Story Corner: Love and care like Mother Teresa

From Homes to Sunday schools, children often are reminded and enlightened about a humble woman who was selfless, generous and cared more for the poor and needy than herself. Teachers, pastors and mentors always encourage children to follow her example and practice compassion. Who is Mother Teresa? Mother Teresa was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia, and she is the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. Considered one of the greatest humanitarians of the 20th century, she was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016. As a Catholic nun and missionary, Mother Teresa taught in India for 17 years before she experienced her “call within a call” to devote herself to caring for the sick and poor. She was baptized as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Through her kindness, generosity and unfailing commitment to her students’ education, she sought to lead them to a life of devotion to Christ. “Give me the strength to be the light of their lives, so that I may lead them at last to you,” she wrote in prayer. Briefly, Mother Teresa received various honours for her tireless and effective charity, and this includes; The Jewel of India; The now-defunct Soviet Union’s Gold Medal of the Soviet Peace Committee; and The Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her work “in bringing help to suffering humanity.” Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87. To the world, Mother Teresa will always be remembered as the “saint of the gutters” for her humility and affection for the “unwanted, unloved and uncared for” of Calcutta’s slums. Some of Mother Teresa’s Quotes “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” “Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.” “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. “It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home.” “Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.” “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” “Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.” “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” Compiled by Dennis Agaba

Children

Story Corner: Love and care like Mother Teresa