Training
Sisters of the active and contemplative branch undergo many years of training. This training is broken down into 5 stages. These are:
1. Aspirancy which lasts six months
2. Postulancey which lasts almost a year
3. Noviciate which last two years. At the end of the
Noviciate, the first vows are made and the
candidate becomes a sister.
4. Juniorate which lasts five years. During the Juniorate
the renewal of vows is made each year.
5. Tertianship which lasts a period of one year. This is the
sixth year after the vows have been taken. Before being allowed to
take her final vows, a sister must return home for three weeks to be evaluate
her decision and determine if she really wants to spend the rest of her
life as a Missionary Of Charity.
Daily Life
A day in the life of the sisters in Mother Teresa's order went mostly like this:
4:30 - Getting Up
5:00 - Morning Prayer
6:00 - Spiritual Reading and
Meditation
7:00 - Mass
7:30 - Breakfast
8:00 - Housework
9:00 - Apostolate
12:00 - Noon Prayer
12:30 - Meal
13:00 - Our Ladies Office
13:30 - Rest
14:00 - Thea
14:15 - Apostate
17:15 - Adoration
19:00 - Time to Wash Clothes
19:30 - Meal
20:00 - Recreation
21:00 - Evening Prayer
21:15 - Night Prayer
21:30 - Bedtime
Imagine you're in the mother house in Calcutta.
It's very early in the morning, about 20 till five. A bell rings.
Out of the darkness comes the slap, slap of sandals on the bare floor.
A guest voice calls "Let us bless the Lord." Which is answered by
a sleepy response "Thanks be to God."
The sisters go down to the still quietness of
the chapel. Outside of the chapel, a blackboard tells which saint
is commemorated that day, then hymn to be sung, and lists people all over
the world who have asked for prayers from the sisters.
Inside the chapel, the crucifix on the alter
is surmounted with the words that are written in every Missionaries of
Charity chapel all over the world, "I thirst." It's there to remind
them of Christ's words, " a drink of water given to a beggar in compassion
and love is a drink given to God Himself." They pray for half an
hour kneeling on the floor. There are no seats.
Following the prayer time is a time of spiritual
meditation and the morning mass. Following mass is a breakfast of
tea and Chapattis, an unleavened bread baked on a hot metal plate and similar
in appearance to a flour tortilla.
Following breakfast, the sisters gather their
supplies for the day and set out to different parts of the city - on foot
if at all possible, or by van or bus. The sisters always go in twos
in the streets and say the words of the Rosary as they go. They carry
what they need in their canvas bags, including a bottle of water.
This way, they don't need to ask for anything from the people they serve.
Just after midday, the sisters return to the
mother house for a meal. The dishes are cleaned and the saris washed
in buckets and hung to dry. By 2:00 pm, they are all back out on
the streets again.
At six o'clock, they return to the mother house.
They then have prayer in the chapel, supper, and then reading and sharing
of the days stories. At the end of the day, the sisters return to
the chapel for night prayers and by ten o'clock, they are in bed and asleep.
The nuns in Mother Teresa's order live a life of simplicity. They each own only three saris one to wear, one to wash, and one to mend. They have a pair of sandals, two sets of underclothes, a rosary, and a small crucifix pinned on the left shoulder. Their underclothes are often made of old flour sacks and have to be washed about ten times before they are soft enough to wear. Each sister also has a metal spoon and rimmed plate, a canvas bag, and a prayer book. Coats and umbrellas are also available, but do not belong to one particular sister. The sisters never wear socks or stockings, even in the snow. They sleep on thin mattresses, wash their clothes by hand, and sit on chapel floors. The rules of the order have gone unchanged since 1950, although nuns are now allowed to return home once every ten years or when a parent is seriously ill.
The order has 8 branches, each with houses in other countries which serve a different purpose. The 8 branches are:
1. The Active Sisters, founded in 1950. They work with
the poor and dying in Calcutta.
2. The Contemplative Sisters, also called "Sisters of the World",
founded in 1976. They
are dedicated to the study of the scriptures.
3. The Active Brothers, founded in 1963. They are the male
counterparts of the Active
Sisters. These are the young men who bring
in the sick and dying people in the street,
help carry very heavy weights, and go out at
night with food and help for refugees and
the homeless.
4. The Contemplative Brothers. They are the male counterparts
of the Contemplative
Sisters.
5. The Fathers Missionaries. They are priests that desire
to live according to the rule of
the Missionaries of Charity. They have
a noviciate in Rome, where boys and men
desiring to become priests and follow the rule
of the Missionaries of Charity may come
and get their training for religious life as
well as the priesthood.
6. The Lay-Missionaries, which was founded in 1986. They are
those who cannot join the
religious life, but live according to the rule
of the Missionaries of Charity. They wear
ordinary clothes, but wear the cross on their
shoulders. They live the vows of chastity,
poverty, obedience to the constitutions, and
service to the poorest of the poor.
7. The Volunteers, which have been coming since 1950. These
are people from around the
world who volunteer to spend a short time with
the Missionaries of Charity.
8. The Sick and Suffering Co-workers, which began in 1969.
Those who are being treated
by the Missionaries of Charity who devote some
of their time to help their fellow
sufferers.
Nearly all Catholic orders require their members to take three vows. The first is the vow of chastity, the second is the vow of poverty, and the third is the vow of obedience. Mother Teresa's workers have added a fourth: "whole-hearted free service to the poorest of the poor - to Christ in His distressing disguise."