“Leave the convent and help the poorest of poor and to live with them” was the message from God that Mother Teresa heard. She understood that the poor were often overlooked by society, either intentionally or unintentionally. People seldom want to have anything to do with the poor, either because they are arrogant, too busy, or because they cannot stand to see the suffering.
Mother Teresa said, “Blessed are the poor for they have seen.” People who are in the bottom of society could not go any further down for they have witness the darkest world others do not see. For the poor to keep their faith to God living is an act of ultimate love. For Mother Teresa then, to serve such community was simply a humble act of mercy on God’s behalf.
Putting her feet deep on the ground, she started devoting herself to the poor. First, she opened the first ever school for slum children in Calcutta. Shortly after in 1952, she opened a home for the dying called Nirmal Hriday of “Pure Hearts”. She also founded home for babies, caring especially for disadvantaged children, and then she established a colony for lepers called Shanti Nagar, or “Home of Peace”.
Mother Teresa’s tireless act of love was driven by God’s love that she experienced herself. She felt blessed and abundant that she needed to share it with others in concrete actions. Lack of love and charity along with the feeling of being unwanted for here were the biggest problems in the world. The one thing we need to copy from her is her attitude: to pray to God is good, but acting upon God’s love is even better. Physically, Mother Teresa had opened a home for the dying, but spiritually she nurtured her heart for the living. Therefore she strongly opposed to abortion, as children were created in the image of God, for living and loving.
Before she died in 1997, Mother Teresa received some awards for humanitarian work, including Noble Peace Prize in 1979. She said that such awards were given to her in the recognition of the presence of poverty in the world. The poor is not supposed to be ignored, they have to be served for such is the essence of God’s love. We have to provide homes for the dying, meaning care for the most disadvantaged; and give our hearts for the living. Nobody deserves to feel unwanted; therefore when you know you are blessed with God’s love, share it in acts of mercy and charity.
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