Priest-pilgrims visit Blessed Teresa's tomb
Posted By editor On February 5, 2010 (2:46 pm) In Countries, Daily Service, Features, India
KOLKATA, India (UCAN) — A group of diocesan priests from 17 countries is visiting Missionaries of Charity houses in Kolkata to mark the Year for Priests and Blessed Teresa’s birth centenary.
Thirty-six members of the Corpus Christi Movement (CCM) began the “pilgrimage to places where Mother lived and worked” on Feb. 2, the feast of the Presentation of the Lord.
The program will end on Feb. 11, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, CCM coordinator Father Pascual Cervera told UCA News. The 60-year-old diocesan priest from Spain says CCM members live Blessed Teresa’s spirituality, and the pilgrimage helps them understand her charism.
The “pilgrim” priests, aged between 28 and 80, pray, celebrate Mass, and visit places associated with Blessed Teresa. It is a “spiritual program,” he added. The pilgrims are divided into seven groups and each group in turn visits seven Missionaries of Charity (MC) houses in the eastern Indian city each day. They spend the mornings helping the MC nuns and Brothers, and the evenings listening to close associates of Blessed Teresa.
Father Cervera said Blessed Teresa founded CCM in 1980 when he was a seminarian. The Nobel laureate nun took him and another seminarian Joseph Langford to New York where she set up the first CCM community.
Experiencing ‘love in action’
The Spanish priest said the “love in action” he witnessed in MC houses overwhelmed him. “Mother [Blessed Teresa] is alive in all these places,” he added.
Austrian Father Leo Maasburg, 61, said the pilgrimage has given him time to reflect on his priesthood and Blessed Teresa’s spirituality. The Kolkata visit is “an examination of conscience” for him, to evaluate how he has used the graces he has received, he said.
Father Maasburg told UCA News he has visited Kolkata thrice and “the spirit of love and service is the same in all the MC houses, even after so many years.” He said the CCM consoles diocesan priests who feel lonely in their parishes.
Father Sunil Rozario from Calcutta archdiocese said the pilgrimage helps participants express “solidarity” with Kolkata’s “suffering humanity.” The Indian priest said it is “a rare occasion” for many diocesan priests to come together for a spiritual cause. He regretted the absence of an international body to unite diocesan priests.
MC spokesperson Sister Lynn said the pilgrimage helped the nuns experience “the richness, greatness and sanctity of priesthood.” The nuns pray for more diocesan priests to join the CCM and experience transformation through their priestly ministry, she added.
IE08732.1587 February 5, 2010 42 EM-lines (429 words)
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