Mother Teresa Essay

Mother Teresa has dedicated her life to helping the poor, the sick, and the dying around the world. She is one of the most well known and respected people of the 20th century. The movie that viewed in class displayed it very well. It showed how much she cared about the ‘un-cared for’ and how she preached to millions of people around the world. In her speeches she spoke of ‘blessing the misfortunate’ and loving them as well. She also spoke of how easy it is to help them. All we have to do is show some love towards them that they would normally never get. Mother Teresa is one of the most kind people on the planet and goes around spreading the love and affection. She was born in Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. Her parents were Albanians who settled in Skopje near the beginning of the century. He father was a owner of a major construction company so Mother Teresa grew up in a very comfortable environment. In 1928 she suddenly decided to become a nun and traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to join the Sisters of Loreto. After studying with the Sisters in the convent, she left to join another convent in northeast India. On May 24, 1931, she took the name of ‘Teresa’ in honor of St. Teresa of Avila. At first, Mother Teresa was assigned to teach a small Geography class at St. Mary’s High School in Calcutta. Mother Teresa noticed all the beggars, lepers, and homeless people on the streets of Calcutta. There lives were horrible, living on other peoples scraps and letting babies that they couldn’t support die in trash bins. She decided to ask the archbishop if she could stop her teaching and dedicate her life to helping the ‘less fortunate.’ When Mother Teresa received a written consent that it was okay, she began her work. In 1948 Pope Pius XII gave Mother Teresa permission to be a totally independant nun, so she became an Indian citizen. After studying about nursing, she founded the ‘Missionaries of Charity.’ This was a group of nuns who go around and help the sick and dying. All the nuns that agreed to work in the ‘Missionaries of Charity’ had to devote their lives to helping the poor and not to receive any money or material things. To the side is a  picture of a letter that Mother Teresa sent to a nun that wanted to join the ‘Missionaries of Charity.’ Mother Teresa welcomed her into the group with praise. Now to the movie. The movie did a very good job of showing how much Mother Teresa cared for the sick. The main part of the movie that I remember was the part when Mother Teresa and her nuns were starting a whole new center to the sick and dying. When the person that owned the building was telling the nuns and Mother Teresa about all the nice things they has in the building, the nuns almost simultaneously said, ‘I don’t think we will be needing that.’ The nuns and Mother Teresa live in such low living conditions and don’t seem to mind. Unlike most of us, she doesn’t need material things to get along. All she needs is some running water and the necessary materials to help the sick. Mother Teresa did such great work for the poor that she received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1971. Pope Paul VI honored Mother Teresa by awarding her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize. The following year the government of India presented her with the Jawaharial Nehru Award for International Understanding. In 1979 she received her greatest award, the Nobel Peace Prize. Mother Teresa accepted all of these awards on behalf of the poor, suing any money that accompanied them to fund her centers. By 1990 over 3,000 nuns belonged to the running centers in 25 countries. Obviously, Mother Teresa’s missions to help the poor were a tremendous success. There are also some kinds of summer groups like Habitat for Humanity. Unlike Habitat for Humanity these groups of kids go out and help the sick and dying just like Mother Teresa. The leader of these groups is a well known priest by the name of Johann Christoph. These kids love to do what Mother Teresa does best and make many dying people happy in there last days of life. The School that did this was the ‘Wake Forest University.’ Or as they prefer to be called the ‘City of Joy Scholars.’ The kids spent 18 long days in Calcutta as Mother Teresa’s first help center. The kids remember the varied cultures and races that Mother Teresa and the nuns love so very much. No matter how sick they looked. The kids were forever changed mentally and  emotionally after seeing and helping the helpless. The Missionaries of Charity and Mother Teresa are probably the most caring people on Earth. Mother Teresa is already called a Saint. She is the one and only living Saint. I enjoyed the movie and learned a lot about Mother Teresa and here mission to help the sick, lepers, and homeless. I trust she will succeed but she will need more nuns to join the famous ‘Missionaries of Charity.’