Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata

St. Mother Teresa of Kolkata was born on August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Christened Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the youngest of three children born to an Albanian couple, Nikolle and Drandafille Bojaxhiu, she lost her father when she was young. After completing her studies at age 18, she entered Loreto Abbey in Ireland on September 25, 1928, taking the name Teresa and choosing St. Therese of Lisieux as her patron saint. Here, she got her initial training in the religious life and gained proficiency in the English language. She moved to Calcutta in 1929, where she spent sixteen years as a teacher at St. Mary's School in Entally and acquired fluency in Bengali.

She was traveling by train to Darjeeling on September 10, 1946, to facilitate recovery from an illness when she felt what she later described as "the call within the call," which was "to be God's love in action to the poorest of the poor." As she came to terms with her calling, she understood it was to "take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, and the homeless." On August 16, 1948, she left the safety and protection of the Loreto Convent to enter the outside world. She dealt with the harsh reality of the slums of Calcutta after requesting and receiving the proper approval from her Congregation, the then Archbishop of Calcutta, and the Vatican.

With less than five rupees in her wallet, a crucifix pinned to her shoulder, a Bible in her hand, and a coarse blue border on her white sari, she began serving Jesus in the poorest of the poor with unwavering faith and bravery. She enrolled in Patna for a six-month rigorous nursing training program to better prepare herself for the job. She washed the bare bodies of the sick and dying, comforted them in the peace of the Lord, and cared for their wounds filled with maggots. Strangely, as Mother moved around with her customary passion, no group of the suffering human race escaped her attention, considering that she only saw Jesus in every person she encountered; she was "doing something beautiful for God."

Mother Teresa opened her first slum school on December 21, 1948. Some of her previous students joined her in her outreach to the underclass in 1949. She acquired Indian citizenship in 1950, and on the feast of Our Lady of Most  Holy Rosary in October of the same year, she founded the Missionaries of Charity. In 1952, she established her "Home of the Dying Destitutes" at Dharamshala, which she called "Nirmal Hriday", meaning pure heart. She then opened a children's residence called "Shishu Bhavan." She founded the leper community "Shanti Nagar" in 1957. The Missionary Brothers of Charity was a rival institution she started in 1963 for men. Later, she established a contemplative nuns' Order.

Mother Teresa said, "At the moment of death, we will not be judged according to the number of good deeds we have done or by the diplomas we have received in our lifetime. We will be judged according to the love we have put into our work." In time, the life of this "Saint of the Gutters," as she came to be known, inspired her Sisters and Brothers to live frugal but disciplined lives like her, voluntarily foregoing all kinds of modern-day comfort and recreation. In time, Mother came to be bestowed with innumerable awards in recognition of her work, the two most notable awards being the Nobel Peace Prize and the Bharat Ratna. She was a fierce defender of the unborn, saying, "If you hear of some woman who does not want to keep her child and wants to have an abortion, try to persuade her to bring him to me. I will love that child, seeing in him the sign of God's love."

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, and was beatified only six years later, on October 19, 2003. Mother Teresa once said, "A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace." She also said, "give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His love than in your own weakness." Blessed Teresa was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016.

Almighty God, who called St. Teresa of Calcutta to the love of your Son, thirsting on the Cross with outstanding charity to the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in our suffering brothers and sisters.

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)