Memories, Facts, Biography and Inspiration
September 8, 1984, the Nativity of Our Lady, is a day I will cherish and remember for the rest of my life. I was preparing to go to the Italian Embassy to get a Visa for a long awaited trip to Rome in the service of the Lord. It became double sweet when I arrived at the Missionaries of Charity Convent, Vile Parle West, Mumbai, knowing that the real Mother Teresa was accompanying me to the Embassy. I was thrilled and elated. When we got to the embassy we could see lots of people lined up to obtain visas. I was very much concerned about the time we are going to spend at the embassy, but on the contrary Mother was in much calm and peaceful spirit. As we were moving to the end of the line we heard the shouts of the people “That is our Mother Teresa, our living Saint, let her move to the front of the line, we love her, God bless her.” I was shocked and did feel it was unreal. As we reached the front of the line we were greeted by the officers at the Embassy, took us in and did all the paperwork without delay. This is what I believe in THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD and the result of doing God’s work.   

Mother Teresa founded the Order of Missionaries of Charity for both women and men in 1950, dedicating it to helping the poorest of the poor, the sick, the unwanted, and the lonely There have been many humanitarians in the history of the world, but Mother Teresa was a Saint among Saints, a woman like no other. She is a Lady of Great caliber who spent her whole life serving the Lord – the poorest of the poor, needy, helpless – to quench the thirst of Jesus on the Cross “I Thirst”. Although she was not an Indian by birth, she was a real Indian in spirit, a real human being, a person of prayer, an exemplary individual in word and action. Small and diminutive in size and stature, she made up for it in her zeal and dedication to the people she loved and helped. In her long life, she touched the lives of millions through her presence and acts of charity, as well as the truths she shared from her experience of faith. As someone who embodied the servant nature of Christ, being his hands and feet to others, she led us with enduring wisdom to inspire our faith. In her words and especially in her actions, we see that a life of love – however big or small, quiet or recognized – is significant, meaningful and powerful.

Mother Teresa’s family and early life and Nunhood:

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, the current capital of the Republic of Macedonia. Her parents, Nikola and Dranafile Bojamhiu, were of Albanian descent.  The Bojaxhius were a devout Catholic family and very much involved in the church and society.  In 1919, when she was just eight years old, her father suddenly fell ill and died.

In the aftermath of her father’s tragic death, Agnes became extraordinarily close to her mother, a pious and compassionate woman who instilled in her daughter a deep commitment to charity.  Although by no means wealthy, Drana Bojaxhiu extended an open invitation to the city’s destitute to dine with her family.  “My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others” she counseled her daughter.  When Agnes asked who the people eating with them were, her mother uniformly responded, “Some of them are our relations, but all of them are our people.”

Agnes attended a convent-run primary school and then a state-run secondary school.  As a young girl, she was very much involved in the church choir.  On an annual pilgrimage to the Church of Black Madonna in Letnice at the age of 12, she first felt a calling to religious life.  Six years later, in 1928, 18 year old Agnes decided to become a nun and set off for Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto in Dublin.  It was there that she took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Therese of Lisieux.

A year later, Sister Teresa traveled to Darjeeling, India, for the novitiate and she made her First Profession of Vows in the year 1931. Afterward, she was sent to Calcutta, where she was assigned to teach.  

Call Within a Call

On September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa experienced a second calling, the “Call within a call” that would forever transform her life. She was riding in a train from Calcutta to Darjeeling, a city in the Himalayan foothills, for a retreat when she said Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city’s poorest and sickest.

Inspired by Jesus’ words in the Gospel, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” Mother Teresa worked to serve the poor on the streets of Calcutta. She gave away all her possessions and lived in dire poverty with them in hopes of being better able to serve them. During her lifetime, Mother Teresa became the world’s most recognizable symbol of selfless charity. She dedicated herself to lifting up the vulnerable people that had been cast out and overlooked by society and treated them with compassion while supporting them wholeheartedly regardless of their religious beliefs or social status.

Let us put into practice that divine spirit she instilled in us and make this world a better place for everyone.

Now let us look into some her inspiring words and try to live and practice them to the fullest in our lives:

• “Prayer in action is love, love in action is service.”
• “Not all of us can do greater things.  But we can do small things with great Love.”
• “Peace begins with a smile.”
• “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.”
•  “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
• “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.”
• “It is not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.”
• “Love to be real, it must cost – it must hurt – it must empty us of self.”
• “I know I am touching the living body of Christ in the broken bodies of the hungry and the suffering.”
• “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
• “Be kind and merciful.  Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier.”
• “Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in the family.”  

Finally, let us remember these and put the following into practice – By faith, I am a Christian. As to my calling

 I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus to quench His thirst on the Cross.   May she be our model of holiness after Jesus Christ.

Saint Mother Teresa, Pray for us!!