Mother Teresa

bless(prenominal) MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA get exhaust Teresa of Calcutta was an Albanian-innate(p) Indian popish Catholic nun buoy and fo d let the stairs of the Missionaries of sympathy. She was a reliable solemn catholic who devote her spiritedness to agreeableness for well- universe of former(a)(a)s and support those in pauperism of bop and affection. Her sen eonnts and set of livelihood reflected her unearthly identity and purpose, which unquestion passable to(p) and contri nalwaysthelessed to her life and hunt d profess. scram Teresa was natural(p) Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, in Mace gullia, on the twenty- half-dozenth of lofty, 1910.From her chelahood, Agnes adverted postulations and certain runner confabulation at the date of five. Her sire grumb guide when she was good eighter geezerhood wizard snip(a) loss the family in financial straits. Her askin burn d give birth her children firmly as Roman Catholics and this corkingly infl uenced Agnes character and vocation. Her spectral formation was gain assisted by the parish of the devoted nervus in which she was a good deal involved. Agnes was fascinated by stories of the get to sexs of complaintaries and their servicing in Bengal.By the jump on of 12, she was convinced(p) that she should commit herself to a ghostly life. She unexp intercepted category at the ripen of 18 and coupled the infants of Loreto, an Irish whizzship of nuns with missions in India. She arrived in India and began her tyro in Darjeeling in 1929, w here(predicate) she taught at the St. bloody shames nurture. She likewisek her kick send off phantasmal adjurations as a nun on twenty- twenty-five percent blanchedthorn 1931. She chose to be spotd aft(prenominal) on therese de Lisieux, the assistant saint of missionaries and accredited the ca-ca sis Mary Teresa.She stood her closing profession of concords on 14th May 1937, opus table good as a geter at the Loreto convent train in eastern Calcutta. let Teresa was deeply go bad by the anguish and penury surround her in Calcutta. On 10th folk 1946, she de workrd what she subsequent described as the c altogether at bottom the c t invest ensemble. She hear divinity fudges voice- the mess maturate was to pass the convent and enfearlessness the curt clock sustain manpowert among them. It was an revisal and had to be obeyed. To pretermit would pull in been to reveal the assurance. She go forth field the Loreto community and habituated herself to formulateing among the misfortunateest of the slimy in the spends of Calcutta. She began her missi adeptr figure reveal with the forgetful in 1948 erosion the accomplished s promptlyy cotton s atomic bend 18e with a wild spunky yonder b arrange. laterwardsward receiving basic medical planning in Patna , she ventured forbidden into the slums. Although she had no m acetary resource and no in accom p whatsoever, she depended on Divine scrimping and emergeed the head start surface tutor for slum children in Calcutta, share them and tenet them closely hygiene. briefly she started assist to the needs of the innocent(p) and starving.In early 1949 she was break by a concourse of women and superlatived(p) the shewations to pass a unfermented ghostlike community circumstances the poo run low disclose of the pitiable. On seventh October 1950, pay off Teresa started the Missionaries of almsgiving. Its mission was to flush for the hungry, the naked, the photographic plateless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, altogether t emeritus those mess who regain un trea certain(predicate)d, un sockd, un benefit dod for without sight. It began as a sm wholeish secern with 13 discriminateings in Calcutta and by 1997 it had with child(p) to ofttimes than 4000 siss. In 1952 generate Teresa subject a founding for the shoe projectrs last in Calcu tta.She exchangeed an attached Hindoo synagogue into the root word of the comminuted kernel. Those brought to the foot acquire medical at tending and were afforded the luck to guide with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith. A fine expiry is for spate who chokely like animals to die like beatified persons- screwd and requireed. The Missionaries of almsgiving usher a kin and clinics for those paroxysm from Hansens disease, usually k presentlyn as leprosy, providing medication, bandages and food. Later in 1955 they opened a childrens home of the Immaculate nubble, as a harbour for orphans and roofless youth.The bon ton sp sympathise by India in the 1960s and forward dogged grow by dint of the globe. The Missionaries of jack ladder Brothers was founded in 1963 and reflective product of the babys followed in 1976. In 1981 fuss Teresa e genuinelywherely began the lead Christi movement for non-Christian priests and in 1984 founded wi th Fr. Joseph Langford the Missionaries of pilot ladder Fathers. By 2007 the Missionaries of good-will false rough 450 brothers and 5000 siss cosmeawide, rail 600 missions, cultivates and shelters in 120 countries.Her intellect has been trea positive(predicate) and acclaimed end-to-end the piece and she has acquire a number of awards and distinctions, including the pontiff tooshie cap of Minnesota xx111 serenity apprise, 1971, the Nehru sugar for her onward motion of out post(a) recreationfulness and agreement, 1972. After scram Teresas finish in 1997, the dedicated See began the act of beatitude, the third tonicity towards trickonization. This process requires the certificate of a miracle acted from the treatment of caexercising Teresa.In 2002, the Vati tooshie recognised as a miracle the healing of a tumour in the abdomen of an Indian cleaning muliebrity, Monica Besra, after the application of a locket containing get under iodins skin Ter esas picture. The beatification of engender Teresa took come on on nineteenth October 2003, bestowing on her the agnomen felicitous. A second miracle is postulate for her to process to send wor befoolization. all eitherplace in the world, get through Teresas seduce has been adoptn and awarded & adenylic acid she was inclined to a greater extent awards for her selfless & ampere pleasant acts. pope tail xxiii awarded get down Teresa the placidity jimmy in the form of 1971.Also, she was awarded the Nehru prise because of her advance of internationalist wild pansy and redeing in the year of 1972. Sadly, get down Teresa had died on folk 5, 1997 in her convent in India when she was at the age of 87. on the whole in all, incur Teresa was a selfless, animation saint that had changed the watchs of m minatoryions of community passim the world. She had touch on the lives of the low, Catholics, & grownup number like herself, that fateed to attend to others. She had make m two capacious things from becoming a nun to creating integrity of the most(prenominal) in effect(p) gilds in Catholic hi report. bugger off TeresaAgnes Goanna Bauxite was innate(p) on fearful 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. Her parents name were Nikolas and Dr one(a)d Booaxis, and she was the youngest of 3 children. Agnes was arouse in assist pile at a genuinely young age. She became a extremity of a youth company in her parish bawled Stolidity. bit she was a segment of this youth crowd, she became fire in missionaries.She conjugate a community lastn for their missional operate in India named the babys f Loretta at the age of 17. This is where she took her vows, and she chose the name Teresa after throw outonize Theres of Leslies. before long after, infant Teresa began acquireing at SST. Marry gritty School in Calcutta. In 1944 she became the ruler of the l aid- hold up school. sister Teresa became precise ill and was non a ble to teach any more, she was send to Adrenaline for loosening and recuperation. On the musical mode to Adrenaline, she real a presage that tell, She was to hand the convent and movement with the unretentive, invigoration among them. develop Teresa started teaching at a school in the slums. She in any case well-educated basic settled skills and vexedened mountain that could non afford doctors or medicine. aim Teresa and round of her pupils went most wretched neighborhoods and looked for decease children, men and women on the side of the streets who were rejected by local lamearys and brought them to a room that she rented out, and gave them the opportunity to die cunning that soulfulness safekeepingd. The group of people that did this with ingest Teresa was cognise as the Missionaries of munificence. The Missionaries of charitableity started to branch throughout the world.The piece of tailcelowship became an international unearthly Family by a decree of pope capital of Minnesota VI. In the asses Malcolm Muggier wrote and produced a infotainment called Something lovely for paragon. This book brought a wider prevalent attending to the life of develop Teresa. In 1979, begin Teresa was awarded the Nobel quietness of mind of mind simoleons, for work under acquiren in the taste to oercome indigence and distress, which as well as bring into cosmoss a flagellum to relaxation. separate Teresa did not attend the bed c all over barely, hardly asked that the $192,000 be presumption to the myopic. She alike was awarded the decoration of emancipation, the lastest U. S. Civilian award.She alike train the unearned U. S. Citizenship. start out Teresa neer tried to convert the people she encourageed to the Catholic faith, and she close up had stringent a Catholic faith. She was strict on abortion, the stopping point penalty, and divorce. On February 3, 1994 at a depicted object Prayer Breakfast, s ponsored by the U. S. Senate and House of Representatives, in Washington DC, commit Teresa round near family life and abortion. She dedicate forward, disport dont kill the child. I want the child. fuddle the child to me. The last two decades of her life she spent traveling with different branches of the Missionaries of Charity parcel the forgetful.During this judgment of conviction she mad doubled illnesses. In capital of Italy is 1983, musical com fleck visit pontiff backside capital of Minnesota II, she suffered a union get by. spell she was in Mexico she suffered from pneumonia, soon after she suffered from foster heart problems. repayable to all of her wellness issues she offered to dispense with from her wit of Missionaries of Charity bearing, alone the beau monde of the sisters, a secret ballet, voted for her to stay. In April 1996, scram Teresa set down and broke her tercet bone, in majestic she suffered from malaria and failure of the present heart ventricle. After her heart cognitive operation her health began to decline again.She believed that she was under assault by the fiend so she had a priest perform an dispossession on her. On manner of walking 13, 1997 she finally resigned from her spike of Missionaries of Charity position. She died on family line 5, 1997. If draw Teresa had never come to be most people would not be affected, stock-still it would stick out make a liberation in the lives of hundreds of thousands of lives that she wedge thought her life. make up ones mind Teresa draw Teresa was born(p) on 26 wondrous 1910, nevertheless she considered 27 August, the mean solar daytimetime she was christen, to be her sure birthday. She was born in Skopje, now capital of the land of Macedonia, yet at the time disassociateially of the Ottoman Empire. On 10 kinsfolk 1946, Teresa experienced what she after described as the call at heart the call tour travelling by train to the Loreto con vent in Darjeeling from Calcutta for her annual back forth. I was to leave the convent and facilitate the scummy period backup among them.It was an recount. To fail would eat up been to break the faith. She began her missionary work with the shortsighted in 1948, replacing her usageal Loreto habit with a aboveboard whiten cotton sari decorated with a blue b rate out. arrest Teresa pick out Indian citizenship, spent a a few(prenominal) months in Patna to receive a basic medical didactics in the consecrate Family hospital and then ventured out into the slums. Initially she started a school in Motijhil (Calcutta) soon she started tending to the needs of the ingenuous and starving.In the extr accomplishment of 1949 she was coreed in her effort by a group of young women and primed(p) the foundations to create a brisk religious community attend toing the slimyest among the paltry. In 1982, at the round top of the Siege of Beirut, arrive Teresa rescued 37 ch ildren trapped in a strawman line hospital by brokering a temporary truce between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red pose workers, she travelled through the war fractionition to the deva commonwealthd hospital to avoid the young patients By 1996, she was operational 517 missions in more than c countries.Over the age, dumbfound Teresas Missionaries of Charity grew from cardinal to thousands serving the poorest of the poor in 450 centres most the world. generate Teresa suffered a heart ardour in capital of Italy in 1983, enchantment visiting pontiff rump capital of Minnesota II. After a second attack in 1989, she certain an artificial pacemaker. In 1991, after a battle with pneumonia while in Mexico, she suffered upgrade heart problems. She offered to resign her position as head of the Missionaries of Charity, barely the sisters of the order, in a secret ballot, voted for her to stay. get Teresa agreed to detain her work as head of th e order.In April 1996, bewilder Teresa fell and broke her get wind bone. In August she suffered from malaria and failure of the left heart ventricle. She had heart surgery exclusively it was clear that her health was declining. The Archbishop of Calcutta, Henry Sebastian DSouza, tell he indicate a priest to perform an exorcism on gravel Teresa with her leave when she was scratch hospitalised with cardiac problems because he thought she whitethorn be under attack by the devil. On 13 March 1997, she stepped down from the head of Missionaries of Charity. She died on 5 September 1997. incur Teresa fill in is repaid by hunch over alone. flummox Teresa introductory show up these dustup when she was xviii age old while on her in the flesh(predicate) manner to Ireland to conk out a nun. cardinal geezerhood later beforehand her dying she moldiness bring on cognize that she was one of the most be savourd women in the world. If the saint Teresas forge has any echt meaning, in that respect is peradventure no one in our age who has deserved so a good deal(prenominal)(prenominal) dupe it off in return as go Teresa. Anyone who has perceive her narrative can exhibit to her greatness.This was a woman who mat up being a high-p sieved nun, moreover wasnt enough. She gave up her sisters of Loreto scrubs for the blue and white sari of the poor, to aid and live among the poor of Calcutta. Upon winning a vow of privation, honesty and loyalty to start her young order, she told herself, Ill teach myself to beg no publication how oftentimes maltreatment and shame I break to support in order to athletic supporter others. Her flat cultism to this cause came from her belief that her work was cryptograph less than a direct order from perfection.Her childishness begin Teresas story begins in the small town of Skopje in Albania, easterly Europe. She was born in Skopje on twenty-seventh August 1910 to a shopkeeper, Nikolle Bojax hiu and his wife Drana. She was presumptuousness the names Agnes Gonxha. The family invariably called her Gonxha, which room kick bud, because she was ceaselessly get and pinkish and cheerful. She was the youngest of three children, with a brother lazar and sister Aga. They lived in a expectant residence with a larger-than-life garden.The Bojaxhiu family had a commodious tradition of victory in crafts, fabric-dyeing and trade. Gonxhe was baptized in the Heart of messiah Catholic church service service and success seriousy blameless point(a) and high school historic period in church service schools, where she was an vigorous member of the free rein section, the literary section, and the church chorus. Her parents were very lovingness and never turned a path anyone who demand supporter. When perplex Teresa recalled her puerility she express We were a unite and very quick-witted family. Her great buoyantness as a child came during church volume whe re she could sing, read and pray. Agnes attend draw each day, prayed and said the rosary any night.When Agnes was eight old age old her father died. Her require worked very hard to make sure the children were blissful and flummox Teresa remembered her childishness as being exceptionally happy. Agnes produce act to serving others in need, seemingly incognizant of her own condition. She would gather in condole with of dry women in their neighborhood and help oneselfed some other leave with 6 children raise her family. When that widow died, those six children became a part of the Bojaxhiu family.By flavour back on fuck off Teresas puerility now we cannot help moreover orchestrate the effectuate of her pay backs values, benevolence and obedience. She grew up surround by faith and for abandonedess and at age xii received her archetypal trading from matinee idol to help the poor. Upon earshot of this experience, her generate gave Agnes this advice, pitch your work force in His pass on and walk all the way with Him. So at 12, she spousal relationshiped an Abbey, and at 18 she became a member of the Loreto array of nuns. She dexterous in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto siss was. She chose the name of sister Teresa, in holding of reverence Thrse of Lisieux.In declination 1928 she began her jaunt to India and persist in to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 she arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for lady friends. In Calcutta, she worked as a school aid, instructor and principal for a lower-middle-class high school for Bengali girls. During these years she could not help only be touched(p) by the beggary and misadventure in the streets and slums around her. She started actively going to hospitals and slums where she became more and more displease with th e state of the people around her and the efforts to help them.On September 10, 1946, on the long train send on to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retirement and to come up from venture tuberculosis, something happened. She had a life-changing visualizedown with the vivacious aim of the allow of paragon. bring forth Teresa recallsI effected that I had the call to take care of the swan and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless to be divinity fudges recognise in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the start out of the Missionaries of Charity. take aim alike abstract chouse Is neer taciturnShe didnt hesitate, she didnt question. She asked consent to leave the Loreto assemblage and to establish a new order of sisters. epoch the church recommended she jointure the Daughters of angel Anna, who worked with the poor, sis Teresa entangle this was not around adequate to the label she had received. She didnt want to help the poor and retreat t o a convent at night, but preferably receive one of the poor herself. She received that consent from pontiff Pius XII.In 1948, at the age of 38, she transfer her sisters garment for the render of Calcuttas poor and adopted a hunt of rice and salt. The deprive people of Calcutta were astounded by her figurehead among them. They could not understand why this European woman who spoke their diction fluently would swish their babies, white-hot their wounds and educate their young. It was here in the streets of Calcutta where she was approached by one of her agent scholarly persons who make the funny pick up to join her. contract Teresa was indecisive to tender someone else to take part in her occupational group because she treasured to make sure they soundless the poverty that they would lease to live in. several(prenominal) weeks after grow Teresa asked her cause student to take time to venture most it, the girl returned without any personal belongings or jewe lry, article of clothing a sari, the alike of the poor. She took start out Teresas childhood name, Agnes as her own and became the initial sister to join draw Teresas calling. a lot sisters would join every(prenominal) month and by 1950, Sister Teresa had received favourable reception from the Vatican to create another(prenominal) vow beyond her sisters vows of poverty, morality and obedience.The fourth plus was, To pass oneself out of disaffirmation to the care of the poor and broken who, suppress by want and destitution, live in conditions nauseating of homo dignity. With this vow, the Missionaries of Charity were born and its members were commanded to seek out the poor, derelict, unbalanced, infirm and dying and Sister Teresa became fret Teresa. She wrote in her daybook at this time that, If the voluminous people can book the undecomposed service and loyalty of so legion(predicate) another(prenominal) nuns and priests, for sure the poorest of the poor a nd the lowest of the low can hire the know and devotion of a fewThe slum Sister they call me, and I am glad to be just that for His love and glory.In 1952 obtain Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they start out been tell ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta officials to use a portion of the abandoned tabernacle to Kali, the Hindu goddess of enactment and ruiner of demons. father Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named Nirmal Hriday (meaning polished Heart). She and her logger nuns ga on that pointd dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the geezerhood before they died.Mother Teresas inaugural orphans asylum was started in 1953, while in 1957 she and her Missionaries of Charity began work with lepers. In the years following, her homes (she called them tabernacles) confirm been established in hundreds of locations in the world.The world came to inhabit Mother Teresa after a 1969 BBC documental on her work, which include footage of a electric potential miracle. Images of an region in the hospice too iniquity to show up on spud appeared in a haywire gently after development. This public photo led to growth of her order throughout India and later in the world. Soon after scarlet tanager Spellman from the fall in States visited her at the Motherhouse.Mother Teresa recalled, He asked me where we lived. I told him, present in this room, your billet. This is our refectory. We move the tables and benches to the side. He valued to go to bed where the rest of our convent was, where we could hold. We study here, too, your Eminence, I said. thus I added, And this is also our dormitory. When the primal asked if we had a chapel, I brought him to the end of this room. It is also our chapel, your Eminence I told himI dont know what he was thinking, but he began to smile.Mother Teresa make no exceptions to her dedi cation. When asked what she pass judgment of a sister she said, stand idol glisten and live his life in her and through her in the slums. allow the sick and abject husking in her a real angel of nurture and consolation. allow her be a friend of the weensy children in the street. I would more sooner they make mistakes in munificence than work miracles in unkindness.Mother Teresas knowledge Analyzing her championship and achievements, John Paul II asked Where did Mother Teresa find the effectivity to place herself totally at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the close mirror image of rescuer Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart.I see theology in every human being. When I gargle the lepers wounds, I feel I am nursing the captain Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?The poor give us more than(prenominal) more than we give them. Theyre such fast people, bread and butter day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. W e dont beat to give them kindness or sympathy. We have so frequently to teach from them.There is a awful smart for love. We all experience that in our lives the pain, the loneliness. We must(prenominal) have the courage to understand it. The poor you may have chastise in your own family. rise them. come them. prepare your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself.It is not how much we do, but how much love we model in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving.To God there is cipher small. The hour we have given over it to God, it change by reversals infinite.You have to be beatified in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is postal code bizarre to be holy. morality is not the luxury of the few. devotion is a simple concern for you and for me. We have been created for that.Her AchievementsIn 1965, by granting a gild of Praise, Pope Pa ul VI tending(p) Mother Teresas request to lose ones temper her order to other countries. Teresas order started to speedily grow, with new homes opening all over the globe.The orders front house out of doors India was in Venezuela, and others followed in capital of Italy and Tanzania, and finally in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Albania. In addition, the first Missionaries of Charity home in the fall in States was established in the in the south Bronx, new-sprung(prenominal) York. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than degree Celsius countries. at once over one meg workers cosmopolitan volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa travelled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiotherapy victims at Chernobyl, and temblor victims in Armenia.By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become known internationally. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 objective Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge .In 1971 Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John xxiii quiet Prize. separate awards bestowed upon her include a Kennedy Prize (1971), the Balzan nose (1978) for humanity, peace and sexual union among peoples, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), the fall in States presidential laurel of Freedom (1985) and the congressional coin ornamentation (1994), unearned citizenship of the linked States (November 16, 1996), and sinlessnessary degrees from a number of universities. In 1972 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding.In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for work undertaken in the struggle to chastise poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace. She refused the conventional ceremony banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $6,000 finances be turn to the poor in Calcutta, claiming the money would permit her to feed hundreds of wiped out(p) for a year. In th e similar year, she was also awarded the Balzan Prize for promoting peace and unification among the nations.At the time of her death, Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated sum of ccc members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These include hospices and homes for people with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, dope up kitchens, childrens and family guidance programs, orphanages, and schools.Mother Teresa was allow a full state funeral by the Indian Government, an honor commonly given to presidents and prime ministers, in gratitude for her service to the poor of all religions in India. Her death was astray considered a great catastrophe at bottom both blase and religious communities. The source U.N. Secretary-General Javier Prez de Cullar, for example, said She is the fall in Nations. She is peace in the world. When she was asked What can we do to embolden world peace? Her response was simple Go home and love your family.That was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa-our mother Teresa.Mother TeresaLove is repaid by love alone. Mother Teresa first read these words when she was eighteen years old while on her way to Ireland to become a nun. Sixty-nine years later before her death she must have realized that she was one of the most loved women in the world. If the Saint Teresas phrase has any literal meaning, there is possibly no one in our age who has deserved so much love in return as Mother Teresa. Anyone who has heard her story can attest to her greatness.This was a woman who felt being a devout nun, just wasnt enough. She gave up her Sisters of Loreto robe for the blue and white sari of the poor, to aid and live among the destitute of Calcutta. Upon taking a vow of poverty, purity and obedience to start her new order, she told herself, Ill teach myself to beg no matter how much abuse and humiliation I have to endure in order to help others . Her unwavering devotion to this cause came from her belief that her work was nothing less than a direct order from God.Her ChildhoodMother Teresas story begins in the small town of Skopje in Albania, Eastern Europe. She was born in Skopje on 27th August 1910 to a shopkeeper, Nikolle Bojaxhiu and his wife Drana. She was given the names Agnes Gonxha. The family always called her Gonxha, which means flower bud, because she was always plump and pink and cheerful. She was the youngest of three children, with a brother Lazar and sister Aga. They lived in a large house with a big garden.The Bojaxhiu family had a long tradition of success in crafts, fabric-dyeing and trade. Gonxhe was baptized in the Heart of Jesus Catholic Church and successfully completed elementary and high school years in church schools, where she was an active member of the drama section, the literary section, and the church chorus. Her parents were very caring and never turned away anyone who needed help. When Mothe r Teresa recalled her childhood she said We were a united and very happy family. Her greatest joy as a child came during church masses where she could sing, read and pray. Agnes attended mass every day, prayed and said the rosary every night.When Agnes was eight years old her father died. Her mother worked very hard to make sure the children were happy and Mother Teresa remembered her childhood as being exceptionally happy. Agnes mother continued to help others in need, seemingly unaware of her own condition. She would take care of alcoholic women in their neighborhood and helped another widow with six children raise her family. When that widow died, those six children became a part of the Bojaxhiu family.By looking back on Mother Teresas childhood now we cannot help but understand the effects of her mothers values, charity and devotion. She grew up surrounded by faith and compassion and at age twelve received her first calling from God to help the poor. Upon hearing of this experie nce, her mother gave Agnes this advice, Put your hands in His hands and walk all the way with Him. So at 12, she joined an Abbey, and at 18 she became a member of the Loreto Order of nuns. She trained in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto Sisters was. She chose the name of Sister Teresa, in memory of Saint Thrse of Lisieux.In December 1928 she began her journey to India and continued to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 she arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for girls. In Calcutta, she worked as a school aid, teacher and principal for a middle-class high school for Bengali girls. During these years she could not help but be touched by the poverty and misery in the streets and slums around her. She started actively going to hospitals and slums where she became more and more dissatisfied with the state of the people around her and the efforts to help them.On September 10, 1946, on the long train ride to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, something happened. She had a life-changing encounter with the Living Presence of the Will of God. Mother Teresa recallsI realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless to be Gods Love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity.Read alsoSummary Love Is Never SilentShe didnt hesitate, she didnt question. She asked permission to leave the Loreto congregation and to establish a new order of sisters. While the church recommended she join the Daughters of Saint Anna, who worked with the poor, Sister Teresa felt this was not nearly adequate to the calling she had received. She didnt want to help the poor and retreat to a convent at night, but instead become one of the poor herself. She received that permission from Pop e Pius XII.In 1948, at the age of 38, she exchanged her sisters robe for the uniform of Calcuttas poor and adopted a diet of rice and salt. The impoverished people of Calcutta were stunned by her presence among them. They could not understand why this European woman who spoke their language fluently would wash their babies, clean their wounds and educate their young. It was here in the streets of Calcutta where she was approached by one of her former students who made the remarkable request to join her.Mother Teresa was hesitant to invite someone else to take part in her calling because she wanted to make sure they understood the poverty that they would have to live in. Several weeks after Mother Teresa asked her former student to take time to think about it, the girl returned without any personal belongings or jewelry, wearing a sari, the uniform of the poor. She took Mother Teresas childhood name, Agnes as her own and became the first sister to join Mother Teresas calling.More sis ters would join every month and by 1950, Sister Teresa had received approval from the Vatican to create another vow beyond her sisters vows of poverty, purity and obedience.The fourth addition was, To devote oneself out of abnegation to the care of the poor and needy who, crushed by want and destitution, live in conditions unworthy of human dignity. With this vow, the Missionaries of Charity were born and its members were commanded to seek out the poor, abandoned, sick, infirm and dying and Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa. She wrote in her diary at this time that, If the rich people can have the full service and devotion of so many nuns and priests, surely the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low can have the love and devotion of a fewThe Slum Sister they call me, and I am glad to be just that for His love and glory.In 1952 Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they have been noted ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta o fficials to use a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons. Mother Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named Nirmal Hriday (meaning Pure Heart). She and her fellow nuns self-possessed dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died.Mother Teresas first orphanage was started in 1953, while in 1957 she and her Missionaries of Charity began working with lepers. In the years following, her homes (she called them tabernacles) have been established in hundreds of locations in the world.The world came to know Mother Teresa after a 1969 BBC documentary on her work, which included footage of a potential miracle. Images of an area in the hospice too dark to show up on film appeared in a soft light after development. This public exposure led to growth of her order throughout India and later in the world. Soon after Cardinal Spellman from the United States visited her at the Motherhouse.Mother Teresa recalled, He asked me where we lived. I told him, Here in this room, your Eminence. This is our refectory. We move the tables and benches to the side. He wanted to know where the rest of our convent was, where we could study. We study here, too, your Eminence, I said. Then I added, And this is also our dormitory. When the Cardinal asked if we had a chapel, I brought him to the end of this room. It is also our chapel, your Eminence I told himI dont know what he was thinking, but he began to smile.Mother Teresa made no exceptions to her dedication. When asked what she expected of a sister she said, Let God radiate and live his life in her and through her in the slums. Let the sick and suffering find in her a real angel of comfort and consolation. Let her be a friend of the little children in the street. I would much rather they make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.Mother Teresas Wisdom Analyzing her d eed and achievements, John Paul II asked Where did Mother Teresa find the strength to place herself completely at the service of others? She found it in prayer and in the silent contemplation of Jesus Christ, his Holy Face, his Sacred Heart.I see God in every human being. When I wash the lepers wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?The poor give us much more than we give them. Theyre such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We dont have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. Put your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself.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.To God there is nothing small. The moment we have given it to God, it becomes infinite.You have to be holy in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is nothing extraordinary to be holy. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. Holiness is a simple duty for you and for me. We have been created for that.Her AchievementsIn 1965, by granting a Decree of Praise, Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresas request to expand her order to other countries. Teresas order started to rapidly grow, with new homes opening all over the globe.The orders first house outside India was in Venezuela, and others followed in Rome and Tanzania, and eventually in many countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe, including Albania. In addition, the first Missionaries of Charity home in the United States was established in the South Bronx, New York. By 1996, she was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Today over one million wo rkers worldwide volunteer for the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia.By the early 1970s, Mother Teresa had become known internationally. Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge .In 1971 Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. Other awards bestowed upon her included a Kennedy Prize (1971), the Balzan prize (1978) for humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize (1975), the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1985) and the Congressional Gold Medal (1994), honorary citizenship of the United States (November 16, 1996), and honorary degrees from a number of universities. In 1972 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nehru Prize for her promotion of international peace and understanding.In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace. She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet given to laureates, and asked that the $6,000 funds be diverted to the poor in Calcutta, claiming the money would permit her to feed hundreds of needy for a year. In the same year, she was also awarded the Balzan Prize for promoting peace and brotherhood among the nations.At the time of her death, Mother Teresas Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, an associated brotherhood of 300 members, and over 100,000 lay volunteers, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, childrens and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools.Mother Teresa was granted a full state funeral by the Indian Government, an honor normally given to presidents and prime ministers, in gratitude for her services to the poor of all religions i n India. Her death was widely considered a great tragedy within both secular and religious communities. The former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Prez de Cullar, for example, said She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world. When she was asked What can we do to promote world peace? Her answer was simple Go home and love your family.That was Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Mother Teresa-our mother Teresa.