Mother Teresa’s Vocation at 100, by Ines A. Murzaku

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*Image: The Assumption (L’Assomption) by Nicolas Poussin, 1649/1650 (Louvre, Paris)

By Ines A. Murzaku, The Catholic Thing, Aug. 15, 2022

Ines Angeli Murzaku is Professor of Church History at Seton Hall University. Her extensive research on the history of Christianity, Catholicism, Religious Orders, and Ecumenism has been published in multiple scholarly articles and five books. …

In several nations, besides colorful processions, festivals, and fireworks associated with the Feast of the Assumption (or Dormition) of Our Lady, there’s also a longstanding tradition of blessing the summer harvest and thanking God for the abundance. In Germany, the blessing of herbs specifically points to the bounty Mary gave and received in Jesus: as Isaiah predicted “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” (Isaiah 11:1)

Mary was the first disciple of Jesus, the handmaid of the Lord (Luke 1:38), and after Mary an abundance of disciples sprang up – including St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata, who had a very special connection to Mary. Her religious vocation, which she received 100 years ago today, on the Feast of the Assumption, was a special gift from Mary, and proved very fruitful. …