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Accomplishments of Mother Teresa Mother Teresa was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun who worked for the deprived

lot of society. She devoted her life to society and remained an advocate of humanity. Read on about the accomplishments of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa was an Albanian Roman Catholic nun and a citizen of India. She is known to the world for her humanitarian approach towards society. Throughout life, she worked towards alleviating the sufferings of the sick and the dying. She was always a strong supporter of the poor and the helpless. Let us look at the accomplishments of this noble woman, Mother Teresa. Major Accomplishments of Mother Teresa In 1946, Mother Teresa received a divine message, possibly an intuition, after which she decided to devote her life to the betterment of society. In 1948, she started working with the poor. She soon became an Indian citizen and toured to different parts of India to uplift the downtrodden. In 1950, Mother Teresa was granted permission to establish the diocesan congregation, which would work for those, whom she described as "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers and all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone". The congregation extended far and wide and came to be known as the 'Missionaries of Charity', one of the very big organizations with centers all around the world. In 1952, Mother Teresa founded the first Home for the Dying in India. Later, she converted an unused Hindu temple into Kalighat Home for the Dying. People from all religions were accepted into Kalighat, where they would receive medical attention and care. She soon opened a home for lepers in Shanti Nagar. In 1955, Mother Teresa went ahead to open the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, a home for the orphan and homeless children. The Missionaries of Charity established by Mother Teresa continued growing to reach different parts of India. It opened several orphanages and leper houses across India, and later, in different parts of the world. The first house of the Missionaries of Charity that was established outside India was the one in Venezuela, which was opened in 1965. By 2007, the Missionaries of Charity had established 600 missions, schools and homes in 120 nations and had thousands of nuns working for it. In 1962, Mother Teresa was awarded the Padma Shri, followed by the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in 1972 and the Bharat Ratna in 1980. She was honored with the Philippines-based Ramon Magsaysay Award for International Understanding in 1962. In 1971, she received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize from Pope Paul VI. She was honored with the Pacem in Terris Award in 1976. In 1996, Mother Teresa received the honorary citizenship of the United States of America. For her struggle to overcome poverty and remove the sorrow and suffering from society, she was awarded the Noble Prize for Peace. She selflessly donated an amount of $192,000 to India to be used for the upliftment of the poor in the country. According to her, rewards were important only if they would help her work for the helpless. Mother Teresa left this for heavenly abode on September 5, 1997. After death, she reached sainthood and has been beatified. She has always proved to be an epitome of humanity and continues to be admired by people the world over. By Manali Oak Last Updated: 9/23/2011 http://www.buzzle.com/articles/accomplishments-of-mother-teresa.html

Mother Teresa Encyclopedia of World Biography | 2004 | COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. (Hide copyright information) Mother Teresa For her work among the poor and dying of India, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1979. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a Roman Catholic nun who founded the only Catholic religious order still growing in membership, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Yugoslavia, on August 27, 1910. Her parents were Albanian grocers, and at the time of her birth Skopje lay within the Ottoman Empire. She attended public school in Skopje, and first showed religious interests as a member of a school sodality that focused on foreign missions. By the age of 12 she felt she had a calling to help the poor.

This calling took sharper focus through her teenage years, when she was especially inspired by reports of work being done in India by Yugoslav Jesuit missionaries serving in Bengal. When she was 18 Mother Teresa left home to join a community of Irish nuns, the Sisters of Loretto, who had a mission in Calcutta, India. She received training in Dublin, Ireland, and in Darjeeling, India, taking her first religious vows in 1928 and her final religious vows in 1937. One of Mother Teresa's first assignments was to teach, and eventually to serve as principal, in a girls' high school in Calcutta. Although the school lay close to the teeming slums, the students were mainly wealthy. In 1946 Mother Teresa experienced what she called a second vocation or "call within a call." She felt an inner urging to leave the convent life and work directly with the poor. In 1948 the Vatican gave her permission to leave the Sisters of Loretto and to start a new work under the guidance of the Archbishop of Calcutta. Founding the Missionaries of Charity To prepare to work with the poor, Mother Teresa took an intensive medical training with the American Medical Missionary Sisters in Patna, India. Her first venture in Calcutta was to gather unschooled children from the slums and start to teach them. She quickly attracted both financial support and volunteers, and in 1950 her group, now called the Missionaries of Charity, received official status as a religious community within the Archdiocese of Calcutta. Members took the traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but they added a fourth vowto give free service to the most abjectly poor. In Mother Teresa's own view, the work of her group was very different from that of secular welfare agencies. She saw her nuns ministering to Jesus, whom they encounter as suffering in the poor, especially those who are dying alone or who are abandoned children. The Missionaries of Charity began their distinctive work of ministering to the dying in 1952, when they took over a temple in Calcutta that previously had been dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. The sisters working there had, as their main goal, filling with dignity and love the last days of poor people who were dying. The physical conditions of this shelter were not imposing, although they were completely clean; but the emotional atmosphere of love and concern struck most visitors as truly saintly. When the sisters were criticized or disparaged because of the small scale of their work (in the context of India's tens of millions of desperately poor and suffering people), Mother Teresa tended to respond very simply. She considered any governmental help a benefit, but she was content to have her sisters do what they could for specific suffering people, since she regarded each individual as infinitely precious in God's sight. The Missionaries of Charity received considerable publicity, and Mother Teresa used it rather adroitly to benefit her work. In 1957 they began to work with lepers and slowly expanded their educational work, at one point running nine elementary schools in Calcutta. They also opened a home for orphans and abandoned children. In 1959 they began to expand outside of Calcutta, starting works in other Indian cities. As in Calcutta, their focus was the poorest of the poor: orphans, the dying, and those ostracized by diseases such as leprosy. Before long they had a presence in more than 22 Indian cities, and Mother Teresa had visited such other countries as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Italy to begin foundations. Although in most of these countries the problems of the poor seemed compounded by uncontrolled population growth, the Sisters held strongly negative views on both abortion and contraception. Their overriding conviction was that all lives are precious, and sometimes they seemed to imply that the more human beings there were, the better God's plan was flourishing. In 1969 Mother Teresa allowed a group called the International Association of Co-Workers of Mother Teresa to affiliate itself with the Missionaries of Charity. This was a sort of "third order, " as Catholics sometimes call basically lay groups that affiliate with religious orders both to help the orders in their work and to participate in their idealistic spirituality. These Co-Workers were drawn to Mother Teresa's work with the very poor, and their constitution specified that they wanted to help serve the poorest of the poor, without regard to caste or creed, in a spirit of prayer and sacrifice. Dedication to the Very Poor Mother Teresa's group continued to expand throughout the 1970s, opening works in such new countries as Jordan (Amman), England (London), and the United States (Harlem, New York City). She received both recognition and financial support through such awards as the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize and a grant from the Joseph Kennedy Jr. Foundation. Benefactors regularly would arrive to support works in progress or to stimulate the Sisters to open new ventures. Mother Teresa received increasing attention in the media, especially through a British Broadcasting Corporation special interview that Malcolm Muggeridge conducted with her in London in 1968. In 1971, on the occasion of visiting some of her sisters in London, she went to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to pray with the Irish women for peace and to meet with lan Paisley, a militant Protestant leader. In the same year she opened a home in Bangladesh for women raped by Pakistani soldiers in the conflicts of that time. By 1979 her groups had more than 200 different operations in over 25 countries around the world, with dozens more ventures on the horizon. In 1986 she persuaded President Fidel Castro to allow a mission in Cuba. The hallmark of all of Mother Teresa's worksfrom shelters for the dying to orphanages and homes for the mentally illcontinued to be service to the very poor.

In 1988 Mother Teresa sent her Missionaries of Charity into Russia and also opened a home for AIDS patients in San Francisco, California. In 1991 she returned home to Albania and opened a home in Tirana, the capital. At this time, there were 168 homes operating in India. Later in 1995, plans materialized to open homes in China. Despite the appeal of this saintly work, all commentators remarked that Mother Teresa herself was the most important reason for the growth of her order and the fame that came to it. Muggeridge was struck by her pleasant directness and by the otherworldly character of her values. He saw her as having her feet completely on the ground, yet she seemed almost unable to comprehend his suggestion (meant as an interviewer's controversial prod) that trying to save a few of India's abandoned children was almost meaningless, in the face of the hordes whom no one was helping. He realized that Mother Teresa had virtually no understanding of a cynical or godless point of view that could consider any human being less than absolutely valuable. Another British interviewer, Polly Toynbee, was especially struck by Mother Teresa's lack of rage or indignation. Unlike many "social critics, " she did not find it necessary to attack the economic or political structures of the cultures that were producing the abjectly poor people she was serving. For her the primary rule was a constant love, and when social critics or religious reformers chose to vent anger at the evils of structures underlying poverty and suffering, that was between them and God. Indeed, in later interviews Mother Teresa continued to strike an apolitical pose, refusing to take a stand on anything other than strictly religious matters. One sensed that to her mind politics, economics, and other this-worldly matters were other people's business. The business given by God to her and her group was simply serving the very poor with as much love and skill as they could muster. In the 1980s and 1990s Mother Teresa's health problems became a concern. She suffered a heart attack while visiting Pope John Paul II in 1983. She had a near fatal heart attack in 1989 and began wearing a pacemaker. In August 1996 the world prayed for Mother Teresa's recovery. At the age of 86, Mother Teresa was on a respirator in a hospital, suffering from heart failure and malaria. Doctors were not sure she would recover. Within days she was fully conscious, asked to receive communion, and requested that the doctors send her home. When she was sent home a few weeks later in early September, a doctor said she firmly believed, "God will take care of me." In late November of that same year, Mother Teresa was again hospitalized. She had angioplasty surgery to clear two blocked arteries. She was also given a mild electric shock to correct an irregular heartbeat. She was released after spending almost a month in the hospital. In March 1997, after an eight week selection process, 63-year-old Sister Nirmala was named as the new leader of the Missionaries of Charity. Although Mother Teresa had been trying to cut back on her duties for some time (because of her health problems), she stayed on in an advisory role to Sister Nirmala. In April 1997 filming began on the movie "Mother Teresa: In the Name of God's Poor" with actress Geraldine Chaplin playing the title role. The movie aired in the fall of 1997 on "The Family Channel" even though, after viewing the movie, Mother Teresa refused to endorse it. Mother Teresa celebrated her 87th birthday in August, and died shortly thereafter of a heart attack on September 5, 1997. The world grieved her loss and one mourner noted, "It was Mother herself who poor people respected. When they bury her, we will have lost something that cannot be replaced." In appearance Mother Teresa was both tiny (only about five feet tall) and energetic. Her face was quite wrinkled, but her dark eyes commanded attention, radiating an energy and intelligence that shone without expressing nervousness or impatience. Many of her recruits came from people attracted by her own aura of sanctity, and she seemed little changed by the worldwide attention she received. Conservatives within the Catholic Church sometimes used her as a symbol of traditional religious values that they felt lacking in their churches. By popular consensus she was a saint for the times, and a spate of almost adoring books and articles started to canonize her in the 1980s and well into the 1990s. She herself tried to deflect all attention away from what she did to either the works of her group or to the god who was her inspiration. She continued to combine energetic administrative activities with a demanding life of prayer, and if she accepted opportunities to publicize her work they had little of the cult of personality about them. In the wake of the 1979 Nobel Prize for Peace she received many other international honors, but she sometimes disconcerted humanitarian groups by expressing her horror at abortion or her own preference for prayer rather than politics. When asked what would happen to her group and work after her death, she told people that God would surely provide a successora person humbler and more faithful than she. The Missionaries of Charity, who had brothers as well as sisters by the mid-1980s, are guided by the constitution she wrote for them. They have their vivid memories of the love for the poor that created the phenomenon of Mother Teresa in the first place. So the final part of her story will be the lasting impact her memory has on the next generations of missionaries, as well as in the world as a whole.

Further Reading A good sampling of Mother Teresa's own ideas was available in her own books, Life in the Spirit (1983); A Simple Path (1995); In My Own Words (1996); and No Greater Love (1997). The books contained reflections, meditations, and prayers that provided a good basis for judging Mother Teresa's spirituality. Of the constantly growing number of biographies and studies, Malcolm Muggeridge's Something Beautiful for God (1984) deserved special mention, because it was one of the first and best publicized treatments. Muggeridge made no effort to conceal his admiration. Other solid, if usually almost overly admiring, treatments included Eileen Egan, Such a Vision of the Street (1985); Desmond Doig, Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work (1976); Kathryn Spink, The Miracle of Love (1982); Edward Le Joly, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1983); William Jay Jacobs, Mother Teresa: Helping the Poor (1991); Margaret Holland, Mother Teresa (1992); and Mildred Pond, Mother Teresa (1992). See also Maclean's (March 24, 1997) and People (June 30, 1997). Information on Mother Teresa may also be accessed on the internet by doing a search of her name (August 20, 1997). Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. "Mother Teresa." Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Retrieved February 07, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3404706331.html

PEACEMAKER HERO: MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA by Katia from San Diego "If you can't feed a hundred hungry people, then just feed one". These words define the view of life of Gonxha Agnes Bonjaxhiu, also known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Saint of the Gutters and Sister Mary Teresa. "This luminous messenger of god's love"(Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center) was born on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Mother Teresa knew even at an early age that her vocation would be becoming a nun. Her desires in forming a part of a convent soon lead her to her to join the Sisters of Loreto convent at the age of eighteen. This was barely the start of pursuing her lifelong promise. The one she had made to god when she received her "inspiration, a call within a call"(Mother Teresa of Calcutta center). She was asked from him to establish a religious community that would be dedicated to the poorest of the poor. Overcoming the odds of at one point being doubted of her sincerity, was showed through her selflessness and humbleness, the two main things that drove her to the completion of her holy mission. A true hero must possess these two important and valuable traits. The way Mother Teresa strived to help anyone she could, plus her admirable acts of selflessness and humbleness earn her the title of a true hero. It is not easy to live for others and not for oneself but Mother Teresa did. Mother Teresa strongly portrayed selflessness through her innumerable acts of generosity toward the forgotten, unloved and uncared for. Mother Teresa's selflessness was so immense; she continued to help the needy regardless of her condition. "Despite frequent health problems in the last 14 years of her life, Mother Teresa continued to travel, spread her message of generosity, and care for those who needed it most" (Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale) Even though she wasn't in great health, the option of relinquishing her position was always open, but through the strength she received from her followers, she endured. Mother Teresa was aware of the significant amount of people out there that had it worse and that it was her destiny to be the change in the world. Mother Teresa was a stubborn but big hearted humanitarian, instead of being in bed receiving medical attention, she was doing the exact opposite - one of the many ways she put others before her. She made her way to the most neglected areas to spread her love and kindness. "In order to respond better for both the physical and spiritual needs of the poor, Mother Teresa founded the missionaries of Charity Brothers In 1963, the Contemplative branch of the sisters in 1976, the contemplative brothers in 1979 and the missionaries of charity fathers in 1984" (Mother Teresa of Calcutta). One religious community was not sufficient for Mother Teresa, since her priority was the needy. She believed that the less fortunate also deserved the right to enjoy of basic commodities, just like anyone else. Many of us think that by serving the poor once in our lives, it is enough, but Mother Teresa devoted her life to this, showing true commitment. Creating health centers for the poor was just one of her many giving acts. Setting others before herself was not challenging for Mother Teresa simply because it came from the heart. Besides her selflessness she dominated the valuable trait of humbleness. Many would want to change every aspect of their life once they've had a taste of fame, but this was no temptation for Mother Teresa. She lived very simply in order to maintain focus in her main priorities. "The woman who brought in millions of dollars to support her causes lived on a rupee (about four cents) of food per day and little more than four hours of sleep per night. She owned only three saris and packed two when she traveled." (Student Resource Center - Gold.

Gale) Mother Teresa had the opportunity to enjoy of many luxuries but that was nowhere near her goal. Her humbleness was clearly showed through her actions because many others would have chosen to take a different route once they reached fame and fortune. Mother Teresas only concern was to change someone's life around day by day, this may have had her prone to media attention but she never wanted any part in that. When she was asked to give interviews she never mentioned how great her accomplishments were, but she would always give out wise messages trying to get others to take the initiative. "Her deeply lined face framed by a blue-bordered sari came to symbolize the plight of the poor and the desperate. Despite her fame, Mother Teresa spent much of her life out of the reach of the spotlight, ministering to society's outcasts in some of the darkest corners on earth" (World Book Student). Having everything at the reach of a hand, she didn't accept anything that was offered. Instead she focused on improving someone else's life style, never expecting to be praised. She stayed true to herself and the ones revolving her. Mother Teresa only wanted to complete her mission; the one god had assigned her. She had knowledge of what she had achieved but this only encouraged to get further. Although she had caused a massive impact by her astonishing achievements, she remained a down to earth person, making her one of the most humble humanitarian's of the 20th century. As Mother Teresa once stated: "At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done..." Mother Teresa's selfless acts brought her far, creating many known charities that can help alleviate the less fortunate from hunger, illnesses etc., but most importantly she kept her promise to god. After having founded many charities that produced her millions, reporters were eager for an interview that she would hopefully grant them. During one of the interviews with Time magazine in 1989 she said: Time: Why have you been so successful? Mother Teresa: Jesus made Himself the bread of life to give us life. That's where we begin the day, with Mass. And we end the day with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I don't think that I could do this work for even one week if I didn't have four hours of prayer every day. Time: Humble as you are, it must be an extraordinary thing to be a vehicle of God's grace in the world. Mother Teresa: But it is His work. I think God wants to show His greatness by using nothingness. Time: You are nothingness? Mother Teresa: I'm very sure of that. This shows her humbleness by not taking credit for what she has done. Many thought she utilized this as a strategy to get even more involved in the media, but as time went by, they recognized her genuine sincerity. Mother Teresa has been an aspiring figure to me simply because she portrayed to be a selfless and humble human being all the way until the day of her death on September 5, 1997. She was "a pencil in god's hand", leaving wise words behind, hoping that one day the world would follow her example. "We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop". The humbleness and selflessness that Mother Teresa possessed, are the building blocks of a true heroic figure. Works Consulted Parello , Jennifer. "Mother Teresa: Saint of the Gutters." n. pag. World Book Student- DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. Web. 28 March 2011. Piazza, S. Gregorio al Celio. Mother Teresa of Calcutta center. The Director Mother Teresa Center, n.d. Web. 28 March. 2011. "Teresa, Mother (1910-1997)." UXL Biographies. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. 31 March. 2011 "Teresa, Mother." Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Student Resources In Context.- DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL Web. 28 March. 2011. Written by Katia from San Diego This story has been submitted by a guest user and does not necessarily represent the views of The My Hero Project or its staff. Last changed on: 4/26/2011 http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=M_Teresa7_dnhs_US_2011_ul&fb_source=message

HEROES OF FAITH HERO: AGNES GONXHA BOJAXHIU (MOTHER TERESA) by Veronique from San Diego Children say Superman is a hero because he uses his super powers to save peoples lives. This type of heroism starts physically, from the external side of someone. However, Superman only saves because he has the strength to. If he didnt have any supernatural powers, he might as well have been the helpless human being saved by the superhero. In reality, the only reason why he has the heart to save is because he has the strength to. On the other hand, there is another type of heroism: one that starts internally, from the heart. This hero sacrifices his or her own cause for anothers. Rather than having the heart to save due to strength, he or she would have the strength due to the heart. This heros motivation to reach his or her goal is driven by love, not strength. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu perfectly demonstrated this type of hero. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, more commonly known as Saint of the Gutters, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, Sister Mary Teresa, and later Mother Teresa, is a saint known for her work to help the poor and her strong faith in God. She defines herself: By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910 in Uskub, Kosovo (now known as Skopje, Macedonia). At an early age of 12, she felt a strong calling from God to be a missionary to spread His love and to help the poor. Six years later, to answer God's call, she left home to train as a nun with the Sisters of Loreto (Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary) in Dublin, Ireland. However, she felt that the students being taught there were already wealthy so in 1948, she left the school to work directly with the poor. Mother Teresa visited slums, which were areas of a city often largely inhabited by poor people. There, she healed the ill and brought education to the children. Over time, she gained support from people who also wanted to help out. On October 7th, 1950, the Missionaries of Charity was finally founded and it is the only religious order still active today. In 1952, the Charity took over an abandoned Hindu temple and converted it into a hospice for dying people to help bring hope and love to. Tourists who visited the hospice were awed at the love-saturated atmosphere and cleanliness of the area. Five years later, the Charity also began to work with lepers, and opened a home for abandoned children. In 1959, they began to expand to other Indian cities outside of Calcutta and, her impact on others did not just take effect in the places she visited, but all around the world. On September 5, 1997, Mother Teresa died of a heart attack. The world mourned for her loss with much recognition and grief. Eight days after her death, a state funeral was held for Mother Teresa, which was attended by many people of different origins. Her body was buried in the Mother House of the Missionaries of Charity, where her tomb became a sanctuary for all people, no matter what religion. Even non-catholic people were inspired by her devotion to God and help for the poor. She will always be remembered as a hero in the hearts of the poor. Mother Teresa strongly portrays a heroic character. She clearly doesnt save to take triumph in herself, but really devoted herself to helping others. Whenever someone acknowledged her accomplishments, she modestly tried to push the spotlight away from herself. In April of 1997, someone requested to film the movie: Mother Teresa: In the Name of Gods Poor, documenting the works of Mother Teresa. However, when Mother Teresa viewed it, she humbly refused to let them air the movie. She also displayed her humbleness when she received awards, she did not receive them in pride for herself, but instead for the glory of God and in the name of the poor (Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center). She truly dedicated herself to Christ. Despite her dedication and accomplishments, she said that after her death, God would find a successor who was more humble and faithful than herself. Mother Teresa portrayed heroism in that she loved each individual and devoted her life to helping the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for (Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center). She says, In these twenty years of work among these people, I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience (Gale Virtual Reference Library). She really cared about the people she helped and wasnt just trying to make herself look like a good person. As a motherly saint, she took care of those of Gods children who felt lost. The Sisters of Saint Teresas foundation, the Missionaries of Charity, opposed abortion and contraception. This shows that they truly care and view each and every individual as Gods precious children. In Mother Teresas late ages, she became deeply sick. However, she continued to try her best to help the poor. She unselfishly sacrificed her own needs for others. Mother Teresa has deeply inspired people all over the world with her faithfulness and dedication to Christ and helping the poor. She portrayed this when she answered Gods call to build the Missionaries of Charity. By answering His call, she accepted to devote her life to Him. One of her goals was to quench His thirst for love and for souls (Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center). As a missionary, she spread the word and hope of God to people who felt lost. Even when she became ill, she overlooked her health: God will take care of me (Mother Teresa of Calcutta Center). Written by Veronique from San Diego Photos courtesy of http://www.perigrinatio.com/category/sacred-space/ Last changed on: 2/13/2010 11:23:58 AM http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=M_Teresa_dnhs_US_2010

HEROES OF FAITH HERO: MOTHER TERESA by Michael from San Diego A Candle in Darkness The Bible mentioned eight times we should love and treat our neighbors better than how we treat ourselves ("Love Your Neighbor as Yourself"). Mother Teresa demonstrated this biblical verse perfectly through her selfless actions in the slums of India, helping her deprived neighbors she didn't even know. She was born in Macedonia in 1946, originally named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu by her Albanian parents. Her name later changed when she gave up her life to serve God at 18 in Ireland with a Christian nun community called Sisters of Loreto. Mother Teresa became a teacher at Calcutta India where she noticed poverty all around her: "Teresa received what she described as a call from God, to give up all and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor." (Graf). She helped those that received none throughout their lives with love and compassion. Mother Teresa showed through her actions that she believed we could change this world for the better through kindness and selflessness. Heroes are role models and are relied on, people who never give up, doing what they do in the name of righteousness. Mother Teresa is a hero in my eyes for the way she used selfless actions, kindness, and unfaltering believe in her faith to make the world a better place. Mother Teresa sacrificed her life along with everything she owned to help strangers around her, all in the name of God. Through pure righteousness and compassion did she help those who were unwanted and unloved, taking great risks for others. One example is when she experienced excruciating visions and feelings that brought her on the brink of doubting God, and yet she found strength and motivation when thinking about people she would help through her pain: "Mother Teresa concluded that these painful experiences could help her identify not only with the abandonment that Jesus Christ felt during the crucifixion, but also with the abandonment that the poor faced daily. In this way she hoped to enter, in her words, the 'dark holes' of the lives of the people with whom she worked" (Martin). Mother Teresa gave an ultimate sacrifice to those she helped when she embraced these insane thoughts as she tried to experience what the unloved felt daily, similarly to the way Jesus suffered and ultimately died for others. By taking on the form of the people she worked for, she believed she would experience, "the abandonment that the poor faced daily," and would help her understand how Jesus and the people she worked for felt every day. Just being with suffering victims of diseases with which she worked with was a life-threatening risk, but Mother Teresa did it unquestionably for the selflessness in her heart. She gave a great sacrifice for her religion, and yet the darkness she felt for years made even her question the reality of her faith: "Few of us, even the most devout believers, are willing to leave everything behind to serve the poor. Consequently, Mother Teresa's work can seem far removed from our daily lives...'If I ever become a saint,' she wrote,'I will surely be one of darkness'"(Martin). Few dedicated themselves to their religion enough as to be, "willing to leave everything behind to serve the poor," like Mother Teresa, and ironically, few believers doubt their own faith such as she did. This leads many to question the depth of this anguish Mother Teresa experienced, and why she endured it for so long; All of this answered by the enormous sacrifices she was willing to make to help others. While she had some doubts and the strength of her faith wavered sometimes, she still showed belief in her religion unheard of before, being able to endure ever deepening darkness in her faith and living a selfless life dedicated to helping the poor. Mother Teresa followed these words in everything she did: Be kind towards others and accept that we, as a human race, cannot achieve greatness or even survive without love towards one another. She was a humble teacher at a school that took selfless action towards helping the victims of poverty around her, all the while inspiring others to follow in her footsteps: "Daily, Mother Teresa visited families living in slums, nursing those weak with hunger and dying of tuberculosis. She started an outdoor school for destitute children, and focused on returning dignity to the poor, despite all the indignities they suffered...she soon expanded her work for 'The unwanted, the unloved and the uncared for'" (Anderson). This later lead to a formation of a foundation known as Missionaries of Charity: "Along with the Co-Workers, the lay Missionaries of Charity try to follow Mother Teresa's spirit and charisma in their families"("Mother TeresaBiography."). Mother Teresa believed we should all be taking small steps with sincere motives towards helping other people and making our communities better places. She achieved enormous success by doing this, even getting as far as forming a foundation based on her beliefs of true spirits and selflessness. Mother Teresa strongly believed that we can all work together with love and caring, and only through this will we be able to accomplish something beautiful: "Mother Teresa's life serves as a lesson in how one can accomplish great things by working diligently and selflessly on small things daily. 'As I often say to people who tell me that they would like to serve the poor as I do,' Mother Teresa said, 'What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God'" (Anderson). Mother Teresa showed us that by respecting and helping those around you, you would be making a bettered community. She truly opened a door for this world in the way of introducing individualism and team effort, or contributing ideas to make a better whole product. Mother Teresa believed we should all have '"kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting,'" and indeed it is true wisdom; if we cannot love the people around us, how can we hope to accomplish anything greater than ourselves? Only through kindness and gentleness towards others will we be

able to accomplish total unity, as a human race. I do not believe Mother Teresa is a hero for the things she accomplished, not for awards she received. But how she did all these things: Through love, with sincere motives and strong faith. The impact she had was only a result of her ability to keep believing in dark times, and a resilience that came from what Mother Teresa thought to be the greatest power of all: Love.

Mother Teresa is a hero because of her contribution to mankind, not as a tangible thing, but as an idea, that loving and showing benevolence to those around you will make the world a better place. Mother Teresa once said, "'When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed'" (Anderson). For her life, her main goal had been to help cease the suffering around her. Mother Teresa is inspiring because of her selflessness and righteous motives. When helping people in the slums of India, she lived to help people she described as 'the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone'" (Graf). Mother Teresa is a true hero and saint because of the way she accomplished all she did. Through kindness, compassion, and love. An Indian spiritual leader once said these great words of wisdom: "Selfless service alone gives the needed strength and courage to awaken the sleeping humanity in one's heart" ("Selfless quotes"). Works Cited Anderson, Amy. "Mother to the world's poor: how Mother Teresa achieved greatness by doing the little things." Success Nov. 2009: 92+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. Graf, Christine. "Mother Teresa: Saint of the Gutters." Faces: People, Places, and Cultures Oct. 2007: 17. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. "Love Your Neighbor as Yourself." Believers.org. Believer's Church, 6 Jan 2011. Web. 8 Jan 2011. http://www.believers.org/believe/bel208.htm. Martin, James. "A saint's dark night." New York Times 29 Aug. 2007: A23(L). Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. "Mother Teresa-Biography." Nobleprize.org. The Noble Foundation, 2010. Web. 16 Dec 2010. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html. "Selfless quotes." Thinkexist.com. Think Exist, 2011. Web. 8 Jan 2011. http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/selfless/. Written by Michael from San Diego Last changed on: 1/16/2011 http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=M_Teresa_dnhs_US_2011

ANGEL HERO: MOTHER TERESA by Paul from San Diego Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is much a greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat (Teresa). These words Mother Teresa discovers as she journeys her life spending time and benevolently lending a hand to the poor. Born and raised as a Roman Catholic, Mother Teresa, in her early years, was in awe and fascinated by the stories of missionary life, which later inspired her to dedicate her own life to serve in the missionaries. By the age of eighteen, she left her home to join the Sisters of Loreto and never again, saw her family. Throughout the years, her munificent display of affection helped many unfortunate people from the despair of loneliness and the poverty of apathy. With her selfless heart and her loving spirit, she placed nothing before her dedication to help the poor. In the eyes of many, Mother Teresa is truly a saintly heroine. Mother Teresas dedication to the poor was inspired by her compassion of her selfless heart. Her first assignment as nun was to teach, and eventually become principle, in a girls high school at Calcutta. When she realizes that her surroundings were filled with poor, unwanted, and impoverished people: Mother Teresa received what she refers to as a

second calling. She felt God speak to her heart. The inspiration was to give up even Loreto where I was very happy and to go out in the streets. I heard the call to give up all and follow Christ into the slums to serve him among the poorest of the poor (Mother Teresa (1910-1997). Her life as a teacher in a Catholic school was pleasant and contented; however, she receives a calling from within herself to do something else. That calling, within her selfless heart, inspires her to leave her sanctuary of peace behind and aid the poorest of the poor, even though her life already established on teaching. Mother Teresas selfless performances eventually spread throughout many countries in need and also rewarded significantly. Nonetheless, her unselfish heart continues to give: In 1971 Pope Paul VI awarded her the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. She sold the Lincoln Continental automobile given to her by the pope and used the money to help the pooralso won the Kennedy Prize in 1971, the Nehru Prize in 1972, the Albert Schweitzer International Prize in 1975, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace. She donated all of her prize money to the poor of Calcuttawon the Balzan Prize, given to those who promote brotherhood and peace among nations. Later awards included the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1994. In 1996 an act of the U.S. Congress made her an honorary citizen of the United States, a gesture of respect extended to only six people throughout U.S. history (Carnagie). Despite the possibilities, Mother Teresa generously donated all her own money to the poor. Because of her unselfish desires, she did not spend the money for herself nor did she greedily keep all the earnings to herself. Mother Teresas selflessness is one of the major elements that guide her to her dedication to the poor. Not only Mother Teresas selfless heart played a major role in her dedication for helping the poor, she is profoundly compassionate to everyone, even those who do evil, with her loving nature. Critics would blame the economic system for producing such deprived people, who dwells on the streets. However: Unlike many social critics, she did not find it necessary to attack the economic or political structures of the cultures that were producing the terribly poor people she was serving. For her, the primary rule was a constant love, and when social critics or religious reformers chose to demonstrate anger at the evils of structures underlying poverty and suffering, that was between them and God. (Carnagie). She believes that those who resolve in violence to solve their problems will someday face the consequences. Because of her loving nature, she has no reason to clout the cultures that resulted with poor people, since her only principle was to unconditionally love. Throughout her life, aiding and saving those in need, she comes the conclusion that: In these twenty years of work among the people, I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience" (Carnagie). This quote from her own mouth displays the empathy for the lonely and poor people, as she also was born in an impoverished place. Her own words were inspired by her characteristic to love and lend a hand to others openly. Mother Teresas dedication for helping the poor and unfortunate came from her own selfless will and loving nature Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls, Mother Teresa had once said. Her net of love captured the souls of millions by her endless, selfless heart and spirit. No matter who they are, rich or poor, satisfied or hungry, somebody or nobody, Mother Teresa still strove to make an effort to reach out to them. Her passionate love and her unselfish heart resulted in her establishment of the Missionaries of Charity, which now consists of more than 4500 nuns and active in many various countries. Remember she said that loneliness is the most terrible poverty. No one wants to be alone, yet there will always be those who hunger to be accepted and loved because there are people who do not possess the selflessness and love to reach out to the lonely. However, there will always be those who do little acts of kindness towards others or strangers, but little do they know that these small deeds and kind words will truly echo forever. Because it is not the magnitude of those actions that matters, it is the amount of love that is put into them that counts. Works Consulted Carmody, Denise Lardner. "Mother Teresa (1910-1997)." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Suzanne M. Bourgoin. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 17 vols.Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. 19 May. 2010 . "Mother Teresa (1910-1997)." DISCovering Biography. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Gale. DEL NORTE HIGH SCHOOL. 19 May. 2010 . "Mother Teresa." World Religions Reference Library. Ed. Julie L. Carnagie, et al. Vol. 4: Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 351-358. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 19 May 2010. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3448400084&v=2.1&u=powa9245&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w "Mother Teresa." UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography. Ed. Laura B. Tyle. Vol. 7. Detroit: UXL, 2003. 1347-1350. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 19 May 2010. http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CCX3437500559&v=2.1&u=powa9245&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w Written by Paul from San Diego

Last changed on: 5/25/2010 http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=M_Teresa5_dnhs_US_2010

By blood and origin I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the whole world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus." HEROES OF FAITH HERO: MOTHER TERESA by Kimberly from San Diego There are people everywhere. Children, lining the alleys, engrossed in the uninfluential games they play to pass the time; men, lounging around with nothing better to do, occasionally bursting out in raucous laughter and boisterous singing; and women, screaming in their attempts to be heard, rushing around with their hands full, and above all, trying to keep things organized and clean. Its a useless mission. For these are the slums of Calcutta, India. Those who live here are those who have no other choice. Theres a desperation and hopelessness that pervades these streets, seeping into the very soul of the community. Here, its a fight to the death for the right to live. But within this bleak and miserable environment, theres still some hope to be found. And oddly enough, it comes in the form of a single woman, barely five feet tall, painfully inconspicuous, and armed with nothing but pure will and determination. Mother Teresa: renowned for her immense personal sacrifice and relentless dedication to her cause, her respect and kindness to those around her, despite their outcast statuses and desperate situations, and for the powerful inspiration she provided, and still does provide, to people around the world. Mother Teresa, born Gonxha (Agnes) Bojaxhiu, on August 27, 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia, showed an interest in helping others from childhood. At the age of eighteen, she traveled to Dublin, Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto, a womens Catholic religious order active on every continent. Upon becoming a nun, she took the name Teresa, in honor of Teresa of Avila and Theresa of Lisieux, and immediately set out for Calcutta, India to teach at St. Marys High School. In 1946, she decided to do something more meaningful with her life and in 1948, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, an order committed to serving the poor and the less fortunate. Soon, there were thousands of members running centers for orphans, lepers, the blind, the disabled, the dying, alcoholics, drug addicts, and the homeless (Parello). Mother Teresa was met with international acclaim, winning multiple awards before receiving the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. Despite her huge success, however, her health began declining as she suffered several heart attacks and broken bones. Finally, on September 5, 1997, she passed away in her beloved Calcutta and Sister Nirmala was named her successor (Teresa, Mother). Several years after her death, Pope John Paul II beatified her, leaving her one step away from sainthood. One of Mother Teresas greatest attributes was the way she gave up everything to help those less fortunate and never took credit for her work, always searching to inform the world, not of what she did, but of what could still be done. She has received each awardin the name of the poor and suffering and those who seek to help them (Mother Teresa). Mother Teresa didnt particularly care for rewards or payment because she felt that helping a fellow human being equaled and surpassed the hard work she put into her cause. In fact, instead of seeking praise and gratitude for her efforts, Mother Teresa consistently deflected attention off of herself and onto those who needed her, constantly thinking of how to continue helping the poor and impoverished. This was demonstrated when she won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize and she convinced the committee to forego the traditional ceremonial dinner and to add the money to her prize winnings, a total near $192,000. She used the money to build more homes for victims of leprosy (Gebber). Mother Teresa had just won the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the highest honors she had ever received, and yet, she was still thinking of others. On the night dedicated to celebrating her own accomplishments and successes, she turned the spotlight upon the people that she worked with, taking the opportunity to inform even more people of their troubles. Afterwards, she even donated the money that was intended for her own personal use to the Missionaries for Charity, effectively surrendering her own comfort and wealth for those that needed it more. She already lived in very harsh conditions; the woman who brought in millions or dollars to support her causes lived on a rupee (about four cents) of food per day and little more than four hours of sleep per night (Gebber); but she still devoted her entire life to others, working extremely hard under tremendous stress and pressure. A truly selfless person, her work was always on her mind and she always did whatever she could to help those less fortunate. Despite all the suffering and destitution around her, Mother Teresa still saw all human life as equal, treating everybody with the same open-minded kindness. In her own words: they lived like animals. At least they die like human beings (Mother Teresa). She believed that, regardless of the life that some of the people she helped lived, they should at least be able to die with pride and dignity, instead of out on the streets, because they were all human and all deserved this basic right. She didnt think that their actions meant that they werent worthy or that anyone should get priority over anyone else, but simply that all should be welcome to her hospices. She also made sure that everybody was treated fairly, telling her nuns that when you attend to the wounds and bruises of the poor, never forget that they are Christs wounds

(Mother Teresa). Here, she is referring to the New Testament verse: I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the last of these brothers of mine, you did for me (Matt. 25:40). She treated all as if they were Christ himself, with the same care and integrity as if they were holy. She also didnt see this as a courtesy but as a fundamental necessity, as she believed that all were equally important. Furthermore, she insisted that she had no political interests, saying I reject politics completely. The poor are poor no matter if they live under a democracy or a dictatorship. In both cases they need love and care (Gebber). She helped others no matter who they were, as long as they were in need of help, believing that how somebody became poor or less fortunate than others didnt matter, but the fact that they are means that one should help them out of compassion and without any rewards. She knew, instinctively, that each and every individual is special and deserves the respect and trust that she would place in any other, no matter who they are and what their situation is. Mother Teresa was a hero, not simply because of her lifes work, not because of her dedication, not because of her infinite kindness, and not because of her endless giving, but because she inspired the whole world in her true goodness and idealistic mission. It was the individual contributions; her hard work, her unbiased views of human life, and her ingrained need to help others; that impressed her followers. Amazingly, new recruits for the order were always plentiful, despite the rigorous lifestyle (Mother Teresa). Mother Teresas ability to influence was astounding, with people from all over the world joining her Missionaries of Charity, even though the work was hard and they had to give up their entire lives to helping others, just as she had. Her power was in how she motivated, whether it be in a conscious act like joining her religious order, or simply in small actions of daily life. She was an inspiration simply because of her ability to inspire. She captured the entire world in her dream: her belief that helping a fellow human being was worth giving up everything else. Written by Kimberly from San Diego Last changed on: 5/19/2010 http://myhero.com/go/hero.asp?hero=M_Teresa3_dnhs_US_2010

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Mother Teresa 2008 | 2008 | COPYRIGHT 1993 The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright 2002, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. Mother Teresa 1910-97, Roman Catholic missionary in India, winner of the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, b. Skopje (now in Macedonia) as Agnes Goxha Bojaxhiu. Of Albanian parentage, she went to India at 17, becoming a nun and teaching school in Calcutta (now Kolkata). In 1948 she left the convent and founded the Missionaries of Charity, which now operates schools, hospitals, orphanages, and food centers worldwide. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003. Bibliography: See her writings in In My Own Words (1996, comp. by J. L. Gonzlez-Balado) and her letters in Come Be My Light (2007, ed. by B. Kolodiejchuk). Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. "Mother Teresa." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 07, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Teresa-M.html

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