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Jesus said: “I solemnly assure you:

“The believers remained faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers…the apostles worked many signs and miracles” (cf. Acts 2: 42-47).

The story of every canonised saint is very intimately interlinked with the mystery of “signs and wonders”. This is true especially after the death of a person who lived his or her earthly life in close contact with God. Many saints work even harder after their death than before. St. Therèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face who, for example, was quite unknown to the world while she was within the confines of a cloistered convent, said: “My heaven would consist in doing good on earth”. The mission and ministry that she accomplished while alive was mostly known only to Jesus, her beloved Spouse. She wanted to make sacrifices without even Jesus knowing it, although she knew too well that that was impossible.

Blessed Padre Pio on the other hand performed innumerable miracles while he was still living. His reputation for holiness, coupled with the practice of the heroic virtues, had become a legend in his own lifetime. And yet it took 30 long years for the Church officially to recognise his heroic sanctity. The miracles done during his lifetime were not sufficient to prove that he was a saint, because a real miracle is required after the death of any Servant of God, unless the Servant of God is a martyr, in which case no miracle is required for his or her beatification; but one miracle after the Beatification is required for the Canonisation even of a martyr.

Many have been asking whether, through the intercession of our beloved Mother Teresa, the Lord has already performed the required miracle for her beatification. It is possible to think that her reputation for holiness and her heroic Faith and Charity, the various awards, honorary doctorates, the unique and unprecedented state funeral that she received, are more than sufficient ground to dispense from performing other miracles. It is up to the Holy Father to make any exception for her beatification.

Before going further into Mother Teresa’s beatification and the required miracle, it would seem necessary to explain in detail the meaning of a miracle, its significance and its importance in the life of the Church.

God’s Revelation comes to us in words and deeds. The words explain the deeds and the miracles, God’s special interventions, confirm the words. From the first pages of the Bible to the last, from the beginning of Christianity up until now, the Church believed firmly in the importance and the necessity of miracles as a confirmation of God’s direct intervention in human history. As Creator and Law-giver, God has every right and power to make exceptions to the laws of nature, which He does all the time through those persons whom He chooses to be His special instruments to keep mankind from going astray. This is also because God is not only the Creator, nor does He simply want to show His power and might, but primarily because He is a loving Father who really loves His beloved children: “All this I tell you that my joy may be yours, and that your joy may be complete” (Jn 15:11). This is the heart and mind of our God and he will ask some of His sons and daughters to make heroic sacrifices, endure many tortures and even martyrdoms as He did with Jesus, His “well-beloved Son,” to save the rest of the world. Suffering accepted with love is redemptive. No pain, no gain. In our wounds others are healed; in our trials others are strengthened; in our suffering others find salvation.

“Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit” (Jn 12: 24). Jesus, the grain of wheat falls no more to the earth, but He does so now in the members of His mystical body, who are especially chosen by Him to collaborate with His work of redeeming the world and whom we call saints: confessors and martyrs. They are made to recognise that Jesus is the one who does the work in and through them, for He says, “without Me you can do nothing”: “I am the vine and you are the branches…”. This explains to us in clear terms why and how Mother Teresa or Padre Pio or others could do what they did or could do what they are doing. There will always be saints and martyrs as long as there is the Church. Saints and martyrs have become so much the part and parcel of the Church’s life that we can no longer think of a Church without them. Saints are co-redeemers of the world.

The divine call to sanctity is a birth-right, and we are duty bound to aspire to it and make every effort to be holy as God Himself is holy. Children very much resemble their parents in appearance, in behaviour and in every way; they learn to speak the language of their parents. There is very little wonder then that we as God’s children resemble God. If we do not, then there is much room for wonder. Imagine a child of five or six who did not speak the language his parents. We would all feel strange. As children of God, it is so natural for us to speak the language of God, and the language of God is mainly ‘love’ and the work of God is ‘Charity’. How can it be otherwise!

This brings us to the main point: how and why persons like Mother Teresa of Calcutta and others could see God as the Father not only of one group or one colour or race. Our God cannot be confined to any particular colour or caste. He is Father of all, Father to all, Father in all. He is our ‘Our Father’ and we are all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father. All have the same immortal soul, the very same physical, psychological and moral needs…share exactly in the very same life of God. No matter what colour our skin may be, under that skin the blood is always ‘red’. The cows can be of different colours but the milk is always white. We kill our brothers and sisters in the name of religion, and for political and geographical reasons…brothers killing brothers like Cain killing his brother Abel. Mothers killing their children…etc. There is an endless chain of fratricide, infanticide…or homicide. And our God as Father of all suffers! “What am I to do with you Ephraim? For your love is like morning mist, like the dew that quickly disappears” (Hos: 6,4).

Mother Teresa has-been a protagonist of the common brotherhood of mankind for our time. She through her simple but profound faith, her intimate union with God in prayer, especially through the Eucharistic union and her ardent and heroic charity, particularly to the poorest of the poor, bridged the gap between races, religions, cultures and social statuses. She was able to see the “hungry Christ” in everyone: in the poor she saw Jesus who was hungry for a piece of bread and in the rich she saw Jesus who was hungry for love. For her it was the same to go to the dying man on the street of Calcutta or to go to the president of any country as she saw Jesus in both, respected Him, and loved and served Him according to their specific needs. This has been the work of God. The world is called to recognise it and the M.C. Family is called to perpetuate the mystery of this great “Mother Teresa Heritage”.

Mother by her words and example taught the world that the value of a person does not consist in what he or she has or what he or she owns or produces, but in what he or she is and in what he or she does for others, and in the way of doing it. Created in the image and likeness of God man is called to collaborate with God in the on-going re-creation of the universe, always moving towards the eschaton, where the entire cosmos will be made new in Christ. Herein lies the dynamic of Christian life!

For the beatification of a Servant of God, one real miracle performed through his or her intercession is required and sufficient. Pope Benedict XIV laid down several criteria according to which the miraculous cure of a sick person is to be judged:

All these elements have to be verified by qualified doctors and testified by the beneficiary in person by oath, and other valid documents proving the occurrence of the miracle are required. There is also the need for true witnesses who have known the cured person before, at the time of and after the miracle.

While we eagerly wait for the Church’s recognition of Mother’s heroic sanctity, let us continue to pray unceasingly: “Make us worthy, Lord to serve our fellowmen throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them this day their daily bread and by our understanding love give peace and joy. Amen”.

God bless you

Fr. Sebastian Vazhakala M.C.