No one in his wildest fancies could ever presage that the birth of Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania, modern Macedonia, would ever awaken the conscience of the world to love and compassion towards the poorest among the poor. She was hardly 12 years old when the first stirrings of her vocation moved in the direction of service to the marginalized. At the age of 18 Agnes joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our lady of Loreto in Ireland. However, divine providence guided her steps to India where she pronounced the religious vows in 1937, and assumed the name “Teresa” in honour of St. Teresa of Lissieu, patroness of Foreign Missions. Thiswas followed by ger teaching assignment at St. Mary’s High School, Calcutta, where she rendered 20 years of dedicated life in the service of the Lord and his people.
September 10, 1946, found Sr. Teresa travelling from Calcutta to Darjeeling by train for her annual retreat. It was on that occasion that she received a clear-cut and specific call from the Lord “to serve him among the poorest of the poor.” Apparently, the dice was cast and there was no turning back. However, there followed a two-year period of deep prayer and deeper discernement for the will of God to manifest itself through her religious and ecclesiastical authorities. Finally in 1948, with neither human backing nor financial security, but with the blessings of God and the authorization of Pope Pius XII, Teresa launched her “net deep” inot the hitherto unknown and unfamiliar gutters of Calcutta in order to share her love with the poor, the sick, the aged and the marginalized. The teater of her action was an open-air school for the homeless children. Though the selfless service of this foreign woman initially aroused many eye-brows, it promptly gained recognition among the local people and the civil authorities while several volunteers stepped in to extend to her a helping hand. However, the divine ibntervention moved even faster as on October 7, 1950, the Congregation of the “Missinaries of Charity” was born to love and care for the unloved and the unwanted. Sr. Teresa’s efforts were bolstered by a group of competent and commited Sisters, the most outstanding among them being Sr. Nirmala, a Brahmin convert.
The year 1951 marked the establishment of Nirmal Hriday, a Home for the dying, On the very day of its inauguration, the enterprising mother picked up from a street corner an aged and sickly woman, partly eaten by rodents, carried her to the new Home and cleansed her affectionately as a mother does with her own child. Then came the foundation of Sishu Bhavan, a Home for the babies – foundlings and others whom their parents could not maintain. The third major venture undertaen by this holy woman of God was Shanthi Nagar. It was a leper colony where the patients could be usefully occupied to earn an honourable living. Mother Teresa’s greatest contribution to society was to conscientize the world that more than poverty and disease, it was the lack of love and acceptance that was plaguing our society.
The world that hitherto watched in silent admiration at the herone of the gutters, now stepped in to support her vebntures in every way. Honours and recognition poured in along with finance insuperabundant measure. In 1971Mother Teresa became the recipient of Pope John XXIII’s Peace Prize. The Indian Government, not to be out manoeuvred, moved fast and in 1972 conferred on her the Jaewaharlal Nehru Award for Internation Understanding. But the crowning jewel on the diadem of public recognition came to Mother Teresa in 1979, when she was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize for championing the cause of the down trodden. As she frequently trotted the globe as an angel of mercy to disseminate the message of love and compassion, she had been welcomed and honoured by Kings and Queens, Presidents and Prime Ministers, Scientists and Writers alike. However, under all circumstances, it was with the poor and the downtrodden of the world that she preferred to spend most of her time. In the meanwhile, overwhelming commitments and scant rest began to impact her frail health. Then in 1996 it began to deteriorate rapidly. Finally, the hour of reckoning came on September 5, 1997, when Mother quietly slipped out of the gutters of Calcuta to her well-merited mansion in heaven. On September 9, 1007, Pope John Paul II beatified her who he had known personally and whom the world had already begun to address as “The Saint of the gutters.”
Reflectiion: Mother Teresa has shown the world how humans can love, share, listen and touch one another with love and compassion. It reveals the vibrant presence of the Divine in her. She went far beyond her works; she did everything for love of her Master Jesus, whom she saw and loved in every human being. Some have criticized her for what she had done while others have criticized her for what she had not domne. However, she kept her calm all the time and continued to love and forgive every one. Her greatest joy was serving Jesus in in His varied images on earth.
I see God in every human being. When I wash a leper’s wounds, I feel I am washing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience? (St. Mother Teresa, 1974)
