What
Mother Teresa Taught Me
by
Maryanne Raphael
When one of my friends
joined Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, she invited me to come to the
St. Rita’s church in the
I knew Mother was small
but I had never realized how short she was and yet she seemed to have a light
that shone around her and filled the entire church. Silence reigned all the time Mother Teresa
was speaking. She began her talk with
the Indian greeting of putting the hands together like praying hands and bowing
to Jesus within each of us.
Everyone in the room
seemed to feel as though Mother Teresa was speaking only to them. It didn’t matter whether she was saying
something beautiful like, “Let us do little things with great love,” or some
often spoken cliché, she put her whole heart and great love into each word and
they all seemed new and inspired. I
heard her tell the same story over and over about how she took rice to a poor
Hindu woman with five children who had not eaten for days and the woman
immediately began sharing the food and took half of it to her next door
neighbor who was a Muslim. She told
Mother Teresa, “Our neighbors have not eaten either.” Each time Mother told that story, she relived
it in her mind and it was always moving and inspiring.
Mother Teresa taught me
about writing when she told about a man who wrote books explaining how to end
world hunger. She asked him, “What do
you do when you meet a person who has not eaten for days?” He said, “I don’t meet hungry people. I work with people who can help them.” Mother asked, “How can you write about
hunger if you have never been near a hungry person?”
I became a Co-worker of
Mother Teresa’s and helped her Missionaries of Charity nuns to care for
abandoned children in El Florido, Mexico, worked in
soup kitchens in Tijuana, and in the Bronx, taught orphans from Nicaragua and
Guatemala how to speak English, visited children with Leprosy and AIDS in South
Africa and worked briefly at Mother’s home for the dying in Calcutta.
When I developed a
life-threatening brain tumor I joined Mother Teresa’s Sick and Suffering
Co-workers offering all my sufferings, fears and prayers for the work.
When Mother Teresa gave me her written permission to
write about the work, I shared the note with her friends, nuns, brothers,
priests and Co-workers and they gave me information, their favorite stories of
Mother, answered my questions and corrected my manuscript.
Mother Teresa, Called to
Love was published in 2000 and when Mother Teresa’s Missionaries and friends
read it they wrote me, “It is so wonderful to be learning new things about our
beloved Mother Teresa.” I was blessed to be able to fly to
When I was a little girl my grandfather would read me
stories from his favorite magazine St. Anthony’s Messenger. At five years old I made up a story called
Pray for the Wanderer inspired by my favorite hymn. Grandfather typed it up and sent it to the
magazine. Two months later I received my
first rejection slip. Grandfather said,
“That’s wonderful. That paper shows that
you wrote something and you sent it out.
That is all you have to do to be a writer.”
Now many years later St. Anthony Messenger Press has
published What Mother Teresa Taught Me.
Last month in the airplane
on my way to my hometown I made a list of the things Mother Teresa had taught
me. Here it is:
*It is not important what you do. What matters is how much love you put into
it.
*Never worry about
money. If God wants you to have or do
something He will give you the money you need.
If the money does not come, He doesn’t want it or He wants you to wait. But He always gives us the money for anything
He really wants us to have.
*When you pray, talk to
God the way you would talk to anyone you love and do not forget to listen to
Him. What He has to say to you is what
is really important.
*Right after you ask God for a request thank Him immediately with as much energy in the thank you
as in the request.
*See death as my friend, the quickest way home to God.
*Live your Faith so that
you are a light for others but never try to force your beliefs on another. Mother said, “I would die for my Faith and I
would love to share it with all I meet but we never know how God is speaking to
a soul so all we can do is help Christians be better Christians, Muslims be
better Muslims, Hindus better Hindus, all closer to God and love one another as
He loves us;”
*A smile is the beginning of peace.
*All life is a gift from God and every human being is
precious to Him.
*Prayer is the strongest power in the Universe.
*When you are working, do not worry about
numbers. We help one person at a time.
*When you accept a duty, do it well and joyfully or
don’t agree to do it at all.
*Regular prayer is very important. Mother Teresa loved the Rosary and she and
her sisters prayed it as they walked from place to place. When Mother Teresa asked the Sisters, “How
far was it the house?” they would answer, “Three rosaries.”
*Mother’s work in
*See God in everyone, especially in would be
enemies. We should see them as Jesus in
his most distressing disguise.
*Preach and teach without words, using loving actions.
*Share your Joy.
She had a requirement for Sisters, a cheerful disposition.*Whatever you do for the least of His people you do for
Jesus.
*Mother told us at the
Last Judgment we would be asked what we had done for the homeless, the hungry,
the naked, and the prisoner.
*Jesus’ mother Mary is the Cause of Our Joy because
she gave us Jesus.
*Better to make mistakes while being kind than being
unkind while doing miracles.
*Nothing is more important than helping souls find
God.
*We give to the poor for love what others give to the
rich for money.
*We need to learn to recognize the many beautiful
miracles God gives us each day.
*Mother preferred people to volunteer their time and
hands than their money. She wanted our
work with her to help us get closer to God and our neighbor.
*We need to live one day at a time depending on God’s
providence.
*Never let anything fill you with sorrow so you forget
the joy of the risen Christ.
*We must be faithful in little things. It is more important to be faithful, than to
be successful.
*Begin at home.
Make your home a
*The prayers and sacrifice of the Contemplative orders
and the Sick and Suffering co-workers are a powerful help for the active
workers. Mother said their contribution
was even more important than the work of the active missionaries.
*Mother Teresa went to
services and prayed with Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Muslims,
Sikks, Anglicans and others.
*Mother felt the worst
disease was feeling abandoned, lonely, unwanted and unloved.
*Time is much more
valuable than money. Time is life and
we must fill our time with meaningful loving acts sharing joy that prepares us
for eternity.
*We need to get our
priorities right, Spiritual life is
most important. Our material goods are
meant to be shared.
*We must not waste food, clothing, blankets, time, energy.
*The poor have the right to live in decent conditions.
*Mother Teresa was
pro-life from womb to tomb. She wrote to
a governor begging him to spare the life of a mentally retarded serial prisoner
who was to be executed.
*Mother Teresa saved the
lives of some children in the midst of a war and she declared that no war is
just. A reporter told her, “Your church
believes in a just war.” She said,
“Maybe I am not a good Catholic. I could
never believe in people treating one another this way.”
*Every opportunity to do
an act of kindness is a gift from God.
Don’t waste it.
*Everyone must be
respected and enjoy freedom of thought, religion and expression.
*Never speak ill of anyone
for Jesus said, “Judge not least you be judged.”
*Forgive as you wish to be forgiven.
*Fear nothing. If God is with us who can be against us.
*There is no great
difference in the reality of one country or another because it is always people
you meet everywhere. God did not separate
the world into different countries; people did.
*You do not have to feel love to live love.
Mother Teresa inspired us to pray and to serve. She gave us a new love for the Gospel by
living by its principles and by quoting it often. She reminded us of Jesus’ special love for
the poor and the ill and how we can love God whom we can not see by loving
those around us that we do see. She
reminded us that holiness is not a luxury for the few. We are all called to be holy, called to love
one another as Jesus loves us all.
Maryanne Raphael
is the author of What Mother Teresa Taught Me, released by St. Anthony Messenger Press, 28.
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