, Psalm Prayers, Non-Biblical Readings from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1973, 1974, 1975, ICEL; excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

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