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Mother Teresa

Lord make me a channel of thy peace that, where there is hatred, I may bring love; that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness; that where there is discord, I may bring harmony; that where there is error, I may bring truth; that where there is doubt, I may bring faith; that where there is despair I may bring hope; that where there are shadows, I may bring light; that where there is sadness, I may bring joy. Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted, to understand than to be understood; to love than to be loved; for it is by forgetting self that one finds, it is by forgiving that one is forgiven; it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Amen.

Señor, haz de mí un instrumento de tu paz; que donde haya odio, lleve yo amor; donde haya ofensa, lleve el espíritu del perdón; donde haya discordia, lleve armonía; donde haya error, lleve verdad; donde haya duda, lleve fe; donde haya desesperación, lleve esperanza; donde haya sombras, lleve luz; donde haya tristeza, lleve alegría. Señor, concédeme que busque más consolar que ser consolado; comprender que ser comprendido; amar que ser amado; porque es olvidándose de sí mismo como uno se encuentra a sí mismo; es perdonando como uno es perdonado; y es muriendo como se despierta a la vida eterna. Amén.

Panie, uczyń mnie narzędziem Twojego pokoju, abym tam, gdzie jest nienawiść, niósł miłość; tam, gdzie jest krzywda, niósł ducha przebaczenia; tam, gdzie jest niezgoda, niósł zgodę; tam, gdzie jest błąd, niósł prawdę; tam, gdzie jest zwątpienie, niósł wiarę; tam, gdzie jest rozpacz, niósł nadzieję; tam, gdzie są cienie, niósł światło; tam, gdzie jest smutek, niósł radość. Panie, spraw, abym bardziej pragnął pocieszać niż być pocieszanym, rozumieć niż być rozumianym, kochać niż być kochanym; albowiem zapominając o sobie, odnajdujemy siebie; przebaczając, dostępujemy przebaczenia; a umierając, budzimy się do życia wiecznego. Amen.

The Woman Who Loved the World

Imagine walking down a busy street and seeing someone hungry, lonely, sick, or forgotten. Many people might keep walking. But one woman stopped. Again and again. Her name was Mother Teresa, and her love changed the lives of thousands of people. A woman who stood barely five feet tall was born as Mother Teresa on August 26, 1910, in Skopje. Her birth name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Even as a young girl, Agnes loved God and cared deeply about people. She listened to stories about missionaries who traveled to faraway places to help others. These stories touched her heart so much that she decided she wanted to spend her life serving people in need.

A Little Girl with a Big Heart

When Agnes was just eight years old, her father died suddenly, leaving the family with very little money. Her mother, Drana, worked hard to raise Agnes and her two older siblings, and somehow still always found room at the table for neighbors who had even less than they did. Agnes never forgot watching her mother quietly help strangers without ever bragging about it. By the time she was twelve, Agnes had a quiet, steady feeling that she wanted to spend her whole life helping people in God's name. By eighteen, she was certain. She left home to join a group of nuns called the Sisters of Loreto. Agnes traveled first to Ireland to learn English, since the Sisters of Loreto needed teachers for their schools in India.

A Journey to India

Agnes traveled to India and became a nun. She chose the name Teresa, and people later called her Mother Teresa. For many years, she taught children in a school in the city of Kolkata. She loved teaching, but something was troubling her heart. Outside the school walls, she saw people suffering. Many were poor, sick, hungry, and alone. One day, while traveling on a train, Mother Teresa felt a powerful calling from God. She believed she was being asked to leave the school and spend her life helping "the poorest of the poor." She answered that call.

Mother Teresa began walking through the streets of Kolkata. She cared for people who had no homes. She fed the hungry. She comforted the dying. She cleaned wounds. She held the hands of people whom everyone else ignored. She often said that the greatest hunger in the world was not for food, but for love:

“I lived like an animal on the street, I die like an angel, loved and cared for.”

Soon, other women joined her mission. Together they formed an organization called Missionaries of Charity. Their goal was simple: to show love to people who needed it most. They opened homes for the sick, orphanages for children, and shelters for people with nowhere to go. Over time, their work spread across the world.

The Secret of Her Greatness

Mother Teresa was not rich. She did not have powerful armies or enormous wealth. Her strength came from something much bigger: kindness. She believed that small acts of love could change the world. One of her most famous sayings was:

"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love."

She smiled at strangers. She listened to lonely people. She cared for those whom others forgot. These simple acts became her superpower.

Difficult Times and Hidden Struggles

Many people thought Mother Teresa's life was easy because she helped so many people. But she also faced struggles. She became tired. She worked long hours. Sometimes she felt lonely. Sometimes she experienced deep spiritual doubts and wondered why she could not always feel God's presence. Yet she never stopped helping others. Even during her hardest days, she chose love. That is one reason why her story inspires people around the world. She showed that courage is not the absence of struggle. Courage is continuing to do good even when life is difficult.

Turning the Nobel Peace Prize into Food

By the 1970s, the tiny mission Mother Teresa had started with almost nothing had grown into a movement spanning the globe. In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most respected honors in the world, given to people who have worked to bring peace and ease suffering. When she traveled to Norway to accept it, she asked the organizers to cancel the elegant banquet that traditionally goes along with the prize, and to give her that money instead, so she could use it to feed hungry families back home. She said she was accepting the prize "in the name of the poor," not for herself.

The Miracles That Led to Sainthood

After Mother Teresa died in 1997, many people believed that miracles happened through her prayers. The Catholic Church carefully investigated these claims. One miracle involved a woman in India who had a serious illness in her abdomen. After praying for Mother Teresa's help, the woman reported a sudden and unexpected healing. Another miracle involved a man in Brazil who was suffering from severe brain problems. After prayers asking for Mother Teresa's intercession, he recovered in a way many people considered extraordinary. These events were studied for years. The Church concluded that they could not be explained by normal medical knowledge and recognized them as miracles. Because of these miracles and her life of service, Mother Teresa was declared a saint in 2016 by Pope Francis. Today she is known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Why People Still Remember Her

Mother Teresa did not invent a machine. She did not discover a new planet. She did not become famous because she was powerful. People remember her because she loved. She looked at every person as someone important. She believed that every human being deserved kindness, respect, and compassion. Her message was simple:

If you want to change the world, begin with love.
Smile at someone who is sad.
Help someone who is struggling.
Be kind to someone who feels left out.

Small acts of love can travel farther than we imagine.

Lessons for All of Us

Mother Teresa's story teaches us something beautiful:

You do not have to be rich to help people.
You do not have to be famous to make a difference.
You do not have to be perfect to spread kindness.

One caring heart can light up the lives of many people.

Mother Teresa spent her life sharing love with the world. Long after her passing, that love continues to shine. And perhaps the most unforgettable part of her story is this:

She showed that the greatest thing a person can give is not money, power, or success. It is love.

And every one of us has that gift to share.

“Religion is meant to be a work of love. Therefore, it should not divide us and destroy the peace and unity. Let us use religion to help us become one heart full of love in the heart of God. By loving one another, we will fulfill the reason for our creation – to love and be loved.”
“We are all capable of good and evil. We are not born bad. Everybody has something good inside. Some hide it, some neglect it, but it is there. God created us to love and be loved…we are all His children – Hindu, Muslim, or Christian.”
“We are all God’s children – and we have been created for greater things, to love and be loved. God loves each one of us with an everlasting love – We are precious to Him. Therefore nothing should separate us. Religion is a gift of God and is meant to help us to be one heart full of love. God is our Father – and we are all His children – we are all brothers and sisters. Let there be no distinction of race or colour or creed.”
“We are sent to unify under one Spirit, all people of whatever nation, race or culture. Under what spirit? The spirit of love! We are sent to unify all under the spirit of love: to unify all men of different religions: Hindus, Muslims and all people of different caste, colour or culture. We are called to witness to the reality of the brotherhood of all people in which the fullness of the law is love.”
“Let us not use religion to divide us. In all the holy books we see how God calls us to love. Whatever we do to each other we do to Him because God is our Father. Religion is a work of love – and not to destroy the peace and unity.”
“Some call Him Ishwar, some call Him Allah, some simply God, but we all have to acknowledge that it is He who made us for greater things, to love and to be loved. What matters is that we love. We cannot love without prayer, and so whatever religion we are, we must pray…”
“Our work in India and elsewhere is not intended for conversions, but to bring people particularly those in need, closer to God through our works of charity.”
“Oh, I hope I am converting. I don’t mean what you think. I hope we are converting hearts. Not even Almighty God can convert a person unless that person wants it. What we are trying to do by our work, by serving the people, is to come closer to God. If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We become a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Catholic, a better whatever we are and then by being better we come closer and closer to Him.”
“The best conversion is to make the people love one another. When they love one another they come closer to God.”
To be able to love the unloved, to be able to give … in your heart to the unwanted, unloved, uncared, that love begins at home. And how does it begin? By praying together. For the fruit of prayer is deepening of faith, then I believe that really whatever I do, I do it to God Himself; deepening of faith. And the fruit of faith is love, God loves me, I love my brother, my sister. Doesn’t matter religion, doesn’t matter color, doesn’t matter place, …my brother, my sister, created by God Himself – same hand – and then the fruit of that love must be action, must be service, I do something. And, therefore, let us pray to bring prayer in our family. Pray together, really have the courage to do something beautiful for God, and whatever you do to each other, you do it to God.
“Works of love are works of peace – to love we must know one another. Today if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other – that man, that woman, that child is my brother, my sister. If every one could see the image of God in his neighbor, do you think we would still need guns and bombs?”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile…for a smile is the beginning of love.”
“Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better, happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile. Kindness in your warm greeting.”
“God has His own ways and today if we have no peace means to work in the hearts of men, and we do not know how close they are to Him…If the individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life.”
“In our Congregation we have a fourth vow of giving wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor, to the unwanted, to the unloved, the uncared, to the hungry, to the alcoholic, to the rejected, to people who have no one, nobody; it doesn’t matter what religion, doesn’t matter what color, doesn’t matter what caste, doesn’t matter what nationality.”
The sisters and brothers are all over the world in every country we try to do the same kind of tender love and care without looking at religion or caste or color, we try to serve the child of God, our brother, our sister. And I think this has been another beautiful gift of God to us in giving us this opportunity to serve Him.
When asked about administering Christian rites to the other religion destitute in Kalighat: Well, the best thing that these people question the Hindu Satkar Samity and they will be able to tell how many people they have picked up, because I am very strict for this, that our dying people and our dead people have the ceremony accord

Make us worthy,
Lord,
to serve our fellowmen throughout the world
who live in poverty and hunger.
Give them,
through our hands,
this day their daily bread
&
by our understanding love,
give peace and joy.
Amen.