By Harry McAvoy

In the spring of 1981, I went on a six-week trip to India, including Calcutta, with my college study group.

Before I left, I spoke with Bishop Clune, a friend of the family, and asked for advice on how to meet Mother Teresa. He suggested simply knocking at the door of her motherhouse and asking to meet her. I doubted it could be that easy to meet an international figure who was being called a living saint and had won the Nobel Peace Prize just two years earlier.

On May 13, 1981, the day before I arrived in Calcutta, we heard that Pope John Paul II had been assassinated. We found a missionary priest in a small village and listened to his shortwave radio to learn that the Pope was still alive and Mother Teresa had left Calcutta and traveled to Rome to be with him.

On May 16, I still went to the Missionaries of Charities’ motherhouse. I was told Mother had indeed gone to Rome, but would be back in a week or two because a number of sisters were taking their vows. I was invited to visit their Home for the Dying and Destitute and one their orphanages, which I did. The next morning I joined the Sisters for Morning Prayer.

We moved on from Calcutta, returning a week or two later, for a two-day stopover. I collected money from the group I was travelling with and went back to the motherhouse with one of my companions. We knocked at the door and were invited to come in to meet Mother. It was as easy as Bishop Clune had said. 

We had waited for more than an hour, when Mother appeared at the door. She apologized and explained she was napping, having just returned from Rome, and her sisters didn’t want to wake her. She was about to depart for the Cathedral to attend the Mass at which some of her sisters would be taking vows. Mother invited us to join her at the church, where we ended up sitting across the main aisle from each other. It was wonderful to watch her in prayer. I remember how tiny she was and how reverent. I recall she spent much of the Mass on her knees.

After Mass, Mother Teresa sought us out. She said there were many people she needed to meet, including the families of her sisters. She asked whether we could come the next morning to visit her at the motherhouse. Sadly, we were leaving Calcutta that evening and a longer visit was not possible. She asked whether I had seen their work. I told her about my visit to the Home for the Dying and Destitute and the orphanage. I gave her the funds I had collected. She received the money and immediately passed it off to one of the sisters. There was no fanfare, and if there was a thank you it might have been whispered. I had the sense that Mother Teresa thought we had done what we were supposed to do and no thanks was necessary.

Mother Teresa autographed my copy of Malcom Muggeridge’s book Something Beautiful for God, which remains a prized possession.

I returned to Canada changed. I began a career in business, which I had studied in college. But the inspiration to grow in my faith and serve those in need became my driving force. I wondered if I was called to the priesthood. The associate pastor at my parish, Fr. Andy MacBeth, suggested I investigate Covenant House, which was soon to open its doors in Toronto. There was a faith community associated with Covenant House that offered young people an opportunity to volunteer for a year to work with street kids. They provided room and board and a small stipend. Members of the community participated in morning, evening and night prayers and attended daily Mass. As a 22 year-old that sounded like a lot of praying, but I still decided to join in October 1982. It was in this community that I met Jennifer, an American who had come to Toronto to help with the launch of Covenant House. She eventually became my bride.

Thirty-two years later, we are the parents of six children and I continue my work on behalf of those in need through ShareLife, the Archdiocese of Toronto’s response to the poor and suffering. There is no doubt this brief encounter with a saint changed my life.  It gave me purpose and direction, rooted in faith. Even today when I ask for donations on behalf of ShareLife, I am mindful that what I am really doing is inviting others to live the gospel well, loving Jesus through our neighbour in need. 

Thirty-five years later, my meeting with Mother Teresa continues to bless my life.