September 5
St Teresa of Calcutta
Saturday, week 22 in Ordinary Time
St Teresa of Calcutta, better known as Mother Teresa, is commemorated today by the Catholic Church as a model of charity and dedication to the poorest of the poor. Born in what is now North Macedonia in 1910, Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu entered the Loreto Sisters in Ireland before being sent to India, where she taught for many years. In 1946, she experienced what she later described as a "call within a call," inspiring her to leave her convent and serve the destitute in the slums of Calcutta. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, whose work quickly expanded across the globe, tending to the marginalized, sick, and dying with profound humility and faith.
Despite her global fame and the many accolades she received, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa always insisted the work was God's, not hers. Her spirituality was marked by total trust in Christ, a deep commitment to prayer, and especially a love for Jesus present in the "distressing disguise of the poor." The Church honors her not only for her service, but as a reminder that holiness is possible in contemporary times through ordinary acts of love and service. Though she endured periods of inner spiritual darkness—documented in her private writings—her perseverance in faith shines as a witness to trusting God even amid struggle.
Mother Teresa was canonized in 2016. On this day, Catholics are invited to reflect on the call to serve Christ in the poor and to recognize the beauty of self-sacrificial love in daily life.
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The liturgical day
Mass readings
Reading1 Co 4, 6b-15
Brothers,
learn from Apollos and myself
not to go beyond what is written,
so that none of you will become arrogant
taking sides against one another.
Who then set you apart?
Do you have anything that you did not receive?
And if you did receive it,
why do you boast as if you had not received it?
You are already satisfied, you are already rich,
you have become kings without us!
Ah! If only you had become kings,
so that we too could be kings with you!
But we, the Apostles,
it seems to me that God has made us last of all,
as if sentenced to death,
for we have become a spectacle to the world,
to angels and to humans.
We are fools for Christ,
and you are wise in Christ;
we are weak,
and you are strong;
you are honored,
and we are despised.
Even now, we are hungry, we are thirsty,
we are in destitution, mistreated,
we have no home,
we labor hard with our hands.
We are insulted,
we bless.
We are persecuted,
we endure it.
We are slandered,
we encourage.
Until now, we are, so to speak,
the scum of the world, the refuse of humanity.
I am not writing this to shame you,
but to admonish you as my beloved children.
For in Christ, you may have ten thousand guides,
but you do not have many fathers:
by proclaiming the Gospel,
it is I who gave you life in Christ Jesus.
– The word of the Lord.
PsalmPs 144 (145), 17-18, 19-20, 21
The Lord is just in all his ways,
faithful in all he does.
He is near to those who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
he hears their cry: he saves them.
The Lord watches over all who love him,
but he destroys all the wicked.
May my mouth proclaim the praises of the Lord!
His most holy name, let all flesh bless it
forever and ever!
GospelLc 6, 1-5
One sabbath day, Jesus was walking through the grain fields;
his disciples were plucking ears of grain and eating them,
after rubbing them in their hands.
Some Pharisees said,
“Why are you doing
what is not permitted on the sabbath day?”
Jesus answered them,
“Have you not read what David did
when he was hungry,
he and his companions?
He entered the house of God,
took the bread of offering, ate it,
and gave some to his companions,
even though only priests are allowed to eat it.”
He said to them again,
“The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.”
– Let us acclaim the Word of God.
Liturgical texts: © AELF — aelf.org