Welcome to INSPIRING LIVES, a series on lives of the Saints in the catholic
church from around the world. Saints are holy people who lived ordinary lives in
extraordinary ways. They are examples of great holiness and virtue, and they invite
us to follow their paths to holiness. Their unique stories inspire us to be rooted
in our faith. God calls each one of us to be a saint. In this month of September,
hundreds of thousands of people converge on the headquarters of the Missionaries of
Charity in the Indian city of Kolkata, to pay homage to its founder, Mother Teresa
of Calcutta. People from all walks of life streams into her tomb in the mother house
to pray to her. Mother Teresa left a testament of unshakable faith, invincible
hope and extraordinary charity. Her response to Jesus’ plea, “Come be My light,” made
her a Missionary of Charity, a “mother to the poor,” a symbol of compassion to the
world, and a living witness to the thirsting love of God. Pope John Paul II beatified
her on 19th October 2003, just six years after her death. Last week we
listened to the Early years of Mother Teresa. Today let us listen to her continuous
journey in the path God had shown her, what she called a ‘call within a call’.xxx Mother
Teresa of Calcutta, the tiny woman recognized throughout the world for her work among
the poorest of the poor, was born to Albanian parents in what is now Skopje, Macedonia.
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was the youngest of the three children who survived. For a time,
the family lived comfortably, and her father's construction business thrived. But
life changed overnight following his unexpected death. During her years in public
school Agnes participated in a Catholic sodality and showed a strong interest in the
foreign missions. At the age of 18 she entered the Loreto Sisters of Dublin.
Mother
Teresa spoke about her religious vocation and early years with the Loreto sisters. voice
of Mother Teresa
In 1928 she said goodbye to her mother for the last
time and made her way to a new land and a new life. The following year she was sent
to the Loreto novitiate in Darjeeling, India. There she chose the name Teresa and
prepared for a life of service. She was assigned to a high school for girls in Calcutta,
where she taught history and geography to the daughters of the wealthy. But she could
not escape the realities around her—the poverty, the suffering, the overwhelming numbers
of destitute people.
xxx In 1946, while travelling in a train to
Darjeeling to make a retreat, Sister Teresa heard what she later explained as “a call
within a call. The message was clear. I was to leave the convent and help the poor
while living among them.” She also heard a call to “follow Christ into the slums to
serve him among the poorest of the poor.”
After receiving permission to leave
Loreto, she established a new religious community and undertook her new work, she
took a nursing course for several months. She returned to Calcutta, where she lived
in the slums and opened a school for poor children. Dressed in a white sari and sandals,
the ordinary dress of an Indian woman, she soon began getting to know her neighbors—especially
the poor and the sick, and their needs.
Mother Teresa spoke about her first
contact with the poor and the dying during an interview in 1974. voice
of Mother Teresa
The work was exhausting, but she was not alone for
long. Volunteers came to join her in the work, some of them her former students. They
became the core of the Missionaries of Charity. Others helped by donating food, clothing,
supplies, the use of buildings. In 1952 the city of Calcutta gave Mother Teresa a
hostel of the famous Kali Temple, which became a home for the dying and the destitute. Mother
Teresa said about the new home voice of Mother Teresa
As
the Order expanded, services were also offered to orphans, abandoned children, alcoholics,
the aging and the people living in streets. For the next four decades Mother Teresa
worked tirelessly on behalf of the poor. Her love knew no bounds. Nor did her energy,
as she crisscrossed the globe pleading for support and inviting others to see the
face of Jesus in the poorest of the poor. She said: voice of mother
TeresaListen to the ‘On Demand and podcast’ for the complete programme P.J.
Joseph SJ