As the 10th National Eucharistic Congress concluded recently in Indianapolis, with prayers for a new Pentecost in the U.S. Church, it’s a good time to look back at Mother Teresa of Calcutta and her participation in the 41st International Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. What was her understanding of the unitive and transformative meaning of the Eucharist?

In a letter dated April 30, 1975, a year before the start of the event, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Cardinal John Krol, invited Mother Teresa to be his guest “and play a featured role in one of the Congress programs dealing with the Eucharist and the hunger of people for food and the necessities of life.”

Mother Teresa’s response arrived promptly, in a handwritten letter dated June 1, 1975. True to her characteristic humility, she expressed feelings of unworthiness and apprehension about speaking publicly before large crowds:

I am very happy to share the Eucharistic Congress with your people, but I am afraid of the big crowds and my simple talk. I would be very happy if I did not have to speak but I leave it to you to decide whatever Jesus wants.

… I would be grateful if you would kindly let me know what you wish me to do on the 3rd (Mother Teresa’s speech was scheduled for Aug. 3, 1976).

Cardinal Krol’s response is particularly interesting:

We will certainly be delighted with your presence at the Eucharistic Congress. I can well appreciate your hesitancy about delivering a talk at the congress. I recall that Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah and other prophets also protested their inadequacy.

Much like the Old Testament prophets, Mother Teresa placed her trust in Jesus. Without this trust, she would have never accepted invitations for public appearances. She articulated this sentiment in a 1976 letter to Eileen Egan, a friend and confidant, and co-founder of Pax Christi USA.

In his letter, Cardinal Krol emphasizes the importance of “simple talks” derived from firsthand experience. He argues that such talks, while simple in delivery, are rich in theological content. He asserts that Mother Teresa’s speech at the Congress would fulfill this mission:

We will have talks from learned men, but we need desperately the type of simple talks which our dear Lord himself gave. We need talks not simply to inform, but even more to inspire love for our Eucharistic Lord. We need very much the type of a talk which you gave in our Cathedral last year — a talk which is still remembered by those who were present.

Mother Teresa was particularly drawn to the theme of the Congress, “The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family,” as it encapsulated the vision and mission of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious community she founded. This theme also underscored the significance of Holy Communion in the life of the community. The earliest version of the Missionaries of Charity constitutions reflects Mother Teresa’s vision of a religious community centered around the Eucharist:

Each day — morning and evening prayers; meditation for half an hour; Holy Mass with opportunity to receive Holy Communion; general and particular examen twice a day; visit to the Blessed Sacrament; rosary and spiritual reading.

They shall encourage the sick of our Faith, even if not dying, to ask for Confession and Holy Communion, and then inform the priest in good time of the number of bed-ridden patients desiring Holy Communion.

The Sisters shall sleep in a common dormitory. In time of sickness or in case of old age, the Sister shall be given a room from where she can easily join in all the spiritual exercises and where she can receive daily Holy Communion.

Mother Teresa understood firsthand the benefits of building a religious community centered around the Eucharist, recognizing that its centrality contributed significantly to the growth in the number of religious sisters. Moreover, Eucharistic Adoration is prominently featured in the first draft of the constitutions of the Missionaries of Charity:

Each week — Confession; one hour of adoration with exposition of the Blessed Sacrament (rule 76)

Mother Teresa’s emphasis on the practice of Eucharistic Adoration was based on profound theology. She believed that anyone who truly wished to grow in love must return to the Eucharist and Adoration. She understood that the Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a sacrament, differing from other sacraments in that it not only produces grace but also contains the source of grace himself — Jesus.

In her June 1, 1975, letter, Mother Teresa reminded Cardinal Krol of the transformative power of the Eucharist:

Tomorrow (June 2, 1975), 79 of our Postulants are becoming Novices. You can imagine the Mother House crowded to overflowing Thank God. From the time we have started the hour of Adoration — Jesus keeps choosing more and more young people for his own.

The mission and work of Mother Teresa can be seen in her profound Eucharistic life. She perceived heaven in her faith when she communed; for her, the Eucharist was second only to the direct vision of God. Jesus offers his entire self in the Eucharist as a continuous source of spiritual nourishment, motivated by his love for humanity, as she said in Philadelphia:

Christ understood that we have a terrible hunger for God. He understood that we have been created to love and so he made himself a bread of life. ... [We] must eat and drink [in the Eucharist] the goodness of the love of Christ of his understanding love.

Additionally, we are united with one another, serving and nurturing each other’s “wounds.” As she explains simply yet profoundly:

He [Christ] also wants to give us a means, a chance to put our love for him in a living action; he makes himself the hungry not only for bread, but for love; he makes himself the naked one not only for a piece of cloth, but for that understanding love that dignity, human dignity; he makes himself the homeless one not only for a piece of a small room, but for that deep sincere love of one another and this is Eucharist, this is Jesus the living bread that he has come to break with you and with me.

Her motto was to “drink the chalice to the last drop” and to be “unconditionally all for Jesus.” The Christological and Eucharistic theology underpinning this maxim was that God had given himself totally in the Eucharist; thus, she would give herself totally to him through serving others. In doing so, she was emulating Christ himself.

Mother Teresa’s wholeness, or being “all his,” and her total dedication to Jesus and the poor, sustained her throughout her life and during the dark night of the soul. This was the essence of her theology and her definition of leading a Christian life: Without the Eucharist, one cannot truly understand or willfully love God and neighbor.