Portland: When Jesuit Father Bob Fabing first met Mother Teresa in 1983 in Calcutta, he had no inkling the meeting would be the start of a decades-long friendship.
That friendship culminates next month, when Father Fabing concelebrates Mass with Pope Francis as Blessed Mother Teresa is canonized in early September in Rome.
Over 14 years, Father Fabing met with Mother Teresa more than 80 more times all over the world, giving retreats and spiritual counseling, and working with the Missionaries of Charity, the international religious congregation founded by Mother Teresa to care for “the poorest of the poor.”
These meetings are ultimately what inspired him to write the Mass for Teresa of Calcutta, published by OCP. At the canonization events next month, people across the globe will join together to sing the direct and welcoming Mass that captures her spirit.
Father Fabing said the canonization Mass will be the pinnacle of his musical life. Pope Francis will declare Blessed Teresa a saint at the Vatican Sept. 4. Her first feast day Mass will be celebrated the following day at St. Peter’s Basilica.
To honor Mother Teresa on the occasion of her canonization, OCP has compiled an MP3 album with Father Fabing’s Mass for Teresa of Calcutta and other songs inspired by her selfless acts. That digital playlist, titled Songs for St. Teresa, can be found at www.ocp.org/st-teresa-music.
The album includes the song, “Your Song of Love,” which Father Fabing wrote for Mother Teresa and sang at her funeral in Calcutta and at her beatification by Pope John Paul II in October 2003. The lyrics of the song include the poignant lines, “May your hands touch the poor again. May your arms hold the sick again. May your smile fill each heart again through who I am.”
For media requests—including review copies and interviews—or to learn more about Songs for St. Teresa of Calcutta or music by Father Bob Fabing, please contacts Kelcee Marcum, 503.460.5358 or kelceem@ocp.org.
(Source: Standard Newswire)