Church Of The Little Flower Catholic Church Christian: Fill & Download for Free

St. Therese of Liseux inspired Mother Theresa, and is a “Doctor of the Church.”Thérèse of Lisieux - WikipediaBeing named a Doctor of the Church is high distinction of Catholicism given to certain saints who are exceedingly gifted theologians. It may surprise many that several Church Church Doctors are women, and I love all of them! Among these, is one of my favorite theologians: Saint Therese of Liseaux.Here are the top four female Doctors of the Church:St. Hildegard of Bingen, Doctor of the Church: Hildegard of Bingen - Wikipedia This saint was a genius, a poet, and a mystic as well…St. Catherine of Sienna Catherine of Siena - Wikipedia I took her name for my confirmation. She convinced the pope to take the papacy out of Avignon France, where it had become dissipated centuries ago.St. Teresa of Avila Teresa of Ávila - Wikipedia This saint founded the Carmelite Order of nuns in Spain. I was thrilled to see some of her original writings, when visiting!St. Therese of Liseaux is the youngest of all the female Church Doctors, and the inspiration of (now Sainted)Mother Theresa. Doctor of the Church - Therese | Society of the Little Flower - USAnother great 20th Century Catholic saint and theologian, though not a Church “Doctor” yet, is Edith Stein - Wikipedia.St.Therese of Liseaux based her special but simple theology on a mix of humility and trust in Christ. She became a Carmelite nun at a very young age, inspired by the great saint “Teresa of Avila” (another Doctor of the Church). However, “little Therese” felt the other children of God to be larger “flowers” than she, ascribing to herself the title of “little flower.”Mother Teresa (now declared a saint) was actually named after the “little Therese” and her (formerly) more famous Spanish counterpart “St. Teresa of Avila” sometimes called “the big Teresa.” Mother Teresa borrowed little Therese’s theology for the following quote:“We can do no great things, only small things with great love” —Mother TeresaSt. Therese often said in her diary (requested by her superior) that even if she had committed all the greatest sins on earth, she would trust in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. She wore a little page of Scripture around her neck, not as a talisman, but to help her remember the great trust she always placed in Jesus as his “little flower,” and she is often called by that name today.I used to think of her works as “too flowery” for me, but St. Therese was helpful to my husband when he was dying (her own comments when dying were very inspirational). Even suffering the most painful tuberculosis, she was in great peace.Some great Protestants, like Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs, have also read found her “Story of a Soul” extremely inspirational.

Prologue:The basic tenet of democracy and free speech entails that there are no holy cows. Nobody's immune to criticism, however high and mighty he/she might be! So, I don't think a Nobel Peace Prize should in anyway stop valid questions being raised regarding Mother Teresa.What did Mohan Bhagwat actually say?Even though Mother Teresa did healing and charity which was indeed a good act, her's was not a selfless act. The underlying motive of her social service was to convert people to Christianity.What's exactly wrong in that? Or even earth shatteringly new? Why has this snowballed into such a huge controversy?Simple answer: Media.The duplicity of Indian media is that anything the RSS or an Hindu Organization speaks/does gets cast in a negative light whereas religious organisations pertaining to other religions can get away with anything!Here are some snippets of that duality:1. While I agree that the 'Gharwapsi' campaign run by the VHP is a brain-dead idea and needs to be condemned vociferously, I also believe that the conversions by Christian missionaries and evangelists need to be criticized with equal ferocity.Does that even happen? Your answer is as good as mine!P.S. I passed my I.C.S.E. exams from a missionary school and hail from Gajapati district of Odisha, a relatively poorer district with a high tribal population; so I am acutely aware of the scale and semantics of this 'conversion business' carried out by missionaries and evangelists.2. There have been a series of attacks and petty thefts in the churches of Delhi, an extremely condemnable act. However there have been higher no. of thefts and attacks on Delhi temples in the corresponding period.However, the media focussed only on the churches part and completely left out the temple portion. Not only that, the RSS was blamed for the church attacks without a single piece of evidence supporting RSS' involvement.Source: Crying wolf: The narrative of the ‘Delhi church attacks’ flies in the face of facts - FirstpostNow that we have made the priorities of the Indian media clear, let's move on to Mother Teresa; her views, ideologies, faith and scientific temper(or the lack of that!).Mother Teresa's sources of funding:a) The Duvalier family of Haiti (dictators);b) Charles Keating of Lincoln Savings and Loan (a proven and testified money swindler);c) Robert Maxwell (another money swindler).Mother Teresa's political connections:a) Indira Gandhi and the Gandhi family - She also was a supporter of 'Emergency'. A so-called champion of poor supporting government's emergency. If this is not irony, I don't know what else is!b) Enver Hoxha of the Albanian Communist party - Famous for religious suppression, human rights violation and mass killings.c) Licio Gelli - accused of multiple murders and corruption cases in Italy.Mother Teresa's views:a) On Abortion and Contraceptives:“Let us promise our Lady who loves Ireland so much, that we will never allow this country a single abortion. And no contraceptives.” ~ Open air mass in Knock, Ireland in 1992.""Abortion is the worst evil, and the greatest enemy of peace... Because if a mother can kill her own child, what will prevent us from killing ourselves or one another? Nothing.""Abortion can never be necessary... because it is pure killing."b) On suffering, poverty and population:“I think it is very beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to share it with the passion of Christ. I think the world is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people.”In one interview she was asked, “So you wouldn't agree with people who say there are too many children in India?” She said, “I do not agree, because God always provides. He provides for the flowers and the birds, for everything in the world He has created. And those little children are his life. There can never be enough.”Healthcare in the overrated Missionaries of Charity, Kolkata:a) Overcrowded and small rooms with patients sharing beds with others;b) People suffering from tuberculosis and AIDS treated in subhuman unhygienic conditions;c) Absolute distaste for pain killers;d) Primitive outdated medicines and old syringes washed in lukewarm/ cold water.One of the various interesting anecdotes regarding the treatment methodology of Mother Teresa:According to Mother Teresa's bizarre philosophy, it is "the most beautiful gift for a person that he can participate in the sufferings of Christ". Once she tried to comfort a screaming sufferer: "You are suffering, that means Jesus is kissing you!" The man got furious and screamed back: "Then tell your Jesus to stop kissing."Money laundering charges:The "Missionaries of Charity" used to get millions of dollars in funds from across the world, mostly from dubious sources; yet the healthcare system was primitive and lacklustre. There are numerous questions as to where that money was being siphoned off to, the most popular answers are being:a) The Catholic Church;b) Sponsoring conversion activities across India;c) Building nunneries around the world for conversion purposes.Mother Teresa in her own words:This is as irrational and unscientific as it can get!Q. What does he need more - love or bread?A. Love. When there is suffering, man needs relief. But, in the end, he needs love most. I once met a Catholic woman who was a cancer patient. I said to her that her cancer was the kiss of God. She replied: "Mother, please pray to God to stop that kissing." Poor child. I only looked at her. Two days later when she died there was a beautiful smile on her face.Q. As a Christian missionary, do you adopt a position of neutrality between Christian poor and other poor?A. I am not neutral. I have my faith.Q. Do you believe in conversion?A. To me, conversion means changing of heart by love. Conversion by force or bribery is a shameful thing. It is a terrible humiliation for anyone to give up religion for a plate of rice.Q. Just as the caste system in Hinduism is a fetter, do you feel that the labyrinthine regulations of the Catholic Church too are a fetter?A. I never felt that way. Nor did I feel the necessity to change the rules of the Catholic Church. It is not relevant, too. In the hour of death, we are going to be judged by what we have done to the poor. We have consecrated our lives to give wholehearted and free service for the poorest of the poor.Q. Can the Church do any wrong?A. No, as long as it stands on the side of God.Q. Mother, if you were born in the Middle Ages, and were asked, at the time of Galileo's inquisition, to take sides, which would you have chosen - the Church or modern astronomy?A. (Smiling) The Church.Source: India is my country, and I am an Indian: Mother Teresa : Cover StoryChristopher Hitchens' opinion:Most of the critical analysis of Mother Teresa has been done by the ultimate rationalist Christopher Hitchens in his book, "The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practise". It's only but fair that the last word goes to him:"MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go?"Epilogue: We need more rationalists, atheists and agnostics like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse Tyson in this country and less Mother Teresa and Mohan Bhagwat. I rest my case!Sources:1) The fanatic, fraudulent Mother Teresa.2) Criticism of Mother Teresa3) "India has no reason to be grateful to Mother Teresa" by Sanal Edamaruku4) Shattering the Myth of Mother Teresa5) Canadian researchers discuss ‘The dark side of Mother Teresa’6) Academics suggest Hitch called it right on Mother Teresa

Francis of Assisi is a popular figure both within the Catholic Church and outside of it. Franco Zeffirelli’s much dramatized and partly fictionalized account of his life, Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna (Brother Sun, Sister Moon)[1], was popular among many young people when it as released in 1972, in spite of poor critical reception. I saw it when I was 17, and it was the first factor that urged me toward a Franciscan way of life. Not a very good film and today I would find the dialogue cloying, but it does capture the sense of the popular idea of Francis.Francis was a gentle rebel. His early life was marked by confrontations with “the establishment”, first his father and then the Church itself. He refused the middle-class life into which he was born (his father was a textile merchant) and chose a strikingly poor mendicant life for himself and his followers.The Orders and Institutes that St. Francis founded in the thirteenth century still thrive today: the Franciscan friars, the Poor Clare Sisters, the Franciscan Third Order (men and women, consecrated and secular) and the Custody of the Holy Land (commissioned by the pope to protect and and care for the Christian Holy Places in the Holy Land and the pilgrims who visit them).It is generally believed that Francis “invented” the Nativity Scenes (praesepio). Whether or not this is true, the Christmas crib/manger scenes that are so familiar today are firmly associated with the one he arranged at Greccio in the early 13th century.Another—most remarkable—fact is that Francis of Assisi received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ appearing on his hands, feet and side two years before his death. The Brothers and Sisters of Penance have put the relevant part of an English translation of Chapter LIII of the Fioretti (The Little Flowers) on their site[2]. Francis is the first “stigmatic” (a person who received on their body the wounds (stigmata) of Christ) who was recognized by the Church.These are a few of the things that make Francis of Assisi such a beloved figure today and that still draw people to follow his way of living the gospel. There is much more to say! You might want to look him up online or see if you can get hold of some of the many books about him.Thank you for the A2A.Footnotes[1] Brother Sun, Sister Moon - Wikipedia[2] BSP Brothers and Sisters of Penance of St Francis