What do you think of when you think of Mother Teresa? Nun... Saint... Joyful... Missionary of Charity... Giver... The list goes on and on. When brainstorming the first thing that came to my mind was "bomb.com" Here's why...
1. Her smile.
I dream of having the wrinkles of Mother Teresa because those don't come from expressionless glances. Her joy was effortless and her love for smiling was evident. The photographs are proof. Mother Teresa believed the smile was mush more powerful that what meets the eye. Smiles are the beginning of peace and love according to Mother Teresa. She said, "Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." Plus, smiles are contagious, a.k.a. the gift that keeps on giving.
"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." -Mother Teresa
2. Her heart of service.
"It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving." -Mother Teresa
She said it best. Her life is most notably know for her services in Calcutta and extreme generosity. After taking her vows as a nun, she went from Agnes to Sister Teresa inspired by St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Therese's mantra, "doing little things with great love", carried into Mother Teresa's life work as she said, "A life not lived for others is not a life". It's no wonder she spearheaded the Mission of Charity with such grace.
“Give, but give until it hurts.” -Mother Teresa
3. Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.
According to legacy.com, Mother Teresa has numerous awards on her resume. The Indian Padma Shri (1962), Pope John XXIII Peace Prize (1971), Albania's Golden Honour of the Nation (1994), but the Nobel Peace Prize (1979) tops the list. Fun fact, Mother Teresa refused the traditional Nobel honor banquet and requested that the $192,000 budget aid the poor in India. Her heart of gold trumps all.
4. Ooo, She schooled you!
Perhaps my favorite story of Mother Teresa proves she has a backbone- a rigid one too!
Mother Teresa entered a bakery with a hungry child at her side. She asked for some bread in order to feed the child. The baker spit in her face.
"Thank you for that gift for me. How about something for the child?"
Jim Towey recalled Mother Teresa's moxie in a Catholic World Report article when he said, "She was all business—a 'no-nonsense,' get-things-done kind of person...She knew what she wanted, and she was single-minded in getting things done. She’d put people to work, and have confidence in you that you’d get things done. One time, for example, she wanted five travel visas, including one to Cuba. She said she wanted them the next day. I told her that was impossible. She told me, 'I’ll do the praying, and you do the working.'”
In both cases, Mother Teresa got what she wanted, the bread and the visas. Mother Teresa was as graceful as they come, but her courageous and passionate spirit led her efforts in successfully serving the poor. Maybe her 15 years of experience teaching history and geography prepared her for schooling her enemies in an exquisite way. *Teacher fist bump.*
5. #GOALS
*Fangirling.* Saint Teresa and Saint John Paul the Great holding hands? Yes please! These two are true besties for the resties. Have fun partying it up in eternity (p.s. Can you help a girl out every now and then with an intercession or two? Please & thanks.)
6. Her love for His love had no boundaries.
At 18 she left her home for the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. But here's the kicker: she never saw her family after that. Her time was dedicated solely to God and what He called her to do. I believe the following quote (as well as practically any quote by Mother Teresa) displays her dedication and devotion to the Lord and His love.
“God made the world for the delight of human beings-- if we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us -- you just can't resist Him. I believe there's no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His.” ― Mother Teresa
Her actions solidified her words. Mother Teresa experienced what she called "the call within the call" and despite her stability and comfort, she answered God's call for her to leave and become the best version of herself.
In an article about Mother Teresa on Churchpop.com, Fr. Vazhakala is quoted, "She was so united with Jesus that she was able to radiate not her love, but Jesus' love through her, and with a human expression."
Others noticed. The whole world noticed.
7. Prayer is hard.
“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.” -Mother Teresa
50 years. That's how long Mother Teresa spent in silence. Not 40 days and 40 nights, 50 years of spiritual desolation. After having intimate conversations with Christ through visions and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, Mother Teresa was called to a time of longing and suffering to best relate to the poor she was encountering.
"If my darkness and dryness can be a light to some soul let me be the first one to do that. If my life, if my suffering, is going to help souls to be saved, then I will prefer from the creation of the world to the end of time to suffer and die.” -Mother Teresa
8. Miracles.
There are many stories of Mother Teresa miracles that I have heard. It's hard to distinguish the fact from the fiction but the two most recent miracles that aided in her canonization process were published in an article on www.ncregister.com.
The first miracle took place in India as a woman was miraculously cured from extremely painful and inoperable tumors after a Miraculous Medal touched by Mother Teresa was placed on her stomach.
The second was in 2008. A Brazilian man had an infection in his brain that had caused him to slip into a coma and treatments began to fail. While his wife prayed for Mother Teresa's help, he was taken into surgery where the surgeon found him awake and aware. He when on to make a full recovery and to add the cherry on top, the couple had two kids, defying the doctor's predictions that it would be impossible to do so.
9. Handwritten letters.
"I'm a pencil in the hand of God, who is sending a love letter to the world." -Mother Teresa
Tom Hoopes and his wife received a letter from Mother Teresa on their wedding day. Letters between Mother Teresa and her spiritual director have surfaced, allowing for us to understand her intimate prayer life and struggles. But perhaps the most famous of letters was not a physical letter at all. It was when Mother Teresa spoke to Hillary Clinton about the heart heavy topic of abortion in 1994.
10. Fearlessness.
Mother Teresa was fearless not because she didn't have fears, but because her faith conquered doubt. In the September edition of The Word Among Us, there's an article by Kathryn Spink. She details Mother Teresa's fear stepping into the unknowns of Calcutta by writing, "Leaving Loreto was the hardest thing Mother Teresa had to do. She was stepping into one of the darkest, most disease-ridden areas of the world. And she was going alone." Despite her nagging fears, Mother Teresa went. But not only did she go, she went whole heartily and served until she could not serve no more.
"God has not called me to be successful. He called me to be faithful." -Mother Teresa
11. "Risk your heart"
"This is the meaning of true love, to give until it hurts." -Mother Teresa
Not very many can say their befriend is going to be canonized by Pope Francis, but for Bishop William Curlin the odds are in his favor. He shared his friendship with Mother Teresa in an article that also showcased her vulnerability. He wrote, "...She asked what I was doing. I said, 'I'm giving sandwiches to the poor. They come for food.' Her response took me by surprise. 'Don't just give them food,' she said. 'Give your heart. Risk your heart.'" Mother Teresa did not serve the poor. She loved them with all her being. She did not see those she encountered as needy or poor. She saw them as souls, children of God, who needed love. To provide such a love she risked her heart, allowing vulnerability to present itself.
12. Connections
Mother Teresa connects to individuals in so many ways. She had a strong relationship with the Lord, she encountered multiple people a day leaving them with a feeling of importance, and here to the present day I feel a connection with her as I seek to serve others and find motivation in her words. Her quotations and actions echo through world and will continue to do so. It's as if she predicted her own legacy when she said, "I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples."
13. "I thirst"
14. Her single-mindedness
Perhaps the single greatest representation of Mother Teresa's single-mindedness are her sandals. Currently on display, the ill-fitting sandals showed Mother Teresa's desire to love the Lord and do His will. Nothing else mattered. Comfort and style were not even options when it came to prioritizing. Her call from God was first and foremost in all she did. Mother Teresa's mother saw the single-mindedness early on as she described her daughter as "only all for God and Jesus." Mother Teresa was determined to maintain her sole purpose: to say yes to God in every circumstance.
15. ROLL CALL!
Name changes are significantly awesome and the bible is full of them... Abram to Abraham, Saul to Paul, and Simon to Peter just to name a few. On September 4th, 2016, Blessed Mother Teresa will become Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata)! She's a veteran to the name-change club. From Agnes to Sister Teresa to Blessed Mother Teresa to Saint Teresa of Calcutta, She's been around the new name block a couple of times. Heaven, ROLL CALL!
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