I met Saint Mother Teresa as a reporter when I covered her trip to Toronto; she had a profound effect not only on my life but on the entire world.
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My first Full-Time job was as English News Anchor, Reporter, and Talk Show Host with CHIN Multicultural Radio TV in Toronto. My reports and talk shows were picked up by national wire services like NewsRadio and Broadcast News and went right across Canada so other radio stations could use it as part of their programming.
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I even became the right-hand man to the Owner and Founder of Chin Multicultural Radio and TV, the late Johnny Lombardi known affectionately as the unofficial Mayor of Toronto’s Little Italy.
I covered everything from top political stories, sports, celebrities, and even royalty. The story that made the most impact on me was when Mother Teresa of Calcutta came to Toronto to open a Canadian Missionaries of Charity House. The first house was in the Dufferin Street and Bloor Street area of Toronto. It did not stay at that location too long. It has been in the Dunn Avenue area in Parkdale for the past four decades.
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I Met Mother Teresa
Even though the radio station did not ask me to cover this story I went on my own or so I thought. I followed Mother Teresa around like a lost puppy. On that first occasion, something quite spectacular happened to me while Mother Teresa was standing on the veranda of that house. The crowd that was there was trying to touch her. Out of nowhere, I reached over everyone’s head that was there and she put what turned out to be a Miraculous Medal right into my hand.
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I was there with my CHIN Radio Cassette recorder and Microphone to cover the event. Although she was only about four feet eight inches tall it seemed to me that she had the longest arm to put that Miraculous Medal into my hand. I was the first of only three people she gave a medal to that day. My love affair with that tiny Albanian Nun from Calcutta, India started right there and then. Although tiny in physical size she was a giant on the world stage.
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I Returned to the Church
To make a very long story very short, a few years after that very special event with Mother Teresa, I suffered a massive nervous breakdown and quit the broadcasting industry altogether. After years of therapy eventually, I did go back to Church every Sunday and also started going to confession on a regular basis as well. Before that, I hardly ever went to church and hadn’t gone to Confession in over twenty years.
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One particular morning, when I was a young child, I heard a man’s voice calling out my name, “Franco, Franco.” Thinking at first that it was my father calling me to wipe my eyes that morning I suddenly realized that my father had already wiped my eyes and gone to work. When I saw that no one was there, I got scared and went downstairs and told my neighbour, Yolanda Salvatore, what had happened. She got worried and told me not to go back to my room that morning. Who called out my name that morning so many decades ago?
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I was with my late mother one night while she was driving me for the first time in my life. I told her the story of when I was six years old I heard a man calling out my name but could not see anyone.
Mother said: “That’s funny, when you were three years old you came running out of our bedroom and told me that the man was yelling at me.” I pointed to a statue with the head bust of Jesus Christ with the crown of thorns and blood dripping down his face at the crucifixion. I told my mother that he was the one that yelled at me. She didn’t get angry with me, she asked what I did to get him angry. As it turns out I was playing with an electric light bulb and he yelled at me to warn me to leave it alone.
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I realized after that she always dressed me and cut my hair like, “Marcellino Pane e Vino”. Marcellino was made famous as the little boy who spoke to Jesus in a number of films. If you look at the large photo of my First Communion I looked exactly like Marcellino’s “Pane e Vino.”
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Broadcasting Once Again
While I was a parishioner of Our Lady of Victory Church one Sunday there was an ad in the Parish Bulletin for people to help Radio Maria Canada. Thinking it would lead to a job I ended up speaking with the owner and quickly became the English Voice and Talk Show Host of HMWN Radio Maria Canada. I would only buy books written by Saints because I wanted to know what made them Saints and what special talents and gifts they had. I would read those books very quickly because deep down inside I wanted to be a Saint.
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After Radio Maria I became the English Voice of AM 530 Catholic Radio Teopoli in Toronto throughout Southern Ontario. I hosted a program called Building a Civilization of Love with Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, lay Catholics, and their numerous apostolates within the Church. My key interview was with Father Federico Lombardi who was a spokesman for Pope Benedict XVI, head of Vatican Radio and Television. My goal at that point was to interview the Pope.
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I really love and enjoy broadcasting on the radio. I always tell people: “put me in front of the microphone and things begin to happen.” My dream job is to one day become the English Voice of Vatican Radio in Rome.
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Love One Another
As I mentioned earlier, I fell in love with Mother Teresa of Calcutta and am a huge supporter of the Missionaries of Charity serving the poorest of the poor. Mother Teresa was known as the “Saint of the gutters.”
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In the New Testament, Jesus teaches us about serving others. Let us continue to love one another. “For anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God” (John 1:7).
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In her earthly journey, Mother Teresa knew God and showed the love of God and the love of neighbour every day of her life.
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Another major Saint that I greatly love and pray to is Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, canonized a Saint in the year 2000 known all over the world as the Apostle of Mercy. St. Maria Faustina Kowalska wrote the most important book ever written, other than the Holy Bible. It’s called the Divine Mercy Diary which is over 600 pages of conversation with her and Jesus Christ. It is about God’s love and mercy for each of us.
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My favourite Bible verse: “If God is for you who can be against you.”
Thanks to both Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is for me.
3 thoughts on “How Saint Mother Teresa Impacted on My Life”
As always, Francisco offers such insights, it’s truly more enlightening and encouraging when he adds in his personal experiences to the story. The fact that Francisco actually had the opportunity to meet such a great person is fantastic.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your experiences. Please continue to share your experiences, the world needs to hear them .
God bless
Such a heartwarming down to earth reflection by Francisco Ruffolo on the ups and downs in his life journey and how Mother Theresa inspired his religious reawakening.
I have followed Frank’s broadcasting career for years and ultimately hope that he becomes the English Voice of Vatican Radio in Rome. —-He has proven himself in being past broadcaster for Catholic Radio Maria Canada in Toronto and catholic Radio Teopoli for southern Ontario—–We miss Francisco and need him back on the air waves!
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