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                                  VIS-Press releases   
      
   POPE HAS LUNCH WITH THE POOR   
      
   VATICAN CITY, 26 DEC 2010 (VIS) - The Holy Father today offered a luncheon to   
   people assisted by the various Roman communities of the Missionaries of   
   Charity, in order to mark the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Blessed   
   Mother Teresa of Calcutta.   
      
   The lunch, which took place in the atrium of the Vatican's Paul VI Hall, was   
   attended by 350 people from various welcome centres, and by 150 religious,   
   including Missionaries of Charity, Contemplative Brothers, priests and   
   seminarians.   
      
   Following some words of greeting by Sr. Mary Prema Pierick, superior general of   
   the Missionaries of Charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Pope arose to   
   address the assembly. "May the light of the Baby Jesus, of the Son of God made   
   man, illuminate our lives to transform them into light, as we see happen   
   particularly in the lives of saints", he said. In this context, he also   
   recalled the witness of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, which he defined as   
   "a reflection of the light of God's love. Celebrating a hundred years since her   
   birth is a cause for gratitude and reflection, for a renewed and joyful   
   commitment to serve the Lord and our brothers and sisters, especially the most   
   needy".   
      
   "Blessed Teresa of Calcutta", the Holy Father said, "showed charity to everyone   
   without distinction, but with a preference for the poor and abandoned: a   
   luminous sign of God's paternity and goodness. In all people she was able to   
   recognise the face of Christ, Whom she loved with her entire being. She   
   continued to encounter the Christ she adored and received in the Eucharist in   
   the streets and lanes of the city, becoming a living 'image' of Jesus Who pours   
   the grace of merciful love onto man's wounds.   
      
   "To those who ask why Mother Teresa became as famous as she did, the answer is   
   simple: because she lived humbly and discretely for and in the love of God. She   
   herself said that her greatest prize was to love Jesus and serve Him in the   
   poor. Her diminutive figure, her hands joined in prayer or caressing the sick,   
   a leper, the dying, a child, was the visible sign of an existence transformed   
   by God. In the night of human pain she made the light of divine Love shine and   
   helped many hearts to find the peace which only God can give.   
      
   "We thank the Lord", Benedict XVI added, "because in Blessed Teresa of Calcutta   
   we all see how our lives can change when we meet Jesus; how they can become a   
   reflection of the light of God for other people. To so many men and women who   
   experienced poverty and suffering, she gave the consolation and certainty that   
   God never abandons anyone, ever. Her mission continues through those who, here   
   as elsewhere in the world, live the charism of being missionaries of charity.   
      
   "We are very grateful, dear sisters and brothers, for your humble and discreet   
   presence, hidden to the eyes of mankind but extraordinary and precious to the   
   heart of God. Your life witness shows man - who often searches for illusory   
   happiness - where true joy is to be found: in sharing, in giving, in loving   
   with the same gratuitousness as God, which breaks all the logic of human   
   selfishness".   
      
   The Holy Father concluded his remarks with assurances of his prayers. "Know   
   that the Pope loves you", he said, "and carries you in his heart, gathering you   
   all together in a paternal embrace".   
   AC/VIS 20101228 (580)   
      
   SUMMARY   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
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