We all have our own heroes, people we admire and respect, people whomade an impact on our life, that made us look at the world with adifferent eye, Mother Teresa is definitely the one for me. Although the world is full of good people, great humanitarians thatreally care, people who donate billions of dollars, people who raisetheir voice to make a difference, Mother Teresa stands out in the”It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It isnot how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving. “She dedicated every day of her adult life caring for “The dying, thecrippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved” and she lovedevery minute of it because she was loving, she was cleaning, feedingYes, she fed them, sheltered them, cleaned their wounds, but what ismore important is that she made them feel good, loved, and wanted.
Shegave them back their dignity that poverty had taken away from them andeven if they died, they died with a smile on their face knowing thatsomebody loves them and somebody cares for them. “Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in youreyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have acheerful smile. Don’t only give your care, but give your heart asAgreeing or disagreeing with her on abortion, population control,divorce, or how she raised the money should not shadow Mother Teresa’slife-long contribution and dedication to the poor and humanity.
To criticize someone, It’s really easy. . . I suggest: stop criticizingMother Teresa was born August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, as AgnesGonxha Bojaxhiu from Albanian parents: Nikolle and DrandafilleHer father was a successful and well known contractor, her mother was ahousewife. She was the youngest of three children. Mother Teresa’sfamily was a devoted catholic family.
They prayed every evening andwent to church almost everyday. It was her family’s generosity, carefor the poor and the less fortunate that made a great impact on youngBy the age of 12, she had made up her mind, she realized that hervocation was aiding the poor. At age 18, she then decided to become anun, and traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to join the Sisters of Loretto. After about a year in Ireland, she then leaves to join the Lorettoconvent in the northeast Indian city of Darjeeling, where she spends 17years teaching and being principal of St. Mary’s high school inIn 1946, Mother Teresa’s life is changed forever. While riding a trainto the mountain town of Darjeeling to recover from suspectedtuberculosis, on the 10th of September, she said that she received acalling from God “to serve among the poorest of the poor.
” Less then ayear later she gets permission from the Catholic Church to leave herorder and move to Calcutta’s slums to set up her first school. “Sister Agnes” who was a former student, becomes Mother Teresa’s firstfollower. Others soon follow, and papal approval arrives to create areligious order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity. Thefoundation is celebrated on Oct. 7 1950, the feast of the Holy Rosary.
To identify herself with the poor she chooses to wear a plain whitesari with a blue border and a simple cross pinned to her left shoulder. Their mission is as she would say when she accepted the Nobel peaceprize: “to care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled,the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved,uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to thesociety and are shunned by everyone. “With the help of Calcutta officials she converts a portion of theabandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destructioninto Kalighat Home for the Dying, where even the poorest people woulddie with dignity. Soon after she opens up Nirmal Hriday (“Pure Heart”),a home for the dying, and Shanti Nagar (Town of Peace), a leper colonyMother Teresa and the sisters continued opening houses all over Indiacaring for the poor, washing their wounds, soothing their sores, makingthem feel wanted. But her order’s work spread across the world after1965, when Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa’s request to globallyWhether it was in Ethiopia feeding the hungry, the ghettos of SouthAfrica or it was her native country Albania when the communist regimecollapsed, Calcutta’s Mother Teresa “the living saint” was there. In 1982, at the height of the siege in Beirut she convinced the partiesto stop the war so she could rescue 37 sick children trapped inside.
Mother Teresa became a symbol of untiring commitment to he poor andsuffering. She was probably the most admired women of all time,receiving so many rewards and prices for her outstanding work and sheused her reputation traveling all over the world raising money andIn 1962, she received the Pandma Shri prize for “extraordinaryservices. ” In 1971, Pope Paul VI honors Mother Teresa by awarding herthe first Pope John XXXIII Peace Prize. In 1972, the Government ofIndia presents her with the Jawaharlel Nehru Award for InternationalUnderstanding. In 1979, She wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1985,President Reagan presents her the Medal of Freedom, the highest U. S. civilian award. In 1996, she becomes only the fourth person in theworld to receive an honorary U.
S. citizenship. When she received the Nobel Prize she wore the same trademark, her $1sari and convinced the committee to cancel a dinner in her honor, usingthe money instead to “feed 400 poor children for a year in India. “Today Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity now has 570 missions allover the world, comprising of 4,000 nuns, a brotherhood of 300 membersand over 100,000 volunteers operating homes for AIDS, leprosy andtuberculosis patients; soup kitchens, children’s and family counselingMother Teresa’s health was deteriorating, part from her age, part fromthe conditions where she was living, and part of it was from her tripsall over the world, opening new houses and raising money for the poor. In 1985, she suffered from a heart attack while in Rome visiting PopeJohn Paul II.
In 1989, she suffered another almost fatal heart attackand had a pacemaker implanted. In 1991, she suffers pneumonia inTijuana, Mexico which leads to heart failure. In 1996, Mother Teresasuffers malaria, chest infection and undergoes heart surgery. On March13th 1997, Sister Nirmala is selected as Mother Teresa’s successor. Finally on September 5th 1997, The world learns that Mother Teresa”Angel of Mercy” had died at the age of 87. Queens and First Ladies, Presidents and Prime Ministers, former Headsof State, Ministers and envoys from over 23 countries, gatheredtogether on September 13, 1997 to pay their final respects to MotherTeresa, the Albanian nun who in 1996 topped the Gallup Poll as the mostadmired women in the world that devoted her life serving the poorest ofthe poor and urged the world not to forget of those in need.
They all represented different countries, they all had different viewson divorce, abortion, religion, and they were all touched by thedevotion of Mother Teresa who like President Clinton said, “has servedthe poor, the suffering and the dying, and in so doing she served as aninspiration and a challenge to all the rest of us”Among most notable dignitaries were Hillary Clinton, representing theUS, Bernadette Chirac for France, Italy’s Prime Minister, Oscar LuigiScalfaro, Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Peter Jennings, Albania’sPresident Rexhep Mejdani, Ghana’s President Jerry Rawlings, the Duchessof Kent represented the British Monarchy, Queen Noor of Jordan, QueenSofia of Spain, and Queen Fabiola of Belgium. The funeral was held at the Netaji Indoor Stadium which holds 15,000seats. At the insistence of the Missionaries of Charity, about half ofthose seats were reserved for those unfortunate people she servedduring her life. The State Funeral services usually reserved for headsof states were led by cardinal A. Sodano, the Vatican’s secretary ofstate and the Pope’s representative.
Even with Mother Teresa gone, her sisters at the Missionaries ofCharities are still caring for the poor and sick with the same love anddevotion as Mother Teresa did. Any donation will help them to reachmore and more of the less fortunate.Now that your familiar with one of the most important human beings toever live maybe we can use some of the ideas, thoughts, and behaviorand put it in our daily lives and make this world to be what MotherBibliography:
