Mother Teresa Essays (1659 words) - Mother Teresa, Humanitarians

Mother Teresa Mother Teresa is a gift from God that has been sent down on Earth to help people who needs her help. She is a well known person throughout the world for devoting her life in helping the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the dying. Her faith in loving, serving, and respecting those who are poor and deprived gives us powerful lessons to treat our fellow human beings with love and respect. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910 in a Macedonian town of Skopje. Her parents baptized Agnes as a Christian. She was the youngest of the three. Her older sister Aga, was five years old and her older brother Lazar, was two years old. Agnes' father died after he collapsed and was brought to the hospital. But her mother managed to keep the family together by starting a small embroidery business. Although Anges' mother had a little business and a family to take of she still had time to help the local poor. Agnes would accompany her mother on her visits to the sick, the elderly, and the lonely. From a very early age, Agnes exhibited a tenderness for those who were less fortunate than she. In that free time she would also go to the church of the Sacred Heart in Skpoje, organizing prayer groups and arranging special observances. Agnes enjoys saying her prayers on her own and often could be found kneeling in church when no one else was there ( Clucas, 1988 ). Agnes became very flushed with her mother's personal faith and desire to serve God in a practical, helpful way. And from her mother it gave Agnes a lasting impression for helping and serving the Lord. Agnes attended a nonCathlolic government school. At the age of twelve she became interested in religion. She amazed the church meeting by pinpointing the exact location and the work done by each mission, on the map of the world ( Leigh, 1986 ). Around the age of fourteen she began to think that not only would she become a nun, but that she would join an order of missionaries. During her senior year of highschool, she began to seriously consider the possibility dedicating her life to God. When Agnes prayed for guidance, she believed that God was calling her to go to the mission in India and she decided that she will go. This was her response, ? I decided to leave my home and become a nun, and since then I've never doubted that I've done the right thing. It was the will of God. It was his choice ? ( Clucas, 1988 ). Agnes was off to Abbey in Dublin, Ireland. The reason for her to go their was to learn English, the language they would teach school children in India. But the most important thing she learned was silence. There was to be silence at the dining table while one of the sisters read aloud from the Bible or another book. And then, from bedtime to morning, came the ? Great Silence. ? Not a word was to be spoken until the girls preparing to be nuns would awake and come together to hear Mass and take Communion. ( Jacobs, 1991 ). In Ireland, was the place that Agnes changed her name to Teresa. She chose that name in honor of the French saint, Therese of Lisieux, known as the Little Flower of Jesus ( Leigh, 1986 ). In January, 1929, Agnes finally arrived in India. By then she finally got used to her new name Teresa. Then two years later, she took her first vows as a Sister of Loreto. She pledged herself to a life of poverty, purity, and obedience. As Sister Teresa, she began to teach and help the nurses at a small medical station in northern India. Next, she was assigned to teach at the Loreto convent school in a section of Calcutta. In May, 1937, Sister Teresa took her final vows. Soon afterward the Head ( principal ) of the school retired, and Teresa took her place as Head, becoming for the first time ? Mother Teresa. ? She should have been happy. Yet, as she looked around her, she could