Mother Teresa's 'miracle' to receive Communion from pope

Published: 2003-10-14

ROME (CNS) -- Dressed in a pink sari accented with shimmering silver thread, Monica Besra, a mother of five, is without a doubt a member of the Missionaries of Charity family. Amid the unusual hustle and bustle of the missionary sisters' convent at Rome's St. Gregory Church the week before Mother Teresa of Calcutta's beatification, the sisters greet her in the traditional Indian way -- hands pressed together -- then they grasp her hands or her wrist. Besra, who is in her late 30s, played a key role in the process leading to Mother Teresa's Oct. 19 beatification. Suffering from a huge abdominal tumor, Besra was being cared for by the Missionaries of Charity in West Bengal state. The sisters prayed for Mother Teresa's intercession, and Besra was healed on the first anniversary of their founder's death. With one of the Indian nuns translating, Besra told Catholic News Service she has been smiling ever since. A Hindu at the time of the healing in 1998, Besra became a Catholic and was scheduled to receive Communion from Pope John Paul II during the beatification Mass.

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