Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

After the Synod that we had last year, when I came back I felt that the best way to bring Jesus back again into the family life, because I thought it was the surest and the easiest and the quickest way is to consecrate the family to the Sacred Heart. So we started by consecrating our society on the 1st of January. And from that time, in every place wherever the sisters are, have taken it, two sisters have been appointed to go around, and already more than a thousand families have been consecrated to the Sacred Heart, because we take Jesus at his word. I will bless the family where there is my picture. And so we give the picture, and also they spend about nine days before preparation, and then if we can get the priest to come to the house, very beautiful, but we have so many families. So we bring every family, we give each one a picture. I'm talking about poor people. And we give every family a picture, and to be able to get lots of Sacred Heart pictures. And a priest from Bombay gave me money to frame those pictures for our poor people. So they get a framed picture now. And then they come to the church, and Father blesses, makes the act of consecration together with all the families, and then the sisters go back to their family, and they get their neighbors into that family, and then again they have a little bit gathering together. And I found this year special. We have been doing that every year during the month of June, but this year we began from the beginning of the year, and now we are determined to get every Catholic family consecrated to the Sacred Heart. It's the families that are together, husband and wife and children. And I already have found great, great change in the lives of our people. And to help our families to consecrate the lives so totally to the Sacred Heart, we sisters, we get up at 11 o'clock on Thursday, on the eve of First Friday, because in our society, every month we make a novena to this for the First Friday preparation, novena for nine days. And then on Thursday, on the eve of First Friday, we have adoration, the sacrament from 11 to 12. That's what Jesus had asked St. Margaret Mary to consecrate that hour for the special blessing on the families. So we have that. And next day, on First Friday, we don't have any lunch. We offer that lunch. We don't cook anything, and that money that we save from the food, we give it to the poor families to repair their houses. And so this consecration is being carried with this sacrifice, with prayer, and the people are getting more and more involved, more and more they want to have this consecration come into their lives. And then we have involved the parishes, and every First Friday now, we're having hour of adoration in the church. And all the families that have been consecrated, especially they come for that hour, the whole family. And more and more now families are coming, even those who have not been consecrated are coming for the adoration. In some churches, they have it every Friday, but especially we are having this. Oh, is that in Calcutta? Calcutta, in all the cities, wherever the sisters are working. So in America as well? Outside of India and India. So we have 198 places, so this is going everywhere. And it's very beautiful to see that our Hindu families, our non-Christian families, seeing what has happened to their family, how the family has remained together, and how they're praying together, how happy they are. So they are asking, can't you do something for us also, to consecrate us also together?