Denver Catholic

4 JANUARY 31-FEBRUARY 6, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC In-Depth Cover T he gift Mother Teresa sent to Colo- rado 25 years ago keeps on giving. A handful of meek and humble Missionaries of Charity nuns continue to pray, comfort and care for the poorest of the poor in Denver after their mother sent them in the 1990s. "I have a gift for you," Mother Teresa told a crowd in Denver's old McNichols Sports Arena May 20, 1989. "I will give you my sisters and I hope that, together, we are going to do something beautiful for God." Much to then-Archbishop J. Francis Sta« ord's surprise, the small nun from Calcutta, India announced to thousands during a prayer service she wanted to send nuns from the order she founded to serve in the Archdiocese of Denver. Her gift was the story of the day for the media that heavily covered Mother Teresa's Denver visit and seeming- ly-spontaneous announcement. Refl ecting back, Sister Damascene and the three other nuns running the Gift of Mary Shelter adjoining St. Joseph Church suggest there was no mystery to Mother Teresa's decision—it was God's will. "It's as God wants," Sister Damascene, the superior, told the Denver Catholic inside the shelter. "We are missionaries so we are sent. We cannot choose where we want to go. There is no questioning." The fi rst group of sisters sent to Denver in Jan. 1990 moved into the Seton House, which had been renovated and dedi- cated for housing AIDS patients. Mother Teresa received honors for making use of the former Cathedral High School and convent and founding the house. By 2003, the order had cared for more than 490 patients. But improved treatment for AIDS and changing city requirements on the Seton House forced the sisters to relocate. "We had to stop that work because they had better medication and the city require- ment was more and more (patients), but we were getting less and less patients," Sister Damascene explained. They received permission to run a shel- ter for single, homeless women and began to look for a smaller space. "That's why we came over here," she said of the shelter on Fox Street and 6th Avenue, where the sisters also live. In Jan. 1990, the shelter began and the sisters open the doors at night to some 100 women over the course of a year. "We do talk with them and pray with them and listen to them," Sister Dama- scene said. "Many people here do change their life. They fi nd much peace and prayer. There are times when they want to come back to the sacraments." During the day the sisters, who wear the order's recognizable blue-boarded white sari, visit families and nursing home residents. They also visit the down- town jail weekly. "When we go to the prison, we bring and present Jesus in the blessed sacra- ment. It's also an opportunity for prayer," she shared. "The most important thing is to be with them, to listen to them—some- times they have a lot of su« erings and want to share things." The sisters thank God for the poor's acceptance of their service. For in each person they serve, they see Christ. "If we are not doing it for Jesus, if we are not seeing Jesus in them, we would not be able to do the work," Sister Dam- ascene said. "What we doing to them we are doing it to Jesus." The sisters describe it as joy-fi lled work with occasional struggles only overcome by prayer. "Prayer is important because oth- erwise we would not be able to do the work that we do," the superior said. "The prayer gives us the strength." The sisters spend more than four hours of their day in prayer, waking up before 5 a.m. for morning prayer and Mass. They also say prayers with the shelter residents, spend 30 minutes of spiritual reading, dedicate one hour to eucharistic adoration and conclude with the Liturgy of the Hour's evening and night prayer. The sisters work and pray in the shel- ter that is one of 760 houses run by the order's 5,100 nuns across the world. The future is unknown, but the Denver sisters are content with surrendering to wher- ever God sends them. "We are happy. I am happy," Sister Damascene said. MAY 1989 Mother Teresa announces during a prayer rally at McNichols Arena that she will send her sisters to Colorado. Denver Catholic File Photo by James Baca JAN. 1990 The Missionaries of Charity move into the Seton House downtown and care for men dying from complications of AIDS. Denver Catholic File Photo by James Baca JUNE 2005 The Gift of Mary Shelter is opened and the nuns move from the Seton House to St. Joseph Church to care for homeless women. Denver Catholic File Photo by James Baca JAN. 2015 Archbishop Samuel Aquila celebrates Mass with the sisters marking the or- der's 25 years of missionary service to the poorest of the poor in the Denver area. Photo by Andrew Wright/Denver Catholic prayer. There are times when they want JAN. 1990 JUNE 2005 Mother Teresa's gift to Denver continues BY NISSA LAPOINT 303-715-3138 nissa.lapoint@archden.org www.twitter.com/DenCathNissa A sister prays before a photo of Mother Teresa at St. Joseph Church. Four Missionaries of Charity sisters serve homeless woman at the shelter next door from the church. Photo by Andrew Wright/Denver Catholic

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