Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa
Real name: Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu
Born: 26-Aug-1910
Birthplace: Skopje, Yugoslavia (known today as Skopje, Macedonia)
Died: 5-Sep-1997
Location of death: Calcutta, India
Cause of death: Heart Failure
Remains: Buried, Mother House Convent, Calcutta, India
Gender: Female
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Religion, Activist
Nationality: India
Executive summary: Missionaries of Charity
Father: Kolë (d. 1919)
Mother: Drana
Sister: Aga (b. 1904)
Brother: Lazar (b. 1907)

INTRODUCTION:
Catholic nun, a missionary. Mother Teresa was born August 26, 1910 in Skopje, the current capital of the Republic of Macedonia, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time of her birth and was conquered by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1912, when she was two years old. On August 27, 1910, a date frequently mistaken for her birthday, she was baptized as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Mother Teresa's parents, Nikola and Drana Bojaxhiu, were of Albanian descent; her father was an entrepreneur who worked as a construction contractor and a trader of medicines and other goods. The Bojaxhius were a devoutly Catholic family, and Nikola Bojaxhiu was deeply involved in the local church as well as in city politics as a vocal proponent of Albanian independence.

In 1919, when she was only eight years old, her father suddenly fell ill and died. While the cause of his death remains unknown, many have speculated that political enemies poisoned him. In the aftermath of her father's death, Mother Teresa became extraordinarily close to her mother, a pious and compassionate woman who instilled in her daughter a deep commitment to charity. Although by no means wealthy, Drana Bojaxhiu extended an open invitation to the city's destitute to dine with her family. "My child, never eat a single mouthful unless you are sharing it with others," she counseled her daughter. When Agnes asked who the people eating with them were, her mother uniformly responded, "Some of them are our relations, but all of them are our people." she attended a convent-run primary school and then a state-run secondary school. As a girl she sang in the local Sacred Heart choir and was often asked to sing solos. The congregation made an annual pilgrimage to the chapel of the Madonna of Letnice atop Black Mountain in Skopje, and it was on one such trip at the age of twelve that she first felt a calling to a religious life. Six years later, in 1928, an 18-year-old Agnes Bojaxhiu decided to become a nun and set off for Ireland to join the Loreto Sisters of Dublin. It was there that she took the name Sister Mary Teresa after Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. A year later, she traveled on to Darjeeling, India for the novitiate period; in May 1931, Mary Teresa made her First Profession of Vows. Afterward she was sent to Calcutta, where she was assigned to teach at Saint Mary's High School for Girls, a school run by the Loreto Sisters and dedicated to teaching girls from the city's poorest Bengali families. Mother Teresa learned to speak both Bengali and Hindi fluently as she taught geography and history and dedicated herself to alleviating the girls' poverty through education.

On May 24, 1937, she took her Final Profession of Vows to a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. As was the custom for Loreto nuns, she took on the title of "mother" upon making her final vows and thus became known as Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa continued to teach at Saint Mary's, and in 1944 she became the school's principal. Through her kindness, generosity and unfailing commitment to her students' education, she sought to lead them to a life of devotion to Christ. "Give me the strength to be ever the light of their lives, so that I may lead them at last to you," she wrote in prayer.
However, on September 10, 1946, Mother Teresa experienced a second calling that would forever transform her life. She was riding a train from Calcutta to the Himalayan foothills for a retreat when Christ spoke to her and told her to abandon teaching to work in the slums of Calcutta aiding the city's poorest and sickest people. "I want Indian Nuns, Missionaries of Charity, who would be my fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children," she heard Christ say to her on the train that day. "You are I know the most incapable person — weak and sinful but just because you are that — I want to use You for My glory. Wilt thou refuse?"
Since Mother Teresa had taken a vow of obedience, she could not leave her convent without official permission. After nearly a year and a half of lobbying, in January 1948 she finally received approval from the local Archbishop Ferdinand Périer to pursue this new calling. That August, wearing the blue and white sari that she would always wear in public for the rest of her life, she left the Loreto convent and wandered out into the city. After six months of basic medical training, she voyaged for the first time into Calcutta's slums with no more specific goal than to aid "the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for."
Her Accomplishments
In 1971 Pope Paul Vl honored Mother Teresa by awarding her the first Pope John XXlll Peace Prize.

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| | In 1971 Mother Teresa received the Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. She was 69 years old. This was her first prize for her humanitarian work. |

1971 Prize of the Good Samaritan, Boston
1971 Kennedy Prize
1972 Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding
1972 Koruna Dut, angel of charity, from the President of India
1973 Templeton Prize
1974 Mater et Magistra
1975 Albert Schweitzer International Prize
1977 Honorary PhD in Theology ( Doctor Honoris Causa in Theology ), University of Cambridge, England
1979 Nobel Peace Prize
In 1979 Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace."
1982 Honorary PhD ( Doctor Honoris Causa ) from the Catholic University Brussels, Belgium
1985 Presidential Medal of Freedom
1996 Honorary U.S. citizenship (only the 4th person to receive this honor)
1997 Congressional Gold Metal
Mother Teresa accepted all these awards because of the poor.

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Excerpts from the acceptance speech for 1979 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate:
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“I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.”
Teresa was not alone for long. Within a year, she found more help than she anticipated. Many seemed to have been waiting for her example to open their own floodgates of charity and compassion. Young women came to volunteer their services and later became the core of her Missionaries of Charity. Others offered food, clothing, the use of buildings, medical supplies and money. As support and assistance mushroomed, more and more services became possible to huge numbers of suffering people.

PRINCESS DIANA

Her fame made her stand side by side with the then Princess Diana, Princess of Wales
Mother Teresa was so famous that she was granted an honorary American Citizen:

In September 1996, the U.S. Congress voted to make her an honorary American citizen, a distinction bestowed previously only on Winston Churchill, Raoul Wallenberg and Mr. and Mrs. William Penn.The United States may have a secular constitution, but with the abortion question and the (greatly overstated) power of the “Christian Coalition” being such political hot potatoes, the vote was unanimous.

On the impending divorce of Princess Diana to Prince Charles -

“A few months later, she gave an interview to the American magazine, Ladies Home Journal, which reached millions of housewives. She was asked about her friendship with Princess Diana, a friendship which has been evolving over the past several years, and also about Diana’s then impending divorce. Of the divorce Mother Teresa said that “It is a good thing that it is over. Nobody was happy anyhow.”
So, from Mother Teresa it was sermons for the poor about morality and obedience, but forgiveness and indulgence for princesses. Few commentators noted the contrast, because such facts did not “fit” the image that has become so necessary. But actually, this contrast is a far better guide to Mother Teresa’s theory and practice than the received opinion about either.

More Questionable relationships:

In 1981, Teresa flew to Haiti to accept the Legion d'Honneur from the right-wing dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, who, after his ouster, was found to have stolen millions of dollars from the impoverished country. There she said that the Duvaliers "loved their poor," and that "their love was reciprocated."

Critics also cite the case of Charles Keating, who stole in excess of US$252 million in the Savings and Loan scandal of the 1980s, and who had donated $1.25 million to Mother Teresa's cause. Teresa interceded on his behalf and wrote a letter to the court urging leniency. The district attorney responded in private and asked her to return the money, which she declined.

She also accepted money from the British publisher Robert Maxwell, who, as was later revealed, embezzled UK£450 million from his employees' pension funds. There is no suggestion that she was aware of any theft before accepting the donation in either case; criticism instead focuses on Teresa's plea for leniency in the Keating case, her refusal to return the money, and the lack of media investigations of her relationships to these individuals.

Founding the Missionaries of Charity
Mother Teresa started with what she knew. After walking around the slums for a while, she found some small children and began to teach them. She had no classroom, no desks, no chalkboard, and no paper, so she picked up a stick and began drawing letters in the dirt. Class had begun. Soon after, Mother Teresa found a small hut that she rented and turned it into a classroom. Mother Teresa also visited the children's families and others in the area, offering a smile and limited medical help. As people began to hear about her work, they gave donations.
In March 1949, Mother Teresa was joined by her first helper, a former pupil from Loreto. Soon she had ten former pupils helping her.
At the end of Mother Teresa's provisionary year, she petitioned to form her own order of nuns, the Missionaries of Charity. Her request was granted by Pope Pius XII; the Missionaries of Charity was established on October 7, 1950. Helping the Sick, the Dying, the Orphaned, and the Lepers
There were literally millions of people in need in India. Droughts, the caste system, India's independence, and partition all contributed to the masses of people that lived on the streets. India's government was trying, but they could not handle the overwhelming multitudes that needed help.
While the hospitals were overflowing with patients that had a chance to survive, Mother Teresa opened a home for the dying, called Nirmal Hriday ("Place of the Immaculate Heart"), on August 22, 1952. Each day, nuns would walk through the streets and bring people who were dying to Nirmal Hriday, located in a building donated by the city of Kolkata. The nuns would bathe and feed these people and then place them in a cot. These people were given the opportunity to die with dignity, with the rituals of their faith.
In 1955, the Missionaries of Charity opened their first children's home (Shishu Bhavan), which cared for orphans. These children were housed and fed and given medical aid. When possible, the children were adopted out. Those not adopted were given an education, learned a trade skill, and found marriages.
In India's slums, huge numbers of people were infected with leprosy, a disease that can lead to major disfiguration. At the time, lepers (people infected with leprosy) were ostracized, often abandoned by their families. Because of the widespread fear of lepers, Mother Teresa struggled to find a way to help these neglected people. Mother Teresa eventually created a Leprosy Fund and a Leprosy Day to help educate the public about the disease and established a number of mobile leper clinics (the first opened in September 1957) to provide lepers with medicine and bandages near their homes. By the mid-1960s, Mother Teresa had established a leper colony called Shanti Nagar ("The Place of Peace") where lepers could live and work.
Baptisms of the dying:

Mother Teresa encouraged members of her order to baptize dying patients, without regard to the individual's religion. So 29,000 have died in that one house [in Kalighat] from the time we began in 1952." Work in India:
On one of her many trips through the crowded city of Calcutta on the 10th they will September 1946 have felt divine calling to help the poor. In her diary she describes the experience as a mystical encounter with Jesus, who had asked to give up everything and follow him into the slums - to give it the poorest of the poor to serve in the . Only two years later, she received permission to leave the Loreto sisters. Mother Teresa was exklaustriert , that she could leave the Order, without their religious status as a nun to have to abandon. From then lived Mother Teresa in Calcutta, where she worked first as a single person until you joined some former students. A now-famous portrait of the magazine Life earned her the nickname "Saint of the Gutters" ("saint of the gutter") .
Mother Teresa had even adopted Indian citizenship in 1948 and 1950 founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity . " Like all Catholic religious commitment in the members of the so-called evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience. Later the order was from the Pope acknowledged. The Order takes special care of the dying, orphans and the sick, his special commitment lies in the care of lepers . Today, more than 3,000 nuns and 500 monks in 710 houses in 133 countries around the world to the Order of Mother Teresa on. For her work she was attributable to numerous awards. The most important were the Balzan Prize for Humanity, peace and brotherhood among peoples in 1978 and the Nobel Peace Prize 1979th
To the often lack of medical training of their employees used to reply to Mother Teresa: "Not the result, but the fidelity of faith is important." In addition to worldwide recognition for its work has been criticized for their conservative ideology. They saw abortion policy in many countries the "biggest threat to world peace." As should be coordinated in Ireland as to whether the divorce should be legalized, she called the Irishman to do, to vote "no."
Established in 2007 by Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postulator her canonization process, in a book published diaries and letters of Mother Teresa in evidence that they are for decades in a serious crisis of faith was. Their massive doubts about the existence of God will soon set up their order and after they have until their deaths no longer leave. This uncertainty also had them on their work and sense of honesty, the importance of church rituals and sacraments (such as prayer, Mass and confession), and doubt their relationship to other people. In descriptive passages, she writes: "In my mind it is cold" or "souls do not pull me more - the sky is nothing more - for me it looks like an empty seat. The one"
International Recognition
Just before the Missionaries of Charity celebrated its 10th anniversary, they were given permission to establish houses outside of Calcutta, but still within India. Almost immediately, houses were established in Delhi, Ranchi, and Jhansi; more soon followed.
For their 15th anniversary, the Missionaries of Charity was given permission to establish houses outside of India. The first house was established in Venezuela in 1965. Soon there were Missionaries of Charity houses all around the world.
As Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity expanded at an amazing rate, so did international recognition for her work. Although Mother Teresa was awarded numerous honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she never took personal credit for her accomplishments. She said it was God's work and that she was just the tool used to facilitate it. Controversy
With international recognition also came critique. Some people complained that the houses for the sick and dying were not sanitary, that those treating the sick were not properly trained in medicine, that Mother Teresa was more interested in helping the dying go to God than in potentially helping cure them. Others claimed that she helped people just so she could convert them to Christianity.
Critics have argued that patients were not provided sufficient information to make an informed decision about whether they wanted to be baptized and the theological significance of a Christian baptism.
Mother Teresa also caused much controversy when she openly spoke against abortion and birth control. Others critiqued her because they believed that with her new celebrity status, she could have worked to end the poverty rather than soften its symptoms.
Stance on abortion

From the early 1970s, Mother Teresa began to attract some criticism. Many advocates of the family planning and pro-choice movements were critical of her views and influence because she was opposed to artificial contraception and abortion. Mother Teresa frequently spoke against them publicly and in meetings with high level government officials. In her Nobel Prize acceptance speech, she declared, "Abortion is the worst evil, and the greatest enemy of peace... Because if a mother can kill her own child, what will prevent us from killing ourselves or one another? Nothing."

In the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, it was determined that more than 450,000 Hindu women in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) had been systematically raped. Even in this circumstances she asserted her rejection of abortion by publicly renouncing abortion as an option and by calling upon the women left behind to keep their unborn children. She characterized her views later when asked in 1993 about a 14 year old rape victim in Ireland, "Abortion can never be necessary... because it is pure killing."

Old and Frail
Despite the controversy, Mother Teresa continued to be an advocate for those in need. In the 1980s, Mother Teresa, already in her 70s, opened Gift of Love homes in New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for AIDS sufferers.
Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, Mother Teresa's health deteriorated, but she still traveled the world, spreading her message.
Mother Teresa Suffered Through Many Things
When she visiting Pope John Paul she suffered a heart attack. In 1989 she had a near fatal heart attack again and started wearing a pacemaker.
In 1950, Mother Teresa founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity. When she did things that people thought would help their dying, they used her idea. One of her missions attracted several followers. Today over 90 countries use some of her ideas.
Mother Teresa's Death
Mother Teresa died in 1997 in Calcutta, India. Mother Teresa was an amazing woman. She was a friend to everyone. She dedicated her life to the poor, the sick, and the dying. Criticism

After Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's suspension of civil liberties in 1975, Mother Teresa said: "People are happier. There are more jobs. There are no strikes." These approving comments were seen as a result of the friendship between Teresa and the Congress Party. Mother Teresa's comments were even criticized outside India within Catholic media.

Mother Teresa had a short response to her critics: "No matter who says what, you should accept it with a smile and do your own work".
Mother Teresa is a Nobel Laureate from Republic of Macedonia who won in 1979. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Prize in Peace for the following reason: "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace.”
CONCLUSION
Mother Teresa left behind a legacy of forty-five hundred sisters, four hundred brothers, and countless spiritual workers, missionaries, and volunteers in whose hearts and work her spirit lives on. It is possible that no one person has ever received more awards and honors than Mother Teresa. Always one to practice deep humility, Mother Teresa was reluctant to be single out and given such honors.
A living example of the motto “The more you give away the more you receive.” Mother Teresa brought to the world a great and living lesson in joyful and selfless love . Mother Teresa died long time ago but she still lives in the heart of the people. Even with Mother Teresa gone, her sisters at the Missionaries of Charities are still caring for the poor and sick with the same love and devotion as Mother Teresa did. Any donation will help them to reach more and more of the less fortunate. Miracle nd beatification
Following Teresa's death in 1997, the Holy See began the process of beatification, the first step towards possible canonization, or sainthood. This process requires the documentation of a miracle. In 2002, the Vatican recognized as a miracle the healing of a tumor in the abdomen of an Indian woman, Monica Besra, following the application of a locket containing Teresa's picture. Monica Besra said that a beam of light emanated from the picture, curing the cancerous tumor.

Besra's husband initially said that the tumor was cured by later hospital treatment. According to Monica Besra in TIME Asia , records of her treatment were removed by a member of the order from the hospital and are now with a nun. The doctors who treated Monica Besra denied the claims of a miracle healing and said that they had come under pressure from the Missionaries of Charity to acknowledge that the healing process was the result of a miracle.

Besra's husband later withdrew his objections and attributed the healing to a miracle. A Telegraph story quoted him as saying: "It was her miracle healing that cured my wife. Our situation was terrible and we didn't know what to do. Now my children are being educated with the help of the nuns and I have been able to buy a small piece of land. Everything has changed for the better."

The issue of the alleged miracle proved controversial in India around the time of Mother Teresa's beatification. Teresa was formally beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003, with the title Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. A second authenticated miracle is required for her to proceed to canonization. Mother Teresa’s last letter to Charles Sonny Perkes: QUOTES BY HER: * Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies. * Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. * Each one of them is Jesus in disguise. * Even the rich are hungry for love, for being cared for, for being wanted, for having someone to call their own. * I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love. * I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn't touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God. * I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor? * If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. * If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. * If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. * Intense love does not measure, it just gives. * Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. * Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. * Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God - the rest will be given. * Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. * Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work. * Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. * Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do... but how much love we put in that action. * Love begins by taking care of the closest ones - the ones at home. * Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand. * Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all you meet especially your family. Be holy – let us pray."

POEMS BY HER:
Mother Teresa
Here are some things that Mother Teresa believed. These ideas were printed in the Plattsburgh Senior Sentinel.

"Anyway"
People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered.
"Love them anyway."
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
"Do good anyway."
If you are successful, you win false friends and enemies.
"Succeed anyway."
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
"Do good anyway."
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
"Be honest and frank anyway."
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
"Build anyway."
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them.
"Help people anyway."
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
"Give the world the best you've got anyway."

“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you.
Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.”
— Mother Teresa

How did Mother Teresa change the lives of others?
September 5, the day Blessed Mother Teresa founder of the Missionaries of Charity (MC) died in 1997, reminds the world of her legacy and holy lifestyle. Mother was a loving friend, caring woman to the poorest of the poor, children, slum, homeless, and lepers so her name is well known to people throughout the world.

Her strong faith, devotion, love, service, commitment, and prayers have led her to become an extraordinary woman in the world. On September 5, the whole world fell into mourning when the media spread the news of her death. The world came together in Calcutta to pay tribute to her by joining and attending her funeral.

Blessed Mother Teresa became a servant of God's people. Mother understood and realized her vocation of becoming a servant at the age of twelve, when she heard the word of God, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." She dedicated her whole life to love and care to the poorest of the poor. Many people wondered to see her services and faith. One time Mother asked by a person, how she could be reduced hungry and poverty from the world by herself! "I can do little by little for the needy people, which would be something important for them. I start doing good things now, but not ending," she replied. A book titled "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" published about Mother Teresa's prayerful life, faith in God, and doubts, "In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss," she wrote in 1959, "of God not wanting me - of God not being God - of God not existing."

According to the book, this inner turmoil, known by only a handful of her closest colleagues, lasted until her death in 1997. Her writings did not mean that there was no faith on God, no hope, no courage, or no prayer. Rather, all these challenges and frustrations of her life motivated and inspired her deeply to find God and be united with Him through her love, care, and services. The word of the Holy Bible was her lifelong lesson to care and love His people. Mother prayed to God that He would spiritually strengthen her every moment when she was in the dark, when she was lonely, and when she felt, there was no hope. She never stopped her tireless work, prayers, and belief in God. She felt deeply that where there is love, there is God; Where is dark, there is light. There is God…

Blessed Mother Teresa is an ideal for all of us. Her spirituality, lifestyle, close relationship with God, work, and humor made her an ideal person and living Saint. Her life was full of trust in God. She spoke to God by praying and serving the poor was mild natured. People with millions, indeed billions, of dollars have not had the influence to Mother Teresa. The Holy Spirit inspired Mother Teresa and she deeply reflected the life of Jesus Christ and His works. She shows us a model how to foster peace in the world. The unconditional love and care of Mother Teresa proved to be a most powerful weapon throughout the world for peace. Her life exemplified the Gospel dictum: When you welcome even a child because of me, you welcome me. And when you welcome me, you welcome the one who sent me (Luke 9:48)."

People today believe that she is dead, but she is alive among all human beings and will be with human beings forever through her work of love and human dignity. All the works and congregations left in this world remind me that two thousand years old the Roman Ancient poet Horace said, "I shall not wholly die." He was thinking not of his soul, but of his writings, which he hoped would prove immortal. Blessed Mother Teresa has left this world, but she showed us how to pray, love, care, and serve others. Mother was the light of our lives, a nun who taught us by example and with passion what it means to live a faith-driven life of love, care, and service to others. It does not issue which religions we are belongs to, today is the time for us to ask ourselves, what could we learn from her life to make our lives more meaningful? Do we see Blessed Mother Teresa as a model of service to others? Do we teach our children to be thoughtful and kind to others? Of course, we can! We can do uncountable good things for others. Our good works can make a difference and it can make the nation and world livable and peaceful.
Mother Teresa was one great and amazing woman, she affected peoples lives by giving them almost all of their needs, making them relate with God and saving their lives. Mother Teresa was an extraordinary woman.
She changed a lot of people because she gave them love, food, and comfort!
She taught us that it was not right to let people die and do nothing about it
She made an impact on other lives because she was caring, and loving, and sweet.
How did mother Teresa impact your world today?
The answer is not obvious to modern people as they did not understand Mother Theresa, because they do not understand real Christianity. Mother Theresa, a Catholic nun who entered the Sisters of Loretto in Ireland to become a teaching nun, was sent to India to teach. Later, moved with compassion, and the love of God, she received a "call" from God to help the poorest of the poor. The rest of her life was spent in "darkness" which I discuss below.
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Modern people, and most people who call themselves Christians, think that going to Church on Sunday, saying some things, and being nice to people is what it is all about. They are completely missing the mark. Those kind of things are just the tip of the iceberg. Mother Teresa helped others by loving God above all things, putting Him first in her life, and doing His Will no matter how painful it was for her, and it was very painful.
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Mother spent most of her life in a dark night with no real feeling or personal knowledge of God. This is very common with the founders of religious orders, they are strong enough in their faith to make their way through life totally depend on Faith, Hope, and Charity: the three cardinal virtues bestowed on us in Baptism. She sacrificed herself completely for God, and was called a saint and a prophet for it.
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Mother Theresa helped others the way we are all called to help others, by getting up in the morning, and taking some to give to God first. She spend an hour in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, went to Holy Mass, received Our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist, and went to confession frequently, and regularly. And, then, when she had done these things, she went out and lived her faith by seeing her God in every individual in front of her, especially the poor, the sick, the aged, and the abandoned. She served God by serving Him in them - which is nothing more nor less than she lived the Gospel with every breath in her body.
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Mother Teresa showed compassion for those who were less fortunate than she was. She gave them food, lifted their spirits, and helped them survive. She is and was considered a hero to many people. After her death, she was put on the short list for canonization, and in 2012 I believe she has already had one miracle attributed to her, and has been beatified. Of course, she loved children.
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The Church often says that the only real way to help people, the way to become a good spouse, parent, teacher, or whatever, is to become a saint. Mother Teresa believed and lived this. She helped the poor by becoming a saint.

Her impact is lasting in the way St. Benedict, St. Dominic, St. Francis has been. Not only did she personally do a lot while she was alive, but she left a religious order which has spread over the world and it continues to do her work worldwide through hundreds of sister, brothers, and priests. This is the kind of lasting impact a person can only have when they cooperate fully with God.
Mother Teresa's very life influenced the people of today's world.
She changed the world by making herself an example of how it was to be like Jesus in the modern days. She devoted her life to helping the poor and influencing others to do the same.
Mother Teresa would influence us, in today's world, as she would influence others in times past or future; in other words, her influence is universal and timeless.N Her influence is one of lessons learned. Lessons of sympathy for the less fortunate, lessons of humility for burdens borne, lessons of sacrifice for needs begging relief, lessons of compassion for aggressions in opposition. In summary, lessons of humane works stripped of pretense in leading by serving.