Forty years ago this year Blessed Teresa of Calcutta established her first home in Rome. By divine providence, this home was established in southeast Rome along the old aqueducts and near to the gypsy camps (the tower in the photo is part of an aqueduct).
When I first moved to Rome four years ago I lived near this site at the Porta Furba stop on Metro Line A. The night of my arrival my Wisconsin host explained to me that in the darkness of the neighborhood there a light shone - it was the Missionary Fathers of Charity.
This property is located in a staid shanty-town along the aqueducts. The fathers bring light: faith hope and charity to the poverty there. Most of their ministry is with Romanians. Please pray for their apostolate.
Honored and humbled is how I felt as I was invited to dine with them. In their refectory their only source of heat is an old "pot-belly" stove fed with wood. It was a moment of holiness. During the meal I felt an overwhelming presence of saints and angels.
While many of us sit in a bartizan on a wall, these religious are in the trenches.
3 comments:
YOu have been awarded the E for excellence award
http://dominisumus.blogspot.com/2008/02/e-is-for-excellent.html
Wasn't Mother Teresa in Rome from 1968-1997?
Thanks for the nice award!
Also, Mother was last in Rome in 1996, the year before she passed away. But her religious order is celebrating 40 years in Rome this year.
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