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Mother Teresa passed away on 5 December 1997. People all over the world mourned
her passing because she was such an enormous inspiration. Even after her death,
there are people everywhere continuing the work that Mother Teresa had started
years ago. Mother Teresa was born in Albania in 1910. Her real name was Agnes.
From a young age, her parents taught her and her siblings the importance of
being charitable. Her mother taught her by example, often
welcoming the poor or sick into their home, or going out to help them. Mother
Teresa was also taught the importance of religion. As a child, she enjoyed going
to church, even joining the choir and learning how to play a musical instrument
called the mandolin.
When Mother Teresa was twelve years old, she had the desire to dedicate her
life to serve God. However, being so young, she was not yet sure of what to do.
After all, most children her age were only concerned with their school work and
their friends. Thus, Mother Teresa did not act at once. Instead, she waited
until she was eighteen years old to decide that she wanted to be a missionary in
India. Before going to India, however, she had to undergo training
first-learning about being a nun and learning to speak English. Even after
reaching India in 1929, Mother Teresa continued her training. By then, she had
taken on the name of Teresa.
In India, Mother Teresa had the first glimpse of the poverty of the people
around her. She started off as a teacher and the young children loved her for
her kindness and patience. She even took care of those who were sick. Soon,
Mother Teresa felt that she had to do more. What she really wanted to do was to
care for the poorest of the poor, people who were cast aside by society. She
understood that to help them, she had to experience their life. She was willing
to sacrifice all that she had to live among them. She ate only rice because that
was all the poor could afford. She even went for medical training so that she
would know how to help the sick.
All her life, Mother Teresa helped these people out of love and compassion
for them. People like Mother Teresa are few and far between. |
