Mother Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910. Even at a young age, she knew she wanted to commit herself to religious life. She frequently went on pilgrimages and by the time she was 18, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. She then started her novitiate in India. In 1931, she took her first religious vows and then her solemn vows six years later.
In 1948, Mother Teresa began her missionary work with the poor. This led to the foundation of the Missionaries of Charity, which takes care of people dying of HIV, leprosy, and tuberculosis. It also runs meal centers, mobile clinics, orphanages, and schools, among others. Members of the congregation provides free service to the poorest of the poor.
Mother Teresa was widely admired for her charitable work, which ultimately won her the 1979 Nobel Prize. She was also honored by governments and civilian organizations around the globe. She died on September 5, 1997 at age 87. Her devotion to her missionary work is seen as a testament of her love and compassion to those who need it the most.
After her death, numerous museums around the world have paid tribute to her memory and legacy, with several churches also naming her their patroness. Buildings, roads, universities have been named after her. In September 4, 2016, Mother Teresa was canonised by Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
Here are 22 Mother Teresa quotes to remind us that goodness prevails.
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.
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.
God has not called me to be successful.
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.
Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.
Joy is prayer; joy is strength: joy is love; joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action.
Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.
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.
Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
We know only too well that what we are doing is nothing more than a drop in the ocean. But if the drop were not there, the ocean would be missing something.
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather he will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did?’
At the end of our lives we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by: I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.
If we 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.
Peace begins with a smile.
Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
Life is beauty, admire it.
Life is a dream, realize it.
Life is a challenge, meet it.
Life is a duty, complete it.
Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it.
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
Life is a song, sing it.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
Life is a tragedy, confront it.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
Life is life, fight for it.
If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty — it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There’s a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.
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