Learning from Mother Teresa Essay examples

Mother Teresa was a kind, little lady who live selflessly to spread Jesus' love and kindness to the poor and needy. This saint overcame a difficult childhood and decided at a young age to change the world. She worked hard and sacrificed herself to found her own line of nuns and also inspire millions to provide more loving hospitality and care for their neighbor.

Like her I find great joy in helping other in need. After reading how she fought to provide help for the mistreated laborers I was moved by her humanitarianism.

It was September the 10th, 1964 and World war 2 had only just come to a conclusion. Mother Teresa sat on a piping hot train, on a hot summers day in Calcutta. She tried taking up as little space as possible to avoid being crowded which she was to a great extent and deeply swelter. She was on a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat. On this train ride Christ spoke to Mother Teresa. She referred to this as 'her second calling' and in her words it was 'a vocation to give up, even at Loreto where I was very happy, to go out into the streets to serve'. "I want Indian Nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children," she heard Christ say to her on the train in those very words. "You are I know the most incapable person - weak and sinful but just because you are that'- I want to use you for my glory. Wilt thou refuse?". A sensation of happiness rushed through her, even though she had been called weak she was honoured. She was very quick to share her vision with her supporters, friends and members of the Loreto sisters that she worked with. She was questioned about her call, and all the intentions and aims she had for doing it.

Out of all thirty three living Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, I am most interested in hearing Betty Williams speak about her efforts to inspire peace. Betty Williams was awarded the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work and devotion to bettering the lives of suffering children. The 1976 Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to Betty Williams and her partner Mairead Corrigan in 1977 because the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided that the 1976 prize had to be reserved for the following year since none of the year’s candidates for the award matched the criteria ("Nobel Peace Prize 1976"). Mrs. Williams founded the Global Children’s Studies Center in 1992 which eventually developed into the World Centres of Compassion for Children International in 1997 ("Betty Williams -

In more ways than one, Mother Teresa shows the qualities of being an incredible mentor to others (Hentschel).

Against her father’s wishes, Teresa ran away to become a nun of the Carmelite Order. Although the convent was crowded, she started right away teaching people the power of mental prayer. She did not just teach women, as nuns often did, but men as well. She did not want to entertain people; instead she wanted to change people’s lives. “She guided nuns not just through strict disciplines, but also through the power of love, and common sense” (Pettinger, 2010). She had a heart

She got permission from the church to found the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, and kept working to better the world through this organization. It was created to have Catholic women dedicate themselves and their lives to the less fortunate in the world, and work to make their lives better through their actions and hard work. Mother Teresa organized this whole group, which still works today with massive numbers behind it, so her impact on society is still not over; she is still touching peoples’ lives because of her love of God and her desire to make a difference in all the lives that she ever came in contact

soon became a viral hero. Mother Teresa volunteered most of her life to helping the poor, the

Mother Teresa understood the importance of treating someone as a person no matter what their background. She believed that all should be treated equally. I believe this has personally lead me to my path of becoming a nurse as my career and it has been a true calling for myself. I not only get to give my patients great healthcare but I also get to interact with them on a more spiritual level as well.

Many saints and other people have decided to assist poor people without the Church's discretion from around the world that are usually not assisted. Some went to great lengths, but Mother Teresa went to India to serve all in any way. When Mother Teresa saw Calcutta as a nun, she knew that she could help the Indians in Calcutta. Loving to give her all for the needy Indians for her was easy. Mother Teresa helped all Indians in Calcutta who were in need.

This lead her to follow God’s will, and become a teacher at St Mary’s school, and later become the principle of this school. At the school Mother Teresa, taught history, english and a couple of other subjects to teach the children at the schools. She loved the kids as if they were her own, and equally. Mother Teresa’s second calling was the call to care for the people in the slums of Calcutta, but to do so she needed permission from her superiors, as at this stage Mother Teresa was the principle at St Mary’s. In the following year, Mother Teresa began her work which obeyed God’s call fro her to look after the poor, sick and dying in the streets. Through many difficulties, Mother Teresa obeyed and followed the work which God led her to do, her lives work, and influenced her into making these decisions. The vow of obedience, influence Mother Teresa greatly, in following orders from superiors, and God himself. As said by Mother Teresa, “…by faith, I am catholic. As to my calling, I belong to the world…”, her calling brought her closer to the world, and the calling itself influenced the work which Mother Teresa is known of doing.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta who lived from 1910 until 1997 received permission from the Pope to start her own religious community in order to work amongst the poorest of the poor. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, which is a Roman Catholic religious congregation. She taught Catholic Church doctrine on abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and social justice. She founded modest hospitals, clinics, schools, and centers to care for lepers in India and AIDS patients in the United States. Mother Teresa helped develop hospices and homes for people with tuberculosis. She started soup kitchens, dispensaries, mobile clinics, counseling programs and orphanages for those with needs and no means to pay for these services. "She addressed the United Nations, the U.S. Congress, and the President of the United States, and boldly defended the life of the unborn and promoted adoption and Natural Family Planning as the only moral alternatives to abortion." (Trigilio and Brighenti 2003, 310) By 1996, Mother Teresa was operating 517 missions in more than 100 countries. Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity grew from twelve to thousands serving the poor in 450 countries around the world. In 2012, the Missionaries of Charity had over 4,500 sisters and was active in 133

It is all too easy to ignore the needs of those around us. But Mother did not. She taught us that as Christians, we are directed by God to love our neighbor. To use her words, “Love. Each. Other.”

She felt that if she were to fail it would be the same as committing an ultimate sin. Mother Teresa strived to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and make the sick well again. She died at the age of eighty-seven years old due to congestive heart failure.

There are many people in this world that we consider great humanitarians. Mother Teresa was a unique individual that stood out of the crowd because of her involvement in helping the sick, poor and dying. She spent everyday of her adulthood caring for people that were in need by setting up the Missionary of Charity along with many homes for the people she cared for. Mother Teresa won many awards throughout her lifetime for her dedication to care for people in need. It is no wonder that Mother Teresa won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and is considered a saint.