Cardinal Sin’s homily at thanksgiving mass
for Blessed Teresa

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

Yesterday, with the whole world, we rejoiced as Pope John Paul II proclaimed Blessed the Servant of God Mother Teresa of Calcutta. As we give thanks to God for the gift of this holy woman, we can only exclaim ‘Blessed are the poor!” Indeed, in Blessed Mother Teresa, the poor are blessed because she herself was poor and she loved the poor.

The poor are blessed because they trust in God. The poor recognize that what they have comes from God. They are generous with others believing that God will provide for them if they give the little they have to those more needy than themselves. This is the very spirit of Mother Teresa. She was poor but she did not stop giving. She was poor yet she was joyful in life. She was poor but rich in faith and love. Her beatification is very timely and relevant.

Today, the world has its own standards for beauty, power and wealth. But Mother Teresa shows to us how to be really beautiful, powerful and rich. Yesterday, the Pope referred to Mother Teresa as the Modern Good Samaritan. It is in loving that she becomes. powerful. It is in believing that she becomes pleasing. It is in serving that she becomes prosperous. Thus, it is in becoming a person of God and for others that we can become great.

Mga minamahal kong kpatid, magpasalamat tayo sa Diyos para kay Mother Teresa. Mapalad ang ating bansa sapagkat maka-ilang ulit din siyang dumalaw sa atin. Ako ay nabigyang pagkakataong makilala at makasama siya. Isang banal na tao ang ating nakapiling.

Ngunit higit pa diyan, ating hilingin sa Panginoon na maipagpatuloy natin ang magandang sinimulan ni Mother Teresa. Tayo din nawa ay maglilingkod sa mga dukha at maki-isa sa kanila. Tayo nawa ay maging mga makabagong Mabuting Samaritano na lagging handa sa pagtulong. Kahapon, ang panalanging naka-sulat sa liturhiya ay “Teach me to love.” Ito rin ang ating panalangin: ‘Panginoon, turuan mo akong magmahal!” sa tulong ni Beata Mother Teresa, lalo pa sanang nating maipalaganap ang pag-ibig ni Kristo sa mundo. Amen.