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| Mother Teresa of Calcutta |
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| Mother Teresa of Calcutta (August 26, 1910 � September 5, 1997), born Agnes� Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun with Indian citizenship who founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata (Calcutta), India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. By the 1970s she had become internationally famed as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary, and book, Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity continued to expand, and at the time of her death it was operating 610 missions in 123 countries, including hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, orphanages, and schools. She has been praised by many individuals, governments and organizations; however, she has also faced a diverse range of criticism. These include objections by various individuals against the proselytizing focus of her work; this included baptisms of the dying, a strong anti-abortion stance, and a belief in the spiritual goodness of poverty. Several medical journals also criticized the standard of medical care in her hospices and concerns were raised about the opaque nature in which donated money was spent. Following her death she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. |
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| Even before I became a Catholic, I dearly loved Mother Teresa this little spunky Nun for all of the outstanding things that she for the God in India and other nations. The dedication that she gave to the poor, sick, and dying was truly her blessing from God and she preformed it as well as she could, even sick herself to the day that He called her home.
Below you will find a brief biography of Mother Teresa, and then some wonderful quotes that she said. I do hope that you will enjoy this page. |
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| �By blood and origin I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.� �Abortion is murder in the womb...A child is a gift of God. If you do not want him, give him to me.� �Unless a life is lived for others, it is not worthwhile� �I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.� �God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try� �We can not do great things. We can only do little things with great love.� �Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. � �We have not come into the world to be numbered; we have been created for a purpose; for great things: to love and be loved.� � I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I don�t know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will NOT ask, How many good things have you done in your life?, r ather he will ask, How much LOVE did you put into what you did?� �Joy is a net of love that captures souls.� �Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat . . . We must find each other.� �What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, i ncluding me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.� �Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.� �Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world. � �At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.� �Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.� �Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. � �There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.� �Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God-the rest will be given� �I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.� Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, 1979 �If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.� �We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence...we need silence to be able to touch souls. � � Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. � �I have never been in a war before, but I have seen famine and death. I was asking (myself), 'What do they feel when they do this?' I don't understand it. They are all children of God. Why do they do it? I don't understand.� Beirut 1982, during fighting between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas �I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn�t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God. � �I know God will not give me anything I can�t handle. I just wish that He didn�t trust me so much. � �God will find another person, more humble, more devoted, more obedient to him, and the society will go on.� Calcutta 1989, after announcing her intention to retire |
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President Ronald Reagan presents Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House ceremony, 1985 |
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