Mother Teresa - an embodiment of Christian love and charity

by W.T.A. Lelslie Fernando

The death anniversary of Mother Teresa, a legend in her own lifetime falls on September 5. No other Catholic prelate, priest or religious in our times has touched the hearts of people all over the world as Mother Teresa. A symbol of untiring commitment to the poor and suffering, she passed away on September 5, 1997.

Mother Teresa was born to Albanian parents on August 26, 1910 at Skopje, Yugoslavia (now Macedonia). Her lay name was Agnas Gonxa Bojaxhiu.

At the age of 18, she submitted to the call of God and left Skopje for Ireland and joined the order of the Sisters of Our lady of Loretto. She took her vows as a nun on March 26, 1931. As the majority of Loretto nuns in Ireland served in India, Mother Teresa got a teaching appointment in Loretto Convent, Calcutta. She took her final vows as a Loretto nun in 1937.

In 1946, she got a call within and was inspired by the Holy Spirit to serve among the suffering in the stinking slums in Calcutta. In 1948 she got the permission of the Church authorities to form the congregation of "The Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity".

In order to help the sick, she underwent four months nurses training course to prevent and cure diseases at the hospital of the Medical Missionary Sisters in Patna.

When Mother Teresa returned to Calcutta, she began in a humble way by working in the slums and visiting the homes of the sick to treat them. She helped the poor children to wash, clean and care for themselves. She also began to teach 5 children in the streets of Calcutta to read and write under a tree. A few days later she was provided with a building.

In 1950, when the Holy See in Vatican approved her Order 12 nuns had joined the congregation. They were committed to serve the poorest of the poor on their own volition out of their love for Jesus. That was their chosen way to live upto the Gospel and spread the message of God for the salvation of people.

The order of the "Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity" was officially established on October 17, 1950. Mother Teresa introduced the white cotton saree with a blue border as the official costume of the congregation. They were to serve the sick, the disabled, the destitute, the unwanted and the helpless.

In 1952, Mother Teresa opened up a house in Calcutta called the "Home of the Dying Destitute" to provide a happy death for those on the verge of dying by deadly diseases like cholera, TB and dysentry. Mother Teresa and her nuns gathered the dying from the streets of Calcutta, cleaned them, gave medical attention and took care of them until they passed away.

Later Mother Teresa set up an institution to look after the unwanted and uncared children called "Home for the Child". Some of the inmates in this centre were picked up by Mother Teresa and other nuns and others were sent from hospitals, prisons and by the police. Likewise in 1957 Mother Teresa set up a colony for the treatment of lepers called "The Peace Colony".

As time went on the services of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity expanded rapidly to cover so many other fields. Today they have set up institutions to nurse the sick, to give shelter to the abandoned, to care for those subject earthquakes and floods and attend to those suffering from AIDS.

In due course the services of the congregation spread to countries outside India as well. Mother Teresa was invited to open up institutions all over the world.

The first institution outside India was established in Venezuela in 1965. Today institutions of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity are found in 105 countries with 569 branches. In Sri Lanka they have institutions in Colombo, Kandy and Moratuwa.

At the time of the death of Mother Teresa, there were over 4,000 nuns, 400 priests and brothers and over hundreds of thousands of lay volunteers who had joined Mother Teresa to serve the poorest of the poor.

Mother Teresa trusted on Divine providence and forbade any raising of funds for the congregation. Nevertheless funds began to flow for them from different States, various institutions, business establishments and private individuals. All those funds were used only for the benefit of the destitutes.

Mother Teresa believed that she was answerable to God for every cent that people gave her.

When Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Prize she used all the cash award that came with it for her charity work. In 1964 when Pope Paul VI came to India, he gave his ceremonial limousine to Mother Teresa. She immediately raffled it to finance her leper colony.

Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity live in poverty and they share the poverty of the people they serve. All they possess are 2 cotton sarees with blue borders, a pair of sandals, and underskirt, a wooden cross, a mat and a washing bucket. They take the perpetual vows of poverty, chastity, obedience and wholehearted free service to the poor. Their lifestyle reflects the life of poverty commanded by Christ to the disciples.

Mother Teresa always believed in spirituality in religion. The vocation of the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity as explained by Mother Teresa was not to the poor but to Jesus whom they found in the destitute, the helpless and the suffering. The sisters begin the day with Mass and meditation and end it with an hour of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

They consider that the caring for lowliest in society is part and parcel of their intense prayer life. It is true that Mother Teresa was accused of accepting illgotten and black money. Her reply to the allegation was "We have no moral right to refuse donations given to the poor and miserable." It was also alleged that no painkillers were given at centres for the relief of patients. Nevertheless these controversial aspects should not cloud her unparalled commitment for the welfare of the poor, destitute and the downtrodden.

Mother Teresa did not stop merely drawing attention to the downtrodden in society. She had loving trust in God and gave effect to God's power and spirit for the uplift of the poor and the helpless. She witnessed to Christian love and charity to feet the hungry, cloth and naked and find shelter to the houseless.

Mother Teresa denounced giving a political dimension to religion. Though she publicly expressed her views on social issues and condemned practices like abortion, she declared that you cannot practise love amidst political involvement. She reached streets and slums to give effect to Gospel values proclaimed by Christ.

The role played by Mother Teresa on this earth is unique. She appealed to the milk of human kindness and showed that so much could be achieved through love and charity. When there was so much dishonesty, indiscipline, humbug and hypocracy around her, she stood out like a Lotus in the pool of mud.

The process of cannonisation of Mother Teresa is under way. She was beatified in October 19, 2003. The whole Catholic world is eagerly awaiting the cannonisation of Mother Teresa as a Saint.

(The writer is a former High Court Judge)