(12.) Women and Children First: The Inspiring Example of Mother Teresa of Calcutta
(12.) Women and Children First: The Inspiring Example of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
“Mother Teresa is, in herself, a living conversion; it is impossible to be with her, to listen to her, to observe what she is doing and how she is doing it, without being in some degree converted. Her total dedication to Christ, her insistence that all our fellow human beings must be treated and helped and loved as though they were Christ, her simple presentation of the Gospel and joy in receiving the sacraments, is quite irresistible. There is no book I’ve ever read, or discourse I’ve ever heard, or service I’ve ever attended, no human relationship, that has brought me nearer to Christ…” (Malcolm Muggeridge, Confessions of a Twentieth-Century Pilgrim).
The Background to this Book about Mother Teresa. (“Something Beautiful for God” by Malcolm Muggeridge; published 1971 by Harper & Row). Famous British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge was intrigued by what he was hearing about the ministry of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, so he arranged to interview her in London in 1968. The film of this interview was aired on British TV and received such overwhelming interest that he then decided to travel to Calcutta and produce a full-length documentary of her life and ministry with her fellow nuns of the Missionaries of Charity among the “poorest of the poor.” Malcolm’s life was never the same as he experienced holiness in action. Teresa was resistant to the documentary at first, but finally she agreed to film everything and release it to the world. When she at first relented, she told Malcolm, “Okay, Mr. Muggeridge, now let us go and do something beautiful for God.” Malcolm thought about that and he expanded her words to include herself and her work as that “something beautiful for God.” He succeeded in producing a best-selling film documentary of his time in Calcutta and then published a book of his experience in 1971.
A Towering Intellect Overmatched by a Humble Nun. After a celebrated career in the intellectual elite, a famous media personality who enjoyed international fame, Malcolm Muggeridge finally met his match, and in fact was overmatched. But he wasn’t defeated through the intellect, though Mother Teresa was renowned for her astute shrewdness and native intelligence. After all, she was fluent in several languages, including Albanian, Serbian, English, Bengali, Hindi and all the various regional dialects in India. Malcolm’s intellect was outflanked by Teresa’s love. He was tongue-tied for once in his life, and had no logical response to her “beautiful holiness.” Her heart was full of the genius of Christ’s love which simply overpowered Malcolm’s defenses and dragged him into the Kingdom. He was disarmed after a lifetime of intellectual warfare, disarmed by the profound power of a simple Christ-centered nun working diligently and selflessly in the chaotic slums of the world’s poorest city. Mother Teresa spoke the truth of love to the power of the intellect, and love won hands down.
Brief Overview of Mother Teresa’s Life (1910-1997). She was born in Albania, Macedonia (Yugoslavia), and her birth name was Agnes. At twelve years of age felt the calling to become a nun. At 18 years old she left home to join a convent and was sent to a Roman Catholic school in Calcutta, where she taught for twenty years and became principal. In 1946 while riding on a train, she strongly felt what she called “a call within a call” to serve “the least of the least and the poorest of the poor” in the slums of Calcutta. She was then trained in nursing and moved to the poorest section of Calcutta to begin her Vatican-approved ministry. First she started a school for abandoned children from the streets with only 5 rupees (equivalent to an American nickel) with five children. Within a short time, her school had 500 students. She taught these children literacy skills, hygiene, and whatever was needed to survive and remain self-supporting. Her missionary ministry soon expanded to provide hospitals, orphanages, more schools, urgent care units, adoption services, and leper treatment centers. In 1952 she established a Home for the Dying in an abandoned Hindu temple. They wanted those who were “dying like animals on the streets” to “die like angels in their arms.” After a few short years they found that they had literally picked up over 23,000 people from the streets and sidewalks. Her Home for the Dying was the last refuge in Calcutta for those who had no hope of recovery, were rejected by local hospitals, and simply had no other options for hospice care. In Mother Teresa’s words, her mission in this “Home for the Dying”… “First of all, we want to make them feel that they are wanted, we want them to know that there are people who really love them, who really want them, at least for the few hours that they have to live, to know human and divine love; that they know that they are the children of God, and they are not forgotten, that they are loved and cared about.” As of early 2026, her Missionaries of Charity order now have 19 homes in Calcutta dedicated to various needs of the poor. But Teresa’s ministry has expanded internationally as well. The order’s 5,000 nuns operate in 140 countries, managing 760 specialized homes for the poor and forgotten, including the homeless, refugees, the disabled, abandoned children and orphans, and those with a mortal illness. Remember, this world-wide ministry started with the vision of one humble believer with a vision and literally five cents in her pocket.
Blind Boys of Alabama – Amazing Grace (Live on KEXP)
Mother Teresa’s Biblical Basis for Her Ministry. She made this abundantly clear in her Constitution of the Missionaries of Charity: “All Co-Workers express their love of God through service to the poor, as Jesus Christ Himself said… ‘Whatever you did to the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ (Matthew 25): ‘For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was homeless and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to visit Me.” She came to base her whole calling on this particular parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Her vision was to serve Jesus “in His distressing disguise” in the poorest of the poor on the desperate streets of Calcutta, India. She sought to “satiate the thirst of Jesus by serving Him in the poorest of the poor.” Her Order, the Missionaries of Charity, literally saw God in the poor, they perceived a spiritual reality in the needy. She longed to “bring joy to the suffering heart of Jesus,” and saw the face of Jesus in the destitute and dying. To her dying breath, she held fast to the words, “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” These words seemed to summarize the Gospel for her. She taught her fellow missionaries what she called “Gospel on five fingers” – You-did-it-to-me – one word for each finger. In the words of one of her biographers, she wanted her missionaries to “always remember the poor – not only to respect the dignity of the child of God in each one, but also to realize the supernatural reality of God’s presence in each of them.”
Mother Teresa as the Ultimate Pro-Life Warrior. Also written into the order’s Constitution in permanent ink is the statement, “All Co-Workers are to recognize the dignity, the individuality and the infinite value of every human life… While hearing the cries of the poor, the Co-Workers will have a special concern for those who are unwanted and unloved.” It’s only logical for Teresa to have a special burden for the unborn children killed through abortion. Here are some bold statements made by her during speeches and interviews:
(1.) “The greatest destroyer of peace and love today is abortion and the cry of the innocent unborn child. Abortion is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself.”
(2.) “Abortion destroys two lives… the life of the child and the conscience of the mother. Anyone who does not want a child, please give him to me. I want the child.”
(3.) “I think the little unborn child is now the poorest of the poor, the most unwanted, the most uncared for, and the most rejected.”
(4.) “To me, the nations who have legalized abortion are the poorest nations. For it is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
(5.) “Each child is created in the special image and likeness of God for greater things – to love and be loved.”
(6.) “How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love as we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts.”
A Dozen Pearls of Wisdom from Mother Teresa:
(1.) “Prayer enlarges the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.”
(2.) “Joy is the net of love by which we can catch souls.”
(3.) “Yet not I, but Christ who lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20, one of her favorite verses).
(4.) “The poor deserve not just service and dedication, but also the joy that belongs to human love.”
(5.) “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.”
(6.) “True holiness consists in doing God’s will with a smile.”
(7.) “We learn humility through accepting humiliations cheerfully.”
(8.) “In Holy Communion we have Christ under the appearance of bread. In our work with the poor we find Him under the appearance of flesh and blood. It is the same Christ.”
(9.) “There is always the danger that we may become only social workers or just do the work for the sake of the work. Our works, though, are only an expression of our love for Christ. Our hearts need to be full of love for Him and since we have to express that love in action, naturally then the poorest of the poor are the means of expressing our love for God.”
(10.) “In all my years of work here in Calcutta, I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience. Loneliness is the most terrible poverty.”
(11.) “Not all can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
(12.) “A life not lived for others is not a life.”