 
Welcome to Mother Teresa's Web Page. Being born and raised in India, I felt I should include the blessed saint in one of my webpages and give a tribute to Mother Teresa, her life and the legacy she left behind. We all have our own heroes and stars, people we admire and respect, people who've made an impact on our life, made us look at the world with a different eye. Mother Teresa is definitely the one of the many for me, who stands out in the crowd, she is unique, a woman who spent her life helping those more unfortunate than herself in the world. She has won the hearts of millions around the world and is an idol to many.
Originally named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia to Nikollė and Drandafille Bojaxhiu as the youngest of three children. Mother Teresa's family was a devoted catholic family, they prayed every evening and went to church almost everyday.
It was her family's generosity, care for the poor and the less fortunate that made a great impact on young Mother Teresa's life. By age 12, she had made up her mind, she realized that her vocation was aiding the poor.
She entered the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto in Ireland at the age of 18 in 1928. She took the name "Teresa" after St. Teresa of Lesiux, patroness of the Missionaries, she was trained in Dublin and Darjeeling, India, and spent 17 years teaching and being principal of St.Mary's high school in Calcutta. In 1948, she came across a half-dead woman lying in front of a Calcutta hospital. She stayed with the woman until she died. Mother said she received a calling from God "to serve him among the poorest of the poor." From that point on, she dedicated the majority of her life to helping the poorest of the poor in India, thus gaining her the name "Saint of the Gutters."
In 1948 she was granted permission to leave her post at the convent and begin a ministry among the sick. In 1950 Mother Teresa and her associates were approved within the archdiocese of Calcutta as the Missionaries of Charity. Later the order was recognized as a pontifical congregation under the jurisdiction of Rome. Members of the congregation take four vows on acceptance by the religious community. Required in addition to the three basic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience is a fourth vow pledging service to the poor, whom Mother Teresa described as the embodiment of Christ.
Mother Teresa opened the Nirmal Hriday ("Pure Heart") Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta.and founded an order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India dedicated to serving the poor. The foundation is celebrated Oct. 7 1950, the feast of the Holy Rosary. To identify herself with the poor she chooses a plain white sari with a blue border and a simple cross pinned to her left shoulder.
She dedicated every day of her life caring for "The dying, the cripple, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved" and she loved every minute of it because she was loving, she was cleaning, feeding "Jesus in disguise". but what is more important she made them feel good, loved, wanted, she gave them back their dignity that poverty had taken away from them, and even if they died, they died with a smile on their face....somebody loves and cares for them ....She was probably the most admired women of all time, received many rewards and prices for her outstanding work and she used her reputation traveling all over the world raising money and support for her causes.
Mother Teresa was a living saint and she will be greatly missed. Eternal rest grant unto her Lord, and let Perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest in peace. Amen.
"By blood I am Albanian. My citizenship is Indian. I am a catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus."
What we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. I do not agree with the big way of doing things.
Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile, when it is difficult to smile. Smile at each other, make time for each other in your family.
"Please don't kill the child. I want the child. Please give me the child. I am willing to accept any child who would be aborted, and to give that child to a married couple who will love the child, and be loved by the child. From our children's home in Calcutta alone, we have saved over 3,000 children from abortions. These children have brought such love and joy to their adopting parents, and have grown up so full of love and joy!"
"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing.
It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."
God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."
God is the friend of silence. See how nature--trees, flowers, grass--grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence . . . We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Love cannot remain by itself--it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action and that action is service. Whatever form we are, able or disabled, rich or poor, it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing; a lifelong sharing of love with others.
What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do. The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.
People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
If you do good, people may accuse you of selfish motives.
Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you may win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable.
Be honest and transparent anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
People who really want help may attack you if you help them.
Help them anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you may get hurt.
Give the world your best anyway.
1962: Received the Pandma Shri prize for "extraordinary services"
1971: Pope Paul VI honors Mother Teresa by awarding her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize.
1972: Government of India presents her with the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding.
1979: Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Excerpt from the Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
"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."
1985: President Reagan presents her the Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian award.
1996: She becomes only the fourth person in the world to receive an honorary U.S. citizenship.
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