St. Teresa’s Life Way

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. Her family consists of her parents, Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu, and her siblings, Aga Bojaxhiu and Lazar Bojaxhiu. Her Father was an entrepreneur who worked as a construction contractor and a trader of medicines and other goods. She was a member of a devoted Catholic family who were deeply involvement in the local church. St. Teresa was born on August 26, 1910, in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. Sadly, she died at the age of 87 on September 5, 1997, in Kolkata, India, due to her deteriorating health.

Some major events in her life were: when she received her First Holy Communion at the very young age of five in November 1916; when she received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her Humanitarian work; and after she experienced a “call within a call” from God and went out to do everything she could for the poor and sick. During this time, she fell into a state of spiritual darkness, which lasted for the rest of her life. She did not feel God’s presence with her anymore, but she still did what He asked for the rest of her life. Her father fell deathly ill when she was only eight years old and sadly passed away. On May 24, 1937, she took her last vow to a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience. In October 1950, she won canonical recognition for the Charity she founded, called Missionaries of Charity. St. Teresa of Calcutta was born into a family of Albanian descent, and at the age of 12, she felt a strong call to God. At the age of 18, she left her parents home and joined the Sisters of Loreto. After a few months, she was sent to India, where she took her initial vow as a nun.

St. Teresa was the patron saint of doubters and nonbelievers. She can serve as an example of how one can serve the poor in this world, and live an entirely selfless and other-directed life. She was canonized on September 4, 2016, her feast day is September 5th (the date of her death). St. Teresa prayed to Jesus on a daily basis. The prayer she prayed was “Dear Jesus, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others. Amen”(Her favorite prayers).

The demonstrations of her love for Jesus, that she showed were, she went to help someone in there home, and she writes about it. “‘I never forget an opportunity I had in visiting a home where they had all these old parents of sons and daughters who had just put them in an institution and forgotten maybe. And I went there, and I saw in that home they had everything, beautiful things, but everybody was looking towards the door. And I did not see a single one with their smile on their face. And I turned to the Sister and I asked: How is that? How is it that the people they have everything here, why are they all looking towards the door, why are they not smiling? I am so used to see the smile on our people, even the dying one smile, and she said: This is nearly every day, they are expecting, they are hoping that a son or daughter will come to visit them. They are hurt because they are forgotten and see this is where love comes. That poverty comes right there in our own home, even neglect to love’” (Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech).

Another one was when she saw how drugs affected kids in some bad neighborhood and wanted to try and fix it.“‘I was surprised in the West to see so many young boys and girls given into drugs, and I tried to find out why why is it like that, and the answer was: Because there is no one in the family to receive them. Father and mother are so busy they have no time. Young parents are in some institution and the child takes back to the street and gets involved in something. We are talking of peace. These are things that break peace, but I feel the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a direct war, a direct killing direct murder by the mother herself. And we read in the Scripture, for God says very clearly: Even if a mother could forget her child I will not forget you I have carved you in the palm of my hand. We are carved in the palm of His hand, so close to Him that unborn child has been carved in the hand of God’” (Mother Teresa, Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech).

Some ways Mother Teresa is relatable to us now, is when Mother Teresa left her home at the age of 18, she didn’t leave her family to live in a nice house, marry rich, or live an extravagant lifestyle, she left to devote her life to the less fortunate. When she was in Calcutta she lived in poverty, she didn’t have much, but she didn’t care. St. Teresa lived on very little to no money at all she only had what she needed to survive and the rest she gave to the poor. People who have lost their job or have barely any money to live can relate to St. Teresa and push through their situate because God always has a plan. St. Teresa of Calcutta was born in the time, where girls weren’t allowed to go to school, so she was homeschooled. Even though she was homeschooled, she still had to do house chores as well, which can become very stressful.

Mother Teresa has so many heroic virtues, even Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk said that Mother Teresa’s most heroic virtue was her faithfulness, the fact that even through her spiritual darkness, she still stayed loyal to God. (Mother Teresa Was Heroic – but Maybe Not for the Reasons You Think.) Another virtue would be that she is Charitable. She helped the less fortunate in every and any way that she could. There are so many ways for teenagers can imitate aspects of Saint Teresa, but one-way teenagers can imitate aspects of Saint Teresa is by helping anyone less fortunate than they, helping the poor in any way they can. Mother Teresa spent her entire life helping the poor, but all teenagers need to do is give food to someone who's homeless, or who haven’t eaten. Another way teenagers can imitate aspects of Saint Teresa life is by being faithful to God. She made it a huge part of her life to be devoted to God, and not saying teenagers have to devote themselves to God, but to pray to him every day would bring them one step closer to St. Teresa. I will be making a tri-fold poster that includes all the important information and pictures about St. Teresa, for my presentation.

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