The Crucifixion of Jesus

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I grew up in Los Angeles, California, knowing very little about the Catholic Church.  I never had any close friends who were Catholic.  I knew nothing about India.​

     I watched the 1969 BBC documentary by Malcolm Muggeridge about Mother Teresa, entitled “Something Beautiful for God.”  I was captivated by the story of Mother Teresa.  I never imagined that I would meet her one day.​

     I have been a committed Christian since my teen years. In my twenties, I became interested in India and its large population, which had little exposure to the message of Jesus Christ.  I have gone to India many times, speaking in churches, homes, and on street corners about Jesus.  It was always in my mind to one day visit Calcutta.  ​

     In the third week of July 1989, I was traveling in India and decided to spend a couple of days in Calcutta.  I took a cab to the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity.  It’s a three-story, unpainted cement building.  The main entry is down a walkway from the main road.  At the entrance were double wooden doors with a wood placard to the left that read: “Mother Teresa is,” and below that were the words “in” and “out” with a small wood piece that moved back and forth to signify whether Mother Teresa was there.  The sign said she was “in.” ​

     I knocked on the double wooden door. A Sister opened the door. I said, “I’m visiting Calcutta and wondered if I could meet Mother Teresa.”  I didn’t know what to expect.  The Sister invited me in and asked me to sit on a cement bench about six feet long.  After a few minutes, Mother Teresa came out and sat with me.   She had an abrasion on her right forehead.  After I returned to the United States, I read in the newspaper that she had a pacemaker implanted shortly after I met her.  My guess was that she may have fallen due to her heart disease.

     I may have spent thirty minutes with her; perhaps more.  I told her how much I admired her work.  I told her that I would be starting medical school the following month.  She took my right hand in hers and prayed for me.  I prayed for her also.  She showed me around the Mother House, where the novices live and train.  She showed me the chapel and said she could not do the work she did without going to Mass every day.  She said that was where she received strength.  She told me to come work in India after I finished my education.​

     While talking with her, I was aware that she was keenly intelligent, something that wasn’t always portrayed in videos.  It was clear that she had a strong sense of mission, determination in her calling, and that she was an administrative genius.  Yet, she took time from her demanding schedule to talk with me.  She spoke to me like I was an old friend.  I sensed a presence about her that is hard to objectively explain.  My belief is that it was the presence of the Holy Spirit.  When I left the Mother House, I thought, “That must have been what it would have been like to meet Jesus.”

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Joseph W. Bergeron, M.D.

 

My testimony is provided for the Mother Teresa Center, San Diego, California.