Mother Teresa (4046 words) Essay Example For Students

Mother Teresa (4046 words) Essay Mother TeresaMotherTeresa was a wonderful woman and a great influence on the world today. She wasborn in 1910 in Macedonia with the name Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She was born intoa family of deeply religious Catholics. Agnes felt she got the calling to workfor God at the young age of fourteen. She joined the Loreto order and went toBengal, India, to start her studies. In 1937, Agnes took her final vows tobecome a nun and has done much great work in the world since. Agnes GonxhaBojaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910 to Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu in Skopje,Macedonia. Drana and Nikola were Albanian and both were very deeply religiousRoman Catholics. Nikola was a popular merchant and a partner to an Italianmerchant. He owned several houses and was a member of the Skopje town council. Whenever Agnes father would return from a trip, he would always bring hischildren presents. Also, he promoted his daughters education, which wasuncommon in that time period. Nikola also was involved in an undergroundorganization that worked to gain independence for the Albanians from the OttomanTurks, who ruled Macedonia around the time Agnes was born. Agnes grew up aroundmuch fighting. When she was born, there were Albanian protests against theTurkish government. When she was two, she witnessed the First Balkan War. Inthat war, the Ottomans were defeated, but Macedonia was divided among theconquerors: Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegero, and Serbia. The city of Skopje wasdistributed to Serbia. Albania received its independence in 1912, but Nikolacontinued his nationalist work. He joined a movement determined to incorporateSerbia into the Albanian nation. In 1914, when Agnes was only four years old,World War I began. In 1918, her father was killed. Some people believe that hewas poisoned b y enemies. Many people mourned his death because of his kindnessand generosity. Drana Bojaxhiu and the family were left with little money and nomeans of income. Drana worked hard to provide for her family. To get enoughmoney, she became a dressmaker. Even though she had to work extra hard to makeends meet, Drana still found time and money to give to the lonely. When Agneswas young, she used to go on trips with her mother to visit the elderly, sick,and the poor. It is said that their mothers generosity may have had thegreatest influence on Agnes, her sister, and her brother. Agnes was the youngestof the three children. Her older brother was named Lazar and her older sisterwas Aga. Aga was five years older than Agnes. Agnes loved reading books, sayingprayers, and thinking. She also liked to sing and write poems about her faith. Agnes learned her faith from her mother. There was a sign in the front room oftheir house that read: In this house, no one must speak againstanother. Drana passed down to her children many values. She believed thatthe Lords work was reward enough in itself and that you should serve God in apractical, helpful way. Agnes had thought about being a teacher when she wasyounger, but at the age of twelve, she knew she wanted to lead a religious life. When Agnes was only fourteen, she knew she wanted to be a missionary nun. At ageeighteen, Agnes joined the Loreto order of nuns. In September of 1928, she lefther family and everything she knew to serve God at the Loreto Abbey in DublinIreland. There, she learned how to speak English. In November, she went to Indiato teach English in an Indian school. In 1929, Agnes started her novitiate in anAbbey in Darjeeling, and abbey in the foothills of the Himalayas. A novitiate isthe time a nun spends studying, praying, and contemplating before she takes hervows. On May 24, 1931, Agnes took her first vows of poverty, chastity, andobedience. She took her name after St. Therese, the patron saint ofmissionaries. On May 14, 1937, Teresa took her final vows, promising to serveGod for the rest of her life. Teresa eventually became the principal of LoretoEntally, a school in Entally (a district of Calcutta) where she taught historyand geography. Everyday, Teresa would look out of the convent to the streets ofCalcutta. She longed to help the starving and dying people on the streets. Shewasnt allowed to because the Loreto order of nuns had a rule that the nunscouldnt leave the convent unless they were seriously ill. In August, 1946,Sister Teresa could stand it no longer. A four-day riot broke out in Calcuttabetween the Muslims and the Hindus. Because of this, food delivery was stopped. Sister Teresa went out to find food for her hundreds of students. In the riot,5000 Calcuttans were killed and an additional 15000 were injured. She met somesoldiers who gave her some bags of food. They warned her to stay off thestreets, but she would soon experience another call from God. On September 10,1946, Sister Teresa experienced a call within a call on an annualretreat. She was convinced that God wanted her to reach out to the poor. Shesaid, I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living amongthem. It was an order. To fail it would have been to break the faith. In1947, Sister Teresa was granted permission to leave the Loreto order of nuns. OnAugust 16, 1948, Sister Teresa set out on the dirty streets of Calcutta wearinga simple cotton sari decorated with a blue border. Eventually, her organizationwould adopt this outfit as their habit. Leaving the Loreto Abbey was very hardfor Sister Teresa. She says that that was one of the greatest sacrifices she hadever made. The sisters at the Abbey were her only friends and companions and shewas leaving them all behind. Before she went out to the slums of Calcutta, shewent to Patna, a city 250 miles from Calcutta, to learn medical skills fromMother Anna Dengel. In Patna, the Medical Missionary Sisters took Sister Teresain immediately and took her with them when they went to the houses of sick anddying people and local hospitals. Sister Teresa learned to care for people bypracticing with the sisters. In Patna, Sister Teresa learned how to deliverbabies, fix broken bones, and she became aware of many common diseases andillnesses. The sisters found that she was a natural at caring for people, andwithin three months, Sister Teresa set out to help the poor of Calcutta. InCalcutta, she got in touch will Father Van Exem, who would help her find a placeto stay. Father arranged for Sister Teresa to stay at St. Josephs Home, wherea group of nuns called the Little Sisters of the Poor welcomed her gladly. Itwas hard for Sister Teresa to know where to start helping in such a large cityas Calcutta. She began by helping the Little Sisters of the Poor work withelderly people. On December 21, 1948, Sister Teresa finally set out on thestreets of Calcutta to start her mission from God. She walked out into the citywith a packed lunch, but nothing else. She had no money, materials, orcompanions. The first place Sister Teresa decided to go was the slum that shecould see from outside her window while teaching in the Loreto convent calledMotijhil. She decided to start a school there. On the first day, five childrenshowed up for class. There were no desks, books, or chalkboards, but SisterTeresa still managed to teach. She started by teaching the alphabet. Soon, thenumber of students was almost forty. With Sister Teresas help, the studentslearned not only about language and numbers, but also they learned aboutpersonal hygiene and cleanliness. Through her students, Sister Teresa met manyfamilies of Calcutta and also learned about the poor amount of medical care. Many of these families had no income because the man of the house had beenstricken with disease. In Calcutta, thousands of people died each year becausethey werent able to get medical care. The amount of poverty in Calcutta grew,and Sister Teresa knew she had to do something more. Since she did not have anymoney, Sister Teresa gave herself and all of her attention and energy to thepoor. She walked around the streets each day looking for places she could help. Kindergarteners and first graders should not have homework EssayAlong with a small statue of Jesus Christ, the Pope awarded her about $67,000 touse in her works. In 1971, Mother Teresa took her work to the United States. First, she went to the Bronx in New York. There, she helped the children, thelonely, the sick, and the unwanted. Groups of sisters went into somedevelopments to visit shut-ins, clean houses, get the groceries, and listen tothe elderly people. To try to keep the children off the streets, the sistersorganized a camp program with art, crafts, sports, and other activities thatwere free. The programs were held everyday on the school grounds of a school inthe Bronx. The Missionaries work in the Bronx was only a beginning to a longline of work done in the United States. In October of 1971, Mother Teresa wasgiven the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation Award by the Kennedy family. She waspresented with a check for $12,000. She put the money straight into a fund forthe disabled and retarded children. Mother Teresa was commended for her abilityto recognize the needs of so many people and to be able to provide help with solittle supplies and luxuries. Although Mother Teresa was getting old andfragile, she would not stop helping people. There was still much that needed tobe done. In 1971, Mother Teresa turned 61, but she wasnt about to even thinkabout retiring. In 1972, Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity venturedto Bangladesh. There was terrible devastation in Bangladesh. Food was scarce inthe villages and many people were starving. Many women had been raped and weretreated as outcasts and abandoned by their families. These women had no place togo, that is, until Mother Teresa arrived. The Missionaries of Charity would hidethe women from men who wanted to rape them. They also set up adoptions for theunwanted babies and buried the dead and tended to the wounds of the living. Fourcenters were established in Bangladesh. Because of all the work around theworld, Mother Teresa was getting publicity. She didnt like it, but if she wasable to tell the world about her mission, she would do it. In 1973, MotherTeresa was given the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. In the y ears tofollow, Mother Teresa built many more houses for the poor and needy. She alsotraveled around the world and spoke to many people. Mother Teresa has neverturned down an invitation to work with the poor in any country. In the coarse ofher mission, Mother Teresa received many awards. Perhaps one of the mostprestigious of these was the Nobel Peace Prize. On December 9, 1979, MotherTeresa was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize in a glorious atmosphere ofbeautiful flowers and cheering people. Along with the award, she was presentedwith $190,000. She received the prize for her outstanding work with the poor andher overall love for people. In her acceptance speech, she stressed the need forpeople to love each other. Three months after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize,Mother Teresa was presented with Indias greatest award, the Bharat Ratna, orthe Jewel of India. Mother Teresas work in the United States grew and by1984, she had established 19 houses to help the poor and homeless in Ame rica. In1985, President Ronald Reagan awarded Mother Teresa with the Presidential Medalof Freedom. In the following years Mother Teresa worked as hard as she ever had,despite her age. She gave talks about pro-life and worked with AIDS victims ofthe world. Mother Teresa would give of her whole self all the way up until 1997. Mother Teresa died of cardiac arrest on the morning of September 5, 1997 at theage of 87. She was buried on Saturday the 13th of September, 1997. Many peopleattended her funeral to bid her farewell and to pray for her. Mother Teresa wasa wonderful women. She gave everything she had to serve God and the people ofthe world. She will be remembered forever for her contributions to the poor andthe homeless. I feel that Mother Teresa made a wondrous contribution to theworld. What more can you give to the world than yourself? The answer to thatquestion is nothing. Mother Teresa gave the most you can give to anyone oranything. She gave her love, compassion, and all of her efforts to the world. She worked for the good of all mankind. Race and religion didnt matter toher, she just wanted to help. I think it is amazing how much one woman can do. Ithink Mother Teresa is the best example of the effects one woman can have on theworld. She started out by serving God in a convent and teaching children who hadenough money to be sent to school. She pleaded with the Pope to let her leaveher order to start a new one, and her pleas were answered. She was able to leavethe order. From there, Mother Teresa touched peoples lives all around theworld. She worked in the slums of Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, andNorth America. This single woman started out an order of nuns, an order ofbrothers, a group for lay people, houses and programs for poor and starvingchildren, women, and men. Perhaps one of the biggest things she did was inspireso many other people to do what she was doing, to help and love other people. Ibelieve that Mother Teresa was given a very special gift by God. She wa s giventhe gift of love. She was able to show love for all types of people, no matterthe race or religion. She was only interested in helping people. Mother Teresahelped the people that nobody else would even touch. She loved the outcasts andthe people who had terrible diseases. Mother Teresa loved people so much thatshe gave up all of her luxuries and comforts and the world that she knew to gohelp the poorest of the poor. She believed that to be able to truly understandthe needs of the poor, you had to live with the poor. Mother Teresa inspired somany people. Because of her efforts, many of the people who had gotten noattention before, had not even been given any help, received help. All over theworld, people have been positively affected by Mother Teresas devotion to thepoor. I would never be able to give of myself like she did. I dont think manypeople could ever say that they could do what she did. It takes a special personto be able to do that type of work, and Mother Teresa res ponded to Godscalling to serve the people, and has served so many people. Mother Teresaslove and generosity still lives on today and will always live on. Even thoughMother Teresa is in heaven now, her work still lives on here on Earth. All ofthe many foundations she started are still being run by the Missionaries ofCharity, the Missionary Brothers of Charity, the Co-Workers of the Missionariesof Charity, and all of the people she has inspired. Mother Teresa has inspiredpeople to donate their time and money to the poor people. Even if they dontgive themselves totally as Mother Teresa did, they still want to help needypeople. I feel that Mother Teresa will live on in the hearts of the people shehelped as well as many other people. Mother Teresa had a tremendous effect onour world and I think she deserves much honor and praise for her work. MotherTeresa is a wonderful role-model for anyone. She has literally helped people allover the world. In a world so hateful and dishonest, a person like Mother Teresais a rare occurrence. Overall, Mother Teresa was a wonderful person who helpedthe world a great dealBibliographyClucas, Joan Graff. Mother Teresa. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988. Egan, Eileen. Such a Vision of the Street. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Mother Teresa. Encarta. 1997-2000. Muggeridge, Malcolm. SomethingBeautiful for God. New York: Image Books, 1977. Mukherjee, Bharati. MotherTeresa. Time June 14, 1999: 88-90. Playfoot, Janet N. My Life forthe Poor: Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The Great American Bathroom Book, vol1. Stevens W. Anderson. Salt Lake City: Compact Classics Inc., 1991. Serrou,Robert. Teresa of Calcutta. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981. Spink, Kathryn. TheMiracle of Love. San Francisco: Harper ; Row, 1981.