In the dust-laden streets of Calcutta, where poverty wore a thousand faces and hope seemed as scarce as clean water, a small Albanian nun moved with the quiet determination of one who had heard the unmistakable call of Jesus Christ. Saint Teresa of Calcutta, canonized by Pope Francis in 2016, embodied the Gospel's most challenging invitation: to see Jesus in the poorest of the poor. Her hands, weathered by decades of service, became instruments of Divine mercy, touching the untouchable and loving the unloved. She understood that holiness is not found in grand gestures but in the faithful repetition of small acts done with extraordinary love. Each dying person she cradled, each wound she dressed, each prayer she whispered became a living rosary, each bead a soul precious to the Sacred Heart.
The beautiful mystery of Catholic communion goes beyond time and geography, weaving together souls in ways that often remain hidden until eternity reveals the full tapestry. In the 1980s, through my providential friendship with Jerry Kelly, hundreds upon hundreds of handmade rosaries, which I made with love and gave to Jerry multiple times for his visits, found their way from Staten Island into the blessed hands of Mother Teresa herself. These simple strands of beads, made with love for our Blessed Mother, and sent across an ocean, became instruments of prayer in the very place where Christ's presence shone most brilliantly through His faithful servant. How profound to imagine these rosaries, born from one Catholic heart's desire to serve, being prayed by the woman who would one day be a Saint. Each Hail Mary whispered through those beads carried with it the love of distant benefactors and the intercession of countless saints.
Mother Teresa's spirituality was fundamentally Marian; she understood that to reach Jesus, we must go through His Mother. The rosary was not merely a devotion for her but a lifeline, a way to walk with Mary through the sorrowful mysteries that played out daily in the slums of Calcutta, and to rejoice in the glorious mysteries of God's endless mercy. She often spoke of Mary's "yes" to God's will, and how that same surrender must echo in every Christian heart. When she held those rosaries made in my home, she held the faith of a fellow believer who understood that prayer knows no boundaries, that love shared multiplies infinitely, and that the smallest acts of devotion can span continents to serve the greatest of saints.
Today, as we remember Saint Teresa of Calcutta's intercession, we are reminded that holiness is not reserved for the few but is the calling of every baptized soul. Her legacy challenges us to find Jesus Christ not only in the Eucharist, but in every person we encounter, especially those whom the world overlooks. The rosaries that once traveled from Staten Island to Calcutta serve as a beautiful reminder that our individual acts of faith and charity become part of something far greater than ourselves; they become threads in the magnificent tapestry of the Communion of Saints. Through her prayers and example, may we too have the courage to love without counting the cost, to serve without seeking recognition, and to trust that even our smallest offerings, when placed in God's hands, can touch the heart of eternity.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
