Compassion personified..... Mother Teresa

"By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus." CENTENARY BIRTH

ANNIVERSARY OF THE ICON OF PEACE, LOVE AND HUMANITY

A woman of small built with rock like faith and insurmountable com passion became the only hope for the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for. The mother of the poor is known all over the world as Mother Teresa. She started each day in communion with Jesus in the Eucharist and then went out, rosary in her hand, to serve those who needed love the most.

Through her life and labour, Mother Teresa showed the world the joy of loving, the greatness and dignity of every human, the value of little things done faithfully with love, and the surpassing worth of friendship with God. Early realisation This God’s gift to humanity was born on August 26, 1910, in Albania as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu — the youngest child of Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. At 12, she felt strongly the call of God. Agnes decided to become a Catholic nun to spread the message of love and compassion in the world.

In 1928, she became a Catholic nun and changed her name to Teresa. She later joined the Irish order ‘The Sisters of Loretto’. She was sent to Calcutta in 1929 to carry out missionary work. She was appointed a teacher at St Mary’s High School. Sister Teresa became Mother Teresa on May 24, 1937, when she made final Profession of Vows to become the ‘Spouse of Jesus for Eternity’. In 1944, she was became the Principal of the school.

Epitome of selfless service The condition of poor people outside the convent made a deep impact on her and she decided to serve the destitute. On August 17, 1948, she dressed for the first time in her trademark white, blue-bordered sari and passed through the gates of Loreto convent to enter the world of the poor. She was granted permission from her superiors to serve the poor slum dwellers. Although she had no funds, it was her determination that kept her going. With strong faith on Divine Providence, she started an open-air school for slum children. She was joined by volunteers. Financial assistance started pouring in.

Mother Teresa’s work was not limited to teaching the poor children; she also educated the adults. In the slums of Calcutta, she noticed a lack of basic facilities, such as hospitals and clinics. After a short course with the Medical Mission Sisters in Patna, Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta and found temporary lodging with the Little Sisters of the Poor. On December 21, she went for the first time to the slums. She visited families, washed the sores of children, cared for an old man lying sick on the road and nursed a woman dying of hunger and TB. Growing recognition On October 7, 1950, she re ceived permission from the Holy See to start her own order, `The Missionaries of Charity', whose primary task was to love and care for people nobody was ready to look after. In 1965 the Society be came an International Religiou Family by decree of Pope Paul VI.

The group soon started a facility where people, who were dying on the streets, were brought and taken care of. The service inspired people to join the noble cause and donate funds. Mother Teresa used the donations and thousands of missionaries who had joined her, for the establishment of several centres for needy people of the world. By the early 1960s, Mother Teresa began to send her Sisters to other parts of India.

The Decree of Praise granted to the Congregation by Pope Paul VI in February 1965 encouraged her to open a house in Venezuela. It was soon followed by foundations in Rome and Tanzania and, eventually, on every continent. Her inspiration was not limited to those with religious vocations. She formed the Co-Workers of Mother Teresa and the Sick and Suffering Co-Workers, people of many faiths and nationalities with whom she shared her spirit of prayer, sacrifice and her apostolate of humble works of love. In 1980, she started Homes for people suffering from various incurable diseases, prostitutes, drug addicts and orphans. One of  her most significant works was the establishment of centre for AIDS patients in 1985.

The Missionaries of Charity was officially recognised as an International Association on March 29, 1969. Last years During the last years of her life, despite facing several health problems, Mother Teresa continued to serve the poor and needy and work for her Society and Church. By 1997, Mother Teresa’s Sisters numbered nearly 4,000, working in about 610 foundations in 123 countries across the world. Her newly-elected successor was appointed the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity in March 1997. After meeting Pope John Paul II, she returned to Calcutta, where she spent her last weeks receiving visitors and giving instructions to her Sisters.

She departed from this world on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87. On October 19, 2003, Pope John Paul II beatified Mother Teresa. The beatification, which took place in Rome, marked the first step of her sainthood.