Mother Teresa - The Embodiment of Love

Born Agnes Bojaxhui, Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Mother of the Poor is known to most simply as Mother Teresa. While all know of her kindness, love and selfless service to the poor, in my life she has been an ever-present guiding light and wellspring of inspiration.

On this day, her 111th birthday, I look back at my life long association with Mother’s ideology and endeavors. Well acquainted with her magnanimity and warmth since childhood, her inspiring words ‘there are no great things, only small things done with great love.’ and 'I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples' would soothe and guide me in my moments of uncertainty.

In 2011 along with setting up operations of the Lotus Petal Foundation, I was also assisting other charitable institutions in Gurgaon. The Missionaries of Charity in sector 14 of Gurgaon, a home for mentally and physically challenged orphan boys was one such organization. The Missionaries of Charity is a congregation founded by Mother in 1950 to serve the destitute and ailing with homes across the globe. We helped the sector 14 branch with kitchen remodeling, digital educational toys for the children and by establishing a painting program that was running strong till prior to the lockdown. Father Timo of German descent was in charge of the center and shared with me how he had met Mother in Austria and in that moment was so struck by her aura of love that he wept and decided to dedicate his entire life to the work of the mission.

I was always amazed by how Mother would touch and comfort those with leprosy and even the most severely diseased. It was later on in life that I realized that Mother was a Karm Yogi and when she would see a person she would see beyond the physicality. She knew god inside of herself and was able to see him in other people, so for her all barriers, physical or otherwise, were removed.

Prior to setting up Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa spent many years with the Sisters of Loreto congregation, teaching in Calcutta. When Mother felt the urgent call to serve the poor she decided to leave the congregation and take up residence in the most underserved areas of the city. She had no resources but was steadfast in her faith. “As my wish is to do God’s work, someone will turn up and help me. I do not know how it will happen, I just know it will” she would say. And people did. That is how she was able to setup her first home for the poor in Calcutta.

This was curiously mirrored in my life, when in 2015; we at Lotus Petal were undergoing an extremely difficult financial period. The account balance read zero and staff salaries were due the next day. I decided to surrender to the Lord’s will, thought of Mother and went off to sleep, knowing in my heart that divine help would arrive. I awoke the next morning to a text message which told me that a reasonable contribution had been made to Lotus Petal domestic fund to tale care of the salaries. A friend had miraculously remembered the promise of donating he had made a few months ago.

In 2016, I was blessed to be at the Vatican for Mother’s canonization ceremony on September 4th. Feeling blessed, I reached the celebrations on 2nd/3rd of September to find groups from all over the world celebrating in Mother’s memory. Rich and poor, together we all shared pizza and sang in her memory. On the 4th the Pope Francis conducted the actual canonization ceremony at Vatican Square. People from 138 countries had come to pay their respects and honor Mother.

As I stood there, under the very hot Italian sun, looking at the massive portrait of mother, I felt a profound sense of wonder and gratitude. I turned around only to see almost half a million people, a sea of humanity, gathered from every nation, standing, silently paying homage to a saint, a missionary and most of all just a simple woman determined to love and help the most vulnerable.

All it takes to make an impact is small steady effort. I think Mother herself said it best:

‘If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one’.