In 1996 Sonja & I met Mother Teresa in Calcutta at the Mother House. What a power in that place! I wanted to give her a copy of The Spiritual Athlete. I called the Mother House on Lower Circular Rd. in Calcutta and a Sister Rose (from Kansas) told me that Mother Teresa might be free in the early afternoon and to call back about noon. I did and told the woman who answered if I might see Mother Teresa that afternoon. She said, “this is Mother Teresa, yes come at 2.”
Sonja and I arrived and rang the bell, A nun welcomed us in and asked us to have a seat, and almost immediately asked us to proceed upstairs. They then ushered us into their shrine/meditation hall (bare except for a large Christ on the cross at the far end) and we sat on a bench. Immediately i felt a strong meditative current and was about to “get into it” when a nun came in and said Mother Teresa is coming.
We went into a kind of open to the sky area and here comes Mother Teresa out of her room across a kind of “bridge”. I wanted to take the dust of her feet, and she sensed this and grabbed both my hands in hers and locked on and would not let go (or allow me to bow down.) We had a short chat and I gave her a copy of The Spiritual Athlete and that was it!
Here are 2 anecdotes from a wonderful book about her. We also visited Nirmal Hriday & met the head nun there. I mentioned Steve LaSala whose family I worked for as an apprentice bricklayer while in high school and college. And she told me how close Steve was to Mother Teresa.
Would you know if Sister Delores is still alive and if I might contact her? This is not a frivolous request. 60 plus years ago I worked as a bricklayer for LaSala Bros in NYC. Steve LaSala was the son of Andrew one of the brothers. I mentioned Steve’s name to Sister Delores ( I had read he helped initially with building your center in the Bronx) and she told me stories of Steve & Mother. We all had a good laugh! I did contact Steve when we returned and we had a nice “reunion”.
I have since learned from Sister Mary Marta that Steve LaSala is still alive and very “vital” and was coming regularly to the Bronx Center for services until Covid-19.