Father Joseph Langford

Joseph Langford, MC, is cofounder with Mother Teresa of her community of priests, the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, based in Tijuana, Mexico. He finished his philosophical and theological studies at the Angelicum in Rome—where he came to know Mother Teresa in the years before beginning the priests’ community.

Since the author’s own first encounter with Mother Teresa was through a book, he is convinced that meeting the power and beauty of her message, even life-changing meetings such as his own, can take place through the printed word.

As the author came to know Mother Teresa better in those first years in Rome, he became convinced that her message was something all the world needed to hear—that there was no one who could not benefit from exposure to what God had given her to say. He soon realized that Calcutta was but a metaphor for the inner poverty within us all—that the roads of Calcutta led to everyman’s door. He resolved that Mother Teresa’s message must not die with her; that he would do all in his power to help it reach the world-wide audience it deserved; to make sure that those  who had felt touched by her might learn the full depth and beauty of what they had but sensed in her soul from afar.

In his role as cofounder, Mother Teresa confided much of what was deepest in her heart in their conversations over the years. Foremost in her soul was her desire that what she learned that famous day on the train to Darjeeling—of the magnitude and quality of God’s love for us, even at our worst—be made known far and wide, first to her own sisters, and then to the world at large. The great good this message has done to his own soul is the impetus behind this book, and those that will follow.

Order Mother Teresa's Secret Fire here»