Mother Teresa – One hundred years young-"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."-25/8/10

By Dipankar Paul, India Syndicate, 25/08/2010

Mother Teresa – One hundred years young

(GREAT DAY TO REMEMBER HER WORK AND GET INSPIRIED FOR SILENT SOCIAL SERVICE..(though she used to get good coverage by media,except few property disputes or her foriengn origin...created adverse news,but got subsided)... AND OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND PAIN TOWARDS SUFFERINGS...AS SHE SAYS-"

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

"We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love."

"I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish."

(VIBHA)

A hundred years ago, in the northern coast of the Mediterranean, was born a woman the world would later call Mother Teresa. We at MSN take a moment to honour Mother’s life – a life dedicated to the service of humanity, a life we can all take examples from. This is a tribute to a true centurion.



Mohammad Shadani lives just around the corner from Mother House in Kolkata. The 55-year-old, quoted by IANS, says he first saw Mother in 1974. "What I remember most about her is her ever-smiling face."

The world knows her as Mother. But in India she was called by a name that instantly symbolises warmth, love, belonging, and safety - Ma.

Shaukat Ali, a 50-year-old homeless labourer who was born - and still lives - on the pavement outside Mother House, recalls one cold winter night with tears in his eyes. "I was shivering with cold. Ma came to me and gave me a blanket."

He was speaking, of course, of the world's most-loved messiah: Mother Teresa.



Mother Teresa waves to a press gathering on her 87th birthday on August 26, 1997, ten days before her death.

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910. And now, one hundred years later, the world stands up in unison to celebrate the life of the little lady with a giant's heart.

As a little girl, Agnes was fascinated by stories of missionaries and by the age of 12 she had decided that she, too, would lead the life of one. She joined a group of Irish missionaries and came to India when she was 18. Years later, she took Indian citizenship and took an oath to serve the poor and the ailing.

In 1950, she set up the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, and set up her first home for the poor - Nirmal Hriday - near the famous Kali temple in Kalighat.

Whoever came in direct contact with Mother Teresa over the years recalls her kindness, her ever-willing spirit and the bond that they shared with her.

"Mother would always speak to me whenever she came to Nirmal Hriday," says Bijoy Kumar Samaddar, who owns a shop along the walls of Nirmal Hriday. "One day I was not feeling well, she came to my shop, sat down on the table I am sitting on now and asked about my health."



Mother Teresa tends to an ailing resident at Nirmal Hriday in Kolkata, while waiting for Pope John Paul II to visit on February 3, 1986.

"I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."

Mother Teresa's commitment to her work was unquestionable. Ace lensman Raghu Rai, who chronicled much of Mother's work, tells The Week about the time Pope John Paul II visited Kolkata in 1986. "Mother Teresa was waiting for Pope John Paul II with a lot of hope and faith. While waiting, she cleaned the excreta of a man who was in her care. Even when the Pope was coming to meet her, she would not ignore her daily work."

Navin Chawla, former Chief Election Commissioner and Mother Teresa's official biographer, recalls in his book Mother Teresa about the first time he suggested writing a book about her. "She said, 'All right, but don't write about me, write about the work.'"

Veteran journalist and writer Khushwant Singh has first-hand experience of Mother Teresa's strength of will. While on a visit to Nirmal Hriday in Kolkata, the writer and Mother passed a man who had only a few moments to live. Singh recalls Mother holding the man's hands and whispering to him Bhogoban achhen (God exists). By the time they completed a round, the man had passed away. Mother calmly asked the sisters there to remove the body.



Mother Teresa smiles after being honoured with the Noble Peace Prize in 1979.

"We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love."

Shy, diminutive, but with an iron will, Mother Teresa was also, as some have been fortunate enough to know, quite a witty person. She once famously said, "I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much."

She would often narrate the story of her interaction with a woman dying of cancer. "I told her, 'You know, this terrible pain is only the kiss of Jesus - a sign that you have come so close to Jesus on the cross that he can kiss you,' And she joined her hands together and said, 'Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me.'"

Always accessible and always candid, Mother said once at a press conference, "The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven and St. Peter said, 'Go back to earth, there are no slums up here.'"

And that vividly summarises the life of the woman who would receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and a year later, India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.



Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity mourn the death of Mother Teresa even as a military honour guard carries her coffin in Kolkata

"I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish."

Mother Teresa breathed her last on September 5, 1997, but left behind a legacy that has only grown. At the time her death, The Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity numbered 3,914 members, and were established in 594 communities in 123 countries.

Today, her work continues under the guidance of Sister Nirmala, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters. The order has grown to over 4,000 members in 697 foundations in 131 countries of the world.

And when you step through the doors of Mother House in Kolkata, a little signs says that Mother is 'in'. Mother is always in.

Source: India Syndicate