Mother Teresa (1910-1997) was a Roman Catholic nun dedicated to serving the world’s poor and vulnerable. She spent many years in Kolkata, India and founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious group dedicated to helping those in extreme need. In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming a symbol of selfless and philanthropic work. In 2016, Sister Teresa was canonized as Saint Teresa by the Roman Catholic Church.
What matters is not how much we have done, but rather
How much love have we invested.
What matters is not how much we put in, but
How much love do we invest in giving
——Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, the capital of the Republic of Macedonia, in 1910. Little is known about her early life, but she felt the call to become a nun at a young age and served by helping the poor. At the age of 18, she was allowed to join a nun group in Ireland. After months of training and collaboration with the Loreto Sisters, she was granted permission to travel to India. She took the formal vows of the religious order in 1931 and chose to name it after Saint Teresa, who was a missionary guarding Saint Lucius.
After arriving in India, she began working as a teacher; However, the widespread poverty in Kolkata had a profound impact on her, prompting her to establish a new religious order called ‘Missionaries of Mercy’. The main goal of this mission is to take care of those who no one is willing to take care of. Mother Teresa believed that serving others is a fundamental principle taught by Jesus Christ. She often mentions the words of Jesus,
What you did to my weakest compatriot is what you did to me
As Mother Teresa herself said：
Love cannot exist in isolation – it has no meaning. Love must be put into action, and this action is service. “- Mother Teresa
She experienced two particularly traumatic periods in Kolkata. The first was the Great Famine in Bangladesh in 1943, and the second was the violent incidents between Hindus and Muslims before the partition of India in 1946. In 1948, she left the monastery and lived full-time among the poorest people in Kolkata. She chose to wear a white Indian sari with blue edges to respect traditional Indian attire. For many years, Mother Teresa and a small group of nuns relied on meager income and food to make a living, often having to beg for funds. But her efforts towards the poorest have gradually been noticed and appreciated by the local community and Indian politicians.
In 1952, she opened the first home for the terminally ill, allowing people to pass away with dignity. Mother Teresa often accompanies the dying. Some people criticize the lack of appropriate medical care and the refusal to provide painkillers. Some people also say that this gives many overlooked people the opportunity to die with caring hearts.
Her works have spread worldwide. By 2013, there were 700 missions operating in over 130 countries. Their scope of work has also expanded to orphanages and end-of-life care institutions, taking care of terminally ill patients.
Not everyone can achieve great things. But we can do small things with full love
Mother Teresa never attempted to convert other believers. The patients in her shelter received religious rituals that were in line with their beliefs. However, she has a very firm Catholic faith and takes a strict stance on abortion, the death penalty, and divorce – even if her stance is unpopular. Her entire life was influenced by faith and religion, although she sometimes admitted that she couldn’t feel God’s presence.
Missionaries of Charity now have branches around the world, including in developed countries, working with homeless people and AIDS patients. In 1965, the organization became an international religious family under the decree of Pope Paul VI.
In the 1960s, Malcolm Muggeridge brought Mother Teresa’s life into a broader public eye by writing a documentary called ‘Something Beautiful for God’.
In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in overcoming poverty and hardship (which also posed a threat to peace). She did not attend the ceremony banquet, but requested to donate the $192000 fund to the poor.
In her later years, she was more active in activities in developed Western countries. She commented that although the West is materially prosperous, it is often spiritually impoverished.
The desire for love is harder to eliminate than the desire for bread- Mother Teresa
When asked how to promote world peace, she replied, “Go home and love your family
In the last twenty years of her life, Mother Teresa experienced various health problems, but nothing could stop her from fulfilling her mission of serving the poor and those in need. Until her final illness, she actively traveled around the world to different branches of the Missionaries of Charity. In the last few years of her life, she met Princess Diana in the Bronx, New York. Both of them passed away in less than a week.
After the death of Mother Teresa, the Vatican began the process of canonization, which was the second step towards canonization. Mother Teresa was officially blessed by Pope John Paul II in October 2003. In September 2015, Pope Francis announced:
Mother Teresa was a generous giver of divine mercy at every level of her life. Through her welcoming and defense of human life, whether unborn or abandoned, she allowed herself to reach out to everyone
She bowed down to those exhausted and abandoned on the roadside, waiting to die, and saw the dignity bestowed by God in them. She made her voice heard in front of the powerful in this world, so that they could admit their guilt for the poverty they had caused them
Mother Teresa is a living saint who has set a great example and inspiration for the world.
