Mother Teresa
She was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now Macedonia). In 1928 she decided to become a nun and went to Dublin, Ireland, to join the Sisters of Loreto. From there she went to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling, India.
In 1929 she began to teach geography at St. Mary's High School for Girls in Calcutta. In those days the streets of Calcutta were crowded with beggars, lepers, and the homeless. Unwanted infants were regularly abandoned on the streets or in garbage bins. In 1946, Mother Teresa felt the need to abandon her teaching position to care for the needy in the slums of Calcutta.
Initially focusing her efforts on poor children in the streets, Mother Teresa taught them how to read and how to care for themselves. Many former students of St. Mary's eventually joined her order. Each girl who joined was required to devote her life to serving the poor without accepting any material reward in return.
My True Community
Keep giving Jesus to your people not by words, but by your example, by your love being in love with Jesus, by radiating His holiness and spreading His fragrance of love everywhere you go. Just keep the joy of Jesus as your strength. Be happy and at peace. Accept whatever He gives -- and give whatever He takes with a big smile. You belong to Him.
My true community is the poor -- their security is my security, their health is my health. My home is among the poor, and not only the poor, but the poorest of them: the people no one will go near because they are filthy and suffering from contagious diseases, full of germs and vermin -- infested; the people who can't go to church because they can't go out naked; the people who can no longer eat because they haven't the strength; the people who lie down in the street, knowing they are going to die, while others look away and pass them by; the people no longer cry because their tears have run dry!
The Lord wants me exactly where I am -- He will provide the answers.
Accept whatever He gives -- and give whatever He takes with a big smile. You belong to Him.
What an amazing woman Mother Teresa was! To put others before herself at all costs. I can't imagine. I often avoid the eyes of the homeless...why should I give away my hard earned money? There are organizations set up to help them, are they even trying? Are they even really homeless? Imagine if the rolls were reversed. Imagine how blessed you would feel to have someone provide you with a hot meal when you haven't eaten for days. A cold drink when you've been out in the hot sun for hours with nothing. Shelter from the rain.
When you see someone less fortunate than yourself, how do you respond? Do you turn the other way? Are you thankful you aren't in their position? Do you feel superior to them? Or do you lend a helping hand? Do you love them the way Jesus loves you? Or do you deem them unworthy of your time? I long to love as Jesus loves. It's hard. It requires effort and an open heart. I pray God will grant me that sovereign heart and that I can make a difference too.
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