Mother Teresa: a biography

THE LEGACY OF MOTHER TERESA
When asked to explain the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa
once remarked, “We are first of all religious; we are not social workers, not
teachers, not nurses or doctors, we are religious sisters. We serve Jesus in
the poor.”
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With that statement, Mother Teresa made clear the mission
of the order and to the best of her abilities lived her life following that
simple premise.
Still, there is no question that for the last 20 years of her life Mother
Teresa and her work were at times seriously misunderstood. She inspired
many people not through powerful speeches or magnificent works but be-
cause she exemplified a way, imperfect as it was at times, of using the
power of love to heal and save. As journalist Mary Poplin pointed out, the
key to understanding Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity is
the sacredness with which they treat all people and their humble way of
carrying out their work. To the Missionaries of Charity, Jesus is present in
everyone they meet whether it is a young volunteer from New Jersey or an
old Muslim woman starved and half-eaten by rats and worms, or the de-
formed infant just born and left in a garbage heap. Christ is present in ev-
eryone, but most especially in the poorest of the poor. From the very
beginning, Mother Teresa and her order reached out to treat each person
they encountered as they would Jesus Christ. Thus, they performed each
task for the benefit of the poor as they would do it for Christ. In other
words, it is Jesus’ diapers they wash, his meals they prepare, his ailing body
they tend, and his hand being held.
On closer inspection, Mother Teresa appeared a contradiction, a walk-
ing paradox, and later, a woman out of step with the times. But that as-
sessment dismisses her and her work much too easily. Mary Poplin, the
journalist who volunteered for the Missionaries of Charity, tried to ex-
plain her understanding of Mother Teresa:
“ T H E M O S T O B E D I E N T W O M A N I N T H E C H U R C H ” 1 3 9

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Many writers have depicted Mother Teresa as someone who
saw the poor and responded sympathetically to their needs.
That is not quite the case. Mother Teresa served the poor not
because they needed her but because God called her to the
work. She was obedient to God’s call, not to her social con-
science. She often remarked that if God had told her what was
to happen after she picked up the first dying person off the Cal-
cutta street, she would never have done it, for she would have
been too afraid.
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Mother Teresa called herself “a pencil in God’s hand.” What she meant
was that she was simply God’s instrument and she did only his bidding, re-
lying on his providence to provide for her order and the poor. Part of her
success lay in her ability to tap into and inspire a large number of volun-
teers, many of them young men and women who needed help. Quite
often, it was the more knowledgeable and qualified volunteers who had
the most trouble working with and understanding Mother Teresa. But for
many young people who had only high ideals but were not sure how to put
those ideals into practice, Mother Teresa and her work were a good
match. No matter if they stayed an hour, a week, or a year, they were al-
ways welcomed. For in the time they stayed, these volunteers made a dif-
ference to those around them and Mother Teresa was grateful for their
gifts. For others, Mother Teresa was unique, not because of her work with
the poor, but because for many people, she was doing what they wished to
do. She was what they were not.
Her legacy is strong; at the time of her death, there were more than
4,000 sisters in the Missionaries of Charity, along with 400 brothers and
thousands of others who have volunteered as Co-Workers, Lay Missionar-
ies of Charity, and Missionaries of Charity Fathers. It is through these vol-
unteers that Mother Teresa’s spirit lives on. Yet, Mother Teresa had her
flaws as well: she was stubborn, difficult to work with, and demanding.
Perhaps she needed those qualities to carry out the work to which she be-
lieved God had called her. But Mother Teresa was also a woman who sang
Happy Birthday to Jesus at Christmas, who regarded all life as holy, and
who saw the face of God in the face of every human being she encoun-
tered. For Mother Teresa, her works came not from the strength of her in-
tellect, but of the great power and love she had in her heart.
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M O T H E R T E R E S A

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NOTES
1. Anne Sebba,