Mother Teresa (Roman Catholic nun)

Biography:

Mother   Teresa     (1910–1997)                   was       a Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to  serving  the poor and  destitute  around the  world.   She            spent         many    years      in Calcutta,   India         where      she founded the Missionaries   of         Charity,              a          religious congregation devoted to helping  those in great   need. In 1979, Mother  Teresa    was awarded      the          Nobel    Peace         Prize  and became   a  symbol   of charitable, selfless work.     In           2016,       Mother      Teresa           was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa.

“It is not how much we do, but how much love         we put  in  the        doing. It   is not  how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.”

–      Mother   Teresa.    From:              No       Greater Love

Mother Teresa:

mother teresaMother Teresa was born in 1910 in    Skopje,                     the        capital           of   the Republic       of Macedonia.  Little     is  known about  her   early life,    but  at    a  young  age, she felt a    calling to      be   a nun  and   serve through   helping   the   poor.   At  the  age    of 18,   she    was    given  permission   to   join  a group    of       nuns    in        Ireland.     After  a  few months       of   training,  with   the     Sisters   of Loreto, she was then given permission to travel                to            India. She   took   her    formal religious vows   in     1931  and chose  to   be named  after St Therese  of     Lisieux –  the patron saint of missionaries.

On   her  arrival         in        India,     she  began     by working       as                 a    teacher;     however,    the widespread   poverty     of Calcutta made   a deep impression  on    her,  and   this     led  to her    starting  a new       order            called      “The Missionaries   of    Charity”.        The       primary objective     of   this    mission              was to  look after  people,         who  nobody      else                 was prepared to look after. Mother Teresa felt that serving  others     was     a   fundamental principle   of           the    teachings                of  Jesus Christ. She often mentioned the saying of Jesus,

“Whatever you  do     to     the least         of           my brethren, you do it to me.”

As Mother Teresa said herself:

“Love cannot remain by itself  –  it  has  no meaning.  Love has to    be  put into action, and that action     is  service        .”         –  Mother Teresa

mother-teresaShe                       experienced        two particularly                       traumatic            periods             in Calcutta. The first was the Bengal famine of            1943   and    the            second     was              the Hindu/Muslim   violence      in  1946,    before the partition of India. In 1948, she left the convent          to    live         full-time     among         the poorest of  Calcutta. She chose to wear a white  Indian sari,  with a blue  border,    out of respect for the traditional Indian dress. For     many years,     Mother      Teresa     and  a small band  of      fellow       nuns survived    on minimal  income   and      food, often  having to  beg   for funds. But,  slowly   her    efforts with         the                 poorest         were          noted   and appreciated  by the local  community   and Indian politicians.

In  1952,      she opened    her    first home   for the     dying, which      allowed  people    to    die with     dignity. Mother    Teresa  often  spent time with        those   who    were dying. Some have criticised the lack of proper medical attention, and     their                refusal      to              give painkillers.              Others  say that it   afforded many  neglected   people   the     opportunity to die knowing that someone cared.

Her    work  spread       around  the    world.   By 2013, there were 700 missions operating in  over  130 countries. The scope  of their work          also            expanded             to                     include orphanages and hospices for   those with terminal illnesses.

“Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love.”

Mother Teresa:

Mother   Teresa    never    sought   to convert those            of    another    faith.           Those in  her hospices   were   given       the  religious   rites appropriate to their      faith. However,      she had a very   firm  Catholic faith and  took  a strict   line on   abortion, the death   penalty and   divorce –   even     if    her position     was unpopular. Her  whole life was influenced by her faith and     religion,    even though  at times   she  confessed  she didn’t      feel the presence of God.

The    Missionaries         of   Charity       now   has branches throughout the  world  including branches  in  the  developed    world    where they work  with the homeless  and  people affected      by        AIDS.                    In         1965,                   the organisation      became      an       International Religious      Family   by   a decree        of      Pope Paul VI.

In    the     1960s,       the  life  of Mother Teresa was  brought   to     a wider   public attention by          Malcolm     Muggeridge who    wrote    a book and produced a documentary called “Something          Beautiful            for                                 God”. mandela-teresaIn         1979,                  she                 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for work undertaken in   the      struggle to  overcome poverty      and          distress,                   which            also constitutes  a  threat to peace.”  She didn’t attend the ceremonial banquet but asked that the     $192,000   fund    be given  to      the poor.

In      later     years,  she    was more  active      in western                 developed        countries.             She commented  that       though the  West      was materially   prosperous, there was often a spiritual poverty.

“The      hunger        for love   is           much         more difficult       to  remove     than     the hunger for bread.”

Mother Teresa:

When       she     was     asked how   to promote world  peace,  she    replied,”Go   home     and love your family”.

Over    the last    two  decades   of   her            life, Mother      Teresa      suffered various   health problems, but nothing could dissuade her from fulfilling  her  mission   of  serving the poor and  needy. Until her very last illness she   was     active   in  travelling around     the world        to    the different     branches  of The Missionaries of  Charity.       During her    last few years, she met  Princess Diana in the Bronx,  New      York.   The two   died within  a week of each other.

Following    Mother Teresa’s            death,        the Vatican                    began                       the     process             of beatification, which is the second step on the  way  to canonization  and      sainthood. Mother    Teresa   was formally  beatified in October  2003         by    Pope   John  Paul  II.  In September             2015,                                 Pope        Francis declared:

“Mother Teresa,   in all aspects   of her life, was    a        generous          dispenser    of      divine mercy,     making  herself    available                       for everyone       through             her          welcome  and defense of human life,   those unborn and those abandoned and discarded,” 

“She bowed down before those who were spent,  left to   die on the  side  of the   road, seeing   in          them   their God-given   dignity. She made           her     voice   heard   before    the powers    of this  world,   so that they  might recognize    their   guilt        for   the       crime       of poverty    they created.”    Mother               Teresa was a   living      saint        who  offered  a  great example and inspiration to the world.

Awards given to Mother Teresa:

The    first Pope    John          XXIII  Peace Prize. (1971)

Kennedy Prize (1971)

The Nehru   Prize   –“for  the   promotion    of international                                                        peace                                and understanding”(1972)

Albert    Schweitzer                   International  Prize (1975),

The Nobel Peace Prize (1979)

States     Presidential          Medal  of  Freedom (1985)

Congressional Gold Medal (1994)

U Thant Peace Award 1994

Honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996)