Quotes by Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa 1910 – 1997
Born as an Albanian in Skopje, then part of the Ottoman Empire. She was baptised the very next day and considered this to be her true birthday. From a young age Teresa was fascinated by stories of missionaries and their work abroad, committing her to focus on a religious life and by the age of 18 she left home to travel to join the ‘Sisters of Loreto’ in Ireland, it was hear she learnt English and the familiarity with monastic day to day living.
Within a year she had moved to India, still staying with the ‘Sisters of Loreto’ and undertook her novice apprenticeship. She studied diligently and as well as learning the scriptures she also learnt Bengali so as to be able to teach at the local convent, now named The Mother Teresa School.
Almost two years after she arrived in India Teresa was to take her first religious vows and choose the spiritual name of Teresa after the patron saint of missionaries. She would spend almost twenty years teaching at the convent, becoming the headmistress in the process.
It wasn’t until 1948 that Mother Teresa found her “call within the call” and began her missionary work with the poor. It was also at this time she replaced the traditional Sisters of Loreto habit with her own unique style of a white cotton sari with a blue boarder. She also adopted Indian citizenship and undertook several months of basic medical training before entering the slums of Calcutta.
A year later she was joined by a small group of young women laying the foundations for her religious community dedicated to helping the poorest amongst the poor. Over the course of almost 50 years Mother Teresa tirelessly fought for the rights of those poor, she founded hundreds of clinics, schools, hospices and community projects, she helped people from all areas of the world, encouraging us all to look within our own neighbourhood to help those in need.
She was a truly inspirational lady and in recognition of her exception life dedicated to others she has been awarded amongst many other awards, the Romon Magsaysay Award for peace and international understanding in 1962, the Pope John xxiii Peace Prize In 1971 and in 1979 the Nobel Peace Prize for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress.
Some of the other awards an merits bestowed upon this great lady include in 1985 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Order Of Australia in 1982, the Order of Merit and Honourable citizenship of the United States of America and the Balkan Prize for promoting Humanity to name but just a few. Mother Teresa day is held on the 19th October and is seen as a public holiday in her country of birth.
“Peace begins with a smile”
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them”
“Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echos are truly endless”
“Let us always meet each other with a smile, a smile is the beginning of love”
“Do small things with great love”
“It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving”
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier”
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