Mother Teresa spent about the first twenty years of her religious life as a teaching nun. As a headmistress, teacher of geography and catechism, she was a gifted teacher, fluent in English, Hindi, and Bengali, and had a deep impact on her students. After establishing her own religious congregation dedicated to the service of the poorest of the poor, she became the main teacher of her sisters, and her instructions are still today a treasure-house of spiritual riches. Knowing the opportunity education is and the benefit it can be in one’s life and in the lives of others, she sent her first sisters to schools and universities. Moreover, she strove earnestly to offer the possibility of an education to the underprivileged. The first school she opened was a “slum school” under a tree; her blackboard was the ground, and her chalk was a stick with which she traced the letters of the Bengali alphabet. Though the teaching was very basic, she offered the poor children an education that gave them the possibility of being admitted to regular schools; she would then see them through school so they could have the chance to improve their living conditions. Her idea, as she said, was to “go down to lift them up.”

Nevertheless, her instruction was not limited to providing basic education. She offered religious and moral instruction whenever she saw it was necessary, especially to people who were deprived of it because of their material need. But what was more interesting in her way of instruction was her ability to direct people to the truth. She knew that “the truth will set you free.” Instructing, or informing, someone about the truth can at times be challenging in a relativistic and materialistic world. Yet she never shrank from this duty. Where she could, she brought attention to the sufferings of the poor and oppressed, indicated moral truths to be followed, or spoke about respect for life and in defense of the unborn. She was the most eloquent teacher because she put into practice what she taught.

HER WORDS

The Ground for a Blackboard

When my little ones saw me for the first time, they were asking one another whether I am a goddess or an evil spirit. For them there is no middle. Those that are good to them they admire like one of their deities; and if someone is moody they are afraid of him and they are only continually bowing down to him. Immediately I rolled up my sleeves, moved the furniture in the room, took water and the brush in my hands and started to scrub the floor. They were utterly surprised. They were only watching me because they have never seen that one teacher would start doing such work, especially because it is the job of the lowest caste in India. But seeing me happy and joyful the girls, one by one, started helping me and the boys started carrying water. In two hours the dirty room became a classroom; everything was clean. It is one long room, which was earlier used as a chapel, and now there are five classes in it….When we became a bit familiar, they did not know what to do for joy. They started to jump and to sing around me until I [blessed them, placing] my hand upon each child’s dirty head. From that day they called me only one name, “Ma,” which means mother. Ah, how little these souls need to make them overjoyed!…One day a child came to my school…his clothes torn and dirty. I called him out of the classroom and there with the soap I gave him a good wash. When I had washed and combed his hair, I put on him some old clothes that I had got from the benefactors of the missions. And I sent him again to the classroom. And watch a marvel! Nobody in the classroom had recognized him and all started shouting: “Ma, ma, the new one, the new one!”1

Motijhil—The children were already waiting for me at the foot of the bridge. There were forty-one—much cleaner. Those who were not clean, I gave them a good wash at the tank. We had catechism after the first lesson on hygiene—then reading. I laughed a good many times—as I had never taught little children before. So the ko kho [the first two letters of the Bengali alphabet] did not go so well. We used the ground instead of a blackboard. Everybody was delighted—after the needlework class we went to visit the sick.2

Make Your Schools Centers of Radiating Christ

Make your schools centers of radiating Christ. Teach your children, your sick, your lepers, the dying to love God in their poverty and sickness—teach them to offer all to God.3

I must really say, “Christ lives in me.” I must be able to say that. We have to keep on desiring. The desire will only be fulfilled when we are face-to-face with God. Here on earth we must have that desire to live with Christ in the poor. Jesus said, “I was ignorant and you taught Me. You took Me to church for Mass.” This is nothing to incite our imaginations; not feelings. Jesus really said it, “I.” So He is the poor we meet everywhere.4

I have asked a sister (medical doctor) to conduct a paramedical course for our sisters so they will be better able to know, to understand, and to practice the medical works of the Society. In this way, they will come to give wholehearted and free service to the sick with greater dedication, skill, and efficiency.5

Know Your Faith Well

Know your faith well, sisters. We must know the faith, love the faith, and live the faith: Know, love, and live. It is so important for us to teach catechism. Prepare your classes well. Don’t go with just anything. Take the trouble to really give….When I was a Loreto nun, I was in charge of all the school. I was teaching all day religion, geography, and so on; lots of responsibility, plus [doing] accounts and so on. All these sisters who are teaching will also need to prepare.6

Teach the people their faith. In the soup kitchen, you should have at least ten minutes of instruction of the faith. Teach the Catechism to the children, to the families. When the sisters first began here, they used to teach the children in the homes and gather their families at the same time so that all of them could learn together.7

Prepare little prayers, instructions, classes—put them down on paper, of what you are going to speak to them [about]. For example, Father B. for years and years, he takes the trouble to prepare the Mass every day, spends one hour, in spite of his busy life. It’s because for him, Mass is the most important and sacred and the sisters too are sacred. Examination of conscience, are you faithful to teach them to do it with love and to do it with Jesus?8

Teach from Your Own Experience

We are missionary sisters; we are not just religious sisters. We are bound by that fourth vow [to give wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor]. How do I prepare catechism classes? And now in Mother House, it is so beautiful, that beautiful preparation because we are now bound in conscience to teach the Catholic Catechism because Holy Father has given strict orders on how to prepare the Catechism. That zeal, that preparation. The whole lot get together on Friday afternoon, not just go and then give a little instruction. A missionary is a person who is a carrier of God’s love, and you cannot carry that love unless you give that love.9

We must love souls—to be thirsty. I thirst. We thirst for love for souls. Whatever work you have to do, the classes you have to follow, the lessons you have to prepare, put your whole heart and soul [into it]. It is not how much, but how much love you put [into it].10

Teach the sisters to pray. You cannot teach them from books only, but from your own experience. When they come to see you, ask them how did they make their meditation, how do they make their examination of conscience. Do you prepare your instructions? Do you know before you speak to them what you are going to [say] to them? Connect “I thirst” in all your classes and instructions. When you tell them about the vows, connect it with the “I thirst.” I was very happy when Holy Father wrote about “I thirst.” He wrote to the whole Church. I hope slowly they will put [in] every church also this “I thirst” near the crucifix. Teach them small prayers that will help them to remain close to Jesus. Teach them also to appreciate the time they get for prayer. How many people come here to spend a little time in prayer; they work extra to be able to come here and do some [volunteer] work. We are given to do the same work; how do we do it? The work you have of taking care of the sisters, do you realize how important it is?11

Do Not Correct, Teach

Holy Father has said, “Do not correct, teach.” Whatever we do for our sisters and our people, the instruction you give, the food you cook, the same [we] give to God.12

When young people come to visit us, I teach them to love each other. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you” [Jn 13:34], Very often young men come to us to work with the lepers. I teach them how to love each other and how to see God through this kind of love. If you come to India, I will teach you too. Love in action is the most dear to me. For this kind of love, we draw strength from prayer. This is real love and we give our lives for this kind of action. It is not possible to show God’s love for people without being in loving service to others.13

Professor of Love

In London, there are big boys and girls who have not made First Communion there, in the area where we are. The sisters have been trying and trying to get the family together, the young people together to prepare them for First Communion. Then one day the mother of one family said, “Sister, why don’t you teach me. I have a better opportunity when they come in the evening together. My children are there, my husband is there, I will teach them.” And so Sister taught her, and now even the husband comes I believe early, to be present at the lessons that the wife is giving to the children. Now [Sister] has got more than twenty of these mothers from that simple woman. She has twenty mothers and every Saturday they come. She gives them their lessons for the week and they do it.14

I will never forget the last time when I was in Venezuela—we have our sisters working in Venezuela, we have five houses—and a very rich family gave us land to build a home for the children. Then I went to thank them. And there, in the family, I found the first child very terribly disabled. And I asked the mother, “What is the name of the child?” And the mother answered me, “Professor of Love. Because the child is teaching us the whole time how to love in action.” There was a beautiful smile on the mother’s face. The “Professor of Love”! Because from that terribly disabled child—disfigured—they were learning how to love.15

Teach Them to Love One Another

And it is for us, especially for you who have young girls and young boys in your schools, to teach them the dignity, the respect, the love for life. Teach them purity, teach them holiness. Teach them and don’t be afraid. Teach them to love one another. A young girl to love a boy and a boy to love a girl—it’s very beautiful, very beautiful! Teach them not to touch each other so that on the day of their wedding they can give each other a virgin heart, a virgin body.16

I’ve seen again and again crowds come to Calcutta and nobody wants to work anywhere else except in the Home for the Dying. Why? Because they see the suffering Christ and they receive and then they come many of them come for adoration and most of them, most of them, they say the same thing, “we saw this kind of suffering in our country but we never looked. You have taught us to see to look and find Jesus and do something.”

This is the hunger of the young people. Very often we find our young people from all over the place coming to the Hindu ashrams and being caught there and every time when they come out, if they are able to come, I always ask them, “Is Jesus not enough for you?” “But nobody gave me Jesus like that.”

That is you, you priests must give Jesus to our young people. There is a tremendous longing for God. I’m sure you know that better than I but with the people that we are dealing, the suffering that we see, we see the young people doing those humble works: cleaning, washing, feeding and there—where they are dying, there is so much tenderness and love. Many of them, after a long time, make their confession and go back to Our Lord. How? That contact with the presence of Christ.

They are longing to learn and you and I have been chosen by Jesus. I have called you by your name Jesus said. You are mine. Water will not drown you, fire will not burn you. I will give nations for you. You are precious to me, I love you. We have that in the Scriptures so clearly, the tenderness and the love of God for us and He wants us to be that tenderness and love to the people.

He wants to use you that’s why you have become a priest. You have not become a priest to become a social worker….We…cannot give to our people what we don’t have. So teach us to pray, teach us to be holy and I think we and our people will be holy because there are places where you cannot go maybe but if you have given us, we can give to them.17

The Joy of Spreading the Good News

God has entrusted to you the joy of spreading the Good News that we have all been created for greater things, to love and to be loved. And so, whatever you do, whatever you write, make sure that you remember that you can make people and you can break people. You can give good news and bring joy into the lives of many people; and you can bring much sorrow to many people. So let us always remember that in writing there is always someone being drawn closer to God, or being taken away from Him.

Always write the truth. Because Jesus Christ said, “I am the Truth, I am the Light, I am the Joy, and the Love. I am the Truth to be told, and the Love to be loved. I am the Way to be walked. I am the Light to be lit. And I am the Peace to be given. And I am the Joy to be shared.” So let us today, as we have gathered together, let us make one strong resolution that you, through your writing, will always spread love, peace, and joy.18

Challenge

I will never forget during the floods, we had terrible floods in Calcutta, and [a group of young men] was busy at the time killing and shooting and burning and doing all kinds of things. And then when this thing started and we were all walking in water up to our necks, these young men came, thirty of them, and said, “We are at your service, use us.” We used to stay until ten p.m. working, but they spent the whole night helping, carrying the people on their heads, and the government couldn’t understand that it was these university students who were doing all the mischief, and then they were there like little lambs, doing the most humble work. So the young people are hungry for Christ, they are looking for…challenge.19

It Is Good…to Spoil the Poor

Once at a seminar in the name of the whole group, one nun got up and said to me, “Mother Teresa, you are spoiling the poor people by giving them things free. They are losing their human dignity. You should take at least ten naya paisa for what you give them; then they will feel more their human dignity.” When everyone was quiet, I said calmly, “No one is spoiling as much as God Himself. See the wonderful gifts He has given us freely. All of you here have no glasses, yet you all can see. Say, if God were to take money for your sight, what would happen? We are spending so much money to buy oxygen for saving life, yet continually we are breathing and living on oxygen and we do not pay anything for it. What would happen if God were to say, ‘You work four hours and you will get sunshine for two hours’? How many of us would survive?” Then I also told them: “There are many congregations who spoil the rich; then it is good to have one congregation in the name of the poor, to spoil the poor.” There was profound silence. Nobody said a word after that.20

No Time for the Poor?

Where is that burning zeal that gives without counting the cost? Where is that love for our slum children that takes the trouble to prepare the schoolwork? To find the big children for First Holy Communion? Where is that eagerness [for gathering] the children for Sunday Mass?21

Where are we sisters—if we too are the poorest of the poor? Do we know what it means to be hungry and lonely?…We meet these people, our poor, every day. Do we know them? [Are we] really one of them? My sisters, it must hurt Jesus as it hurts Mother if we have become so rich as to have no time for the poor.22

HER EXAMPLE: THE TESTIMONIES

Approachable and Available for Everything

Though [St. Mary’s] was a Catholic school, it was the only Bengali high school for girls. Thus both Hindus and Muslims from high society, who were naturally interested in their own culture and language, wanted to enroll their daughters….Mother made no distinction in dealing with them, and they all came for prayer and even catechism classes. Mother was so approachable and available for everything, including spiritual and material needs. Rich or poor, all helped in the cleaning and housework of the school. Regarding food and lodging there was no difference among the boarders. Everyone dressed in the simple uniform of the school.23

I was a little nervous since I hadn’t been to the city before and didn’t know what to expect in this new school [St. Mary’s, Loreto]. All my fears melted away on meeting Mother. The day I joined school, Mother Teresa came into the parlor, called me by my name in such perfect Bengali, and greeted me in the Bengali way and language. What a welcome she gave me! Coming to know Mother over the next month, I came to appreciate her as more than a teacher or the headmistress.24

Who Will Bring Them Joy?

In 1947…from the bridge, Mother pointed out to me the Belaghata slum. It was such a miserable sight: such poor, naked children, black from the coal dust coming from the pieces of coal they were picking up on the railway line. Mother pointed this out saying, “Look! How poor these children are. They have no joy, but poverty makes them do this work to earn their living. What a miserable life! Who will bring them joy? They do not know Jesus. They have no knowledge of eternal happiness, so in this life they have suffering, poverty, misery, and in the next life too, which is forever. Who will go and give them the Good News that God loves them, that God created them, and that they are His children, so that they will begin to change their life of misery into a life of joy? Will you come with me? But if we go now, they will come to me with their hand stretched out, begging for money because I am dressed like a Mem Shaheb [respectable rich lady]. So we cannot speak to them about God or Jesus. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could dress in simple, poor dress and live among them, talk to them, talk about Jesus? He also was poor. He came for them. Will you come? Will you come with me? Wouldn’t it be nice? We could succeed in making these people happy in making them know Jesus.”25

Mother had only one aim, to spend her life ceaselessly to proclaim God’s love to everyone and everywhere. To do this she did not wait for a diploma or special study except for some months [of a] basic medical course in Patna. When she came back to Calcutta, she immediately went out to the slums. She began Motijhil school for the slum children, cleaning them and teaching them reading and writing. The ground served as slate and blackboard. Of course the little ones soon found in her a real angel of comfort and consolation and began to come in large numbers, waiting early in the morning for her. To find students for the school, Mother would go to everyone’s house; we would be with her and call everyone. She would call every child to study.26

Give Them Joy

In the year 1948 Mother again came back (to Motijhil)….She asked the names of our six sisters and two brothers. When I said that my name is Agnes, then Mother hugged me and took me to her lap. Then Mother said to my mother that she will come here; here are many poor whom I want to help. After that day, Mother would come here every day….She would search for poor children and bring them to school. Mother would walk down from Creek Lane to our place each day. Mother would come at eight a.m. and stay till twelve noon and again come at three p.m. and go back by six p.m….We had nothing. Under the tree shade we would sit writing on the ground. Within a month, Mother brought for us the books, copies, slates, and pencils from somewhere. The sisters started to teach us. In our place one person fell sick; she had a big boil; she was suffering from unbearable pain. Mother took her on her lap and brought her to a room next to ours. Like this, from different places, Mother brought five patients and kept them there in that room. Mother would look after these sick people, and the sisters would teach us….Mother would not take leave even on Sunday. She would take us all to Baithakhana Church at eight o’clock in the morning….Sunday was the happiest day for us….My First Communion was held when I was eleven years old, and before this I didn’t know anything, neither to learn nor to read nor to pray; all were taught by Mother….I had completed my studies at Motijhil. At Moulali I studied till class eight.27

One Sunday evening we went out, the four of us: Mother, Sister Agnes, Sister Trinita, and myself. Mother gave each one of us something to carry; we went to Beleghata, one of the very, very poor areas. We had some games up to four o’clock. All the men were given to me; Sister Trinita took the boys. Sister Agnes took the girls and women, and we stood against the wall, and they had races. Whoever came first among the men got the soap as the first prize, the women got the blankets, the children got the sweets, and the boys got the chalk and slates. The next week also we did the same, and you could see the joy on their faces. Coming back home, Mother said, “You see what you brought to the children? Joy. These people do not know Jesus. We have Jesus. We go to Mass. So the only way to give them Jesus was to give them joy.”28

The Joy on Mother’s Face

Sunday schools: Our time to rise on Sundays was 4:30 a.m., and sisters prepared children and adults to receive the sacraments: Holy Communion, confession, confirmation. Mother wanted every sister to go for Sunday school and teach the Catechism, as far as possible. Most of our poor children could not afford the normal outfit for first communicants, so this was provided. It was so beautiful to see these little “angels” running all the way with their sisters to Baitakhana Church, for Holy Mass at 6:30 a.m. on the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels, October 2, each year….And the joy on Mother’s face to see these over a thousand children, many of them above the normal age—the fruit of Mother’s zeal.29

Before Mother left from Shkodra for the first time…she went up to the Children’s Home on the first floor. The children gathered around her, those who were able to walk and who were mentally all right. She immediately began to teach them the Our Father in Albanian, but she taught it in such a nice way, she made it into a kind of tune with a rhythm, and they repeated line by line after Mother. Mother repeated it again and again. All the children were smiling happily as they were learning.30

Pain and Compassion on Her Face

Mother would go and beg from other nuns to take our children as day scholars. She sent some of the boys to the Jesuits, some to the Salesians. She took the trouble to have them admitted. It was something more than what we could give.31

When I was in Loreto Entally in charge of the junior school in the 1960s, I had some of her orphans from Shishu Bhavan. One was a disturbed child and caused much trouble for the matrons and the teacher. The staff, after helping and accepting her as much as they could, felt she was disturbing the whole section, so they convinced the superior to send her back to the MCs. When I met Mother Teresa sometime later, she remembered the case and showed much regret that the child had been sent back. There was much pain and compassion on her face when speaking about the child.32

Sacrifice Money

The sisters would pick up the children and take them to school. As most of our children were too poor and hungry, bread was ordered for them at the Mother House and sisters would collect their share for each class in each school. Children in England saved their pennies to enable our poor children to get a daily slice of bread; and a glass of milk was made possible by the sacrifice of thousands of Danish children, while the children of Germany with their “sacrifice money” provided a daily vitamin pill for the children of India. Children were helped to clean themselves, comb their hair. Slates and chalk were provided, and for the older ones, exercise books and stationery. Their clothes were also taken care of. After the Assembly and marking of registers, there were classes in the rudiments of learning: reading, writing, arithmetic, singing, games. In the meantime, arrangements were being made to get them into regular existing schools.33

Allowing Others to Share in the Joy of Giving

Shishu Bhavan, a home for unwanted, abandoned children, opened in 1955. As the children grew, Mother initiated a child welfare scheme by allowing a generous Hindu lady…to sponsor the first ten children for ten years. Many followed her example in India and abroad and it included a sponsorship scheme, which provided fees for education, outfits, etc., for schoolgoing children. When the work grew too big for us, Mother passed it on to the diocese through the parishes.34 When I was in Amravati in Maharashtra, a college student gave me some scrapbooks for the children studying. When Mother came to see me, I told her about it. Mother said, “I am so happy to see that. I would like to go and see the students.” When I informed the college, the professor arranged for the students to gather and meet Mother. There were about three hundred college students there. Mother went and spoke to them, and Mother said the same thing: “In the ignorant children Jesus will say, ‘I was the one you taught.’ So you keep helping the sisters. I am so happy.”35

No One to Help Them

I told Mother that when I was at home I was working, and the money I got, I used to spend for my younger sister’s education, and now my sisters had no one to help them….Seeing my difficulty, Mother took two of my sisters under her care and arranged for their studies, but later they told Mother that they also wanted to be religious, so both of them joined us. Through this kindness and concern for my own sisters, my sisters and I were greatly inspired to give our lives completely to God.36

Mother Arranged for Their Studies

My sister had four girls. They were studying in the boarding school and had problems with their fees, as they could not pay. They were being sent away from the school and when I told this story, Mother helped them so they could continue their studies.37

Under the Mango Trees

In Tabora, Mother saw us taking catechism class under the mango trees. Whenever she came to visit us, she asked us, “Are you still teaching children under the mango trees?” Mother was so happy to see the children being gathered and taught the faith. She also told us, “Before starting the dispensary, pray with the people. It’s not enough to give medicines. Give them God.”38

Not Only the Material Needs of the Poor

Mother not only took care of the material needs of the poor, but she also organized Sunday schools for the poor Catholic children: Catechism to be taught to Catholics studying in government schools, after-school programs to help the children with their studies, summer day camps for children in poor neighborhoods, days of prayer and recollection in retreat centers for married couples, homeless men and women residing in our homes, and shut-ins, and other activities that have brought people together, improved relationships, broken down barriers to love, opened up people to friendship, and eased their pain and loneliness.

She consecrated homes, especially in the month of June, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She insisted that families should pray the Rosary, that parish priests must have weekly hours of Adoration with the people in their parishes, with the opportunity for receiving the sacrament of reconciliation….She repeatedly said that the work of the Missionaries of Charity was not social work, but God’s work, and that whatever we do, we do to Jesus.39

She Took Immense Pride in Each Child

I was in close association with her while I was working with the children of Shishu Bhavan, especially during Christmas and Easter. It was during this time that Mother’s wonderful ways revealed themselves to me. She gathered children around her just as a shepherd gathers his flock. She took immense pride in each one of them and their accomplishments. Once after the children performed the Hoop Drill for her with all the colors of the flag, she was so overwhelmed that she did not wait for them to come to her to be blessed. Instead, she went to them and blessed them. When she blessed them, the five fingers of her palm symbolized the saying “I did it [to] you.” She made each gesture meaningful and made the children understand that everything they did was for a purpose and that purpose was Jesus.40

If a Mother Can Kill Her Own Child, What Is There to Stop You and Me from Killing Each Other?

In September 1994 Mother sent a message to the UN Conference in Cairo saying openly, “I speak today to you from my heart, to each person in all the nations of the world, to people with power to make big decisions as well as to all the mothers, fathers, and children in the cities, towns, and villages….If a mother can kill her own child, what is there to stop you and me from killing each other? The only one who has the right to take life is the One who has created it. Nobody else has that right; not the mother, not the father, not the doctor, no agency, no conference, no government.” This took a lot of courage to say, which is proved by the criticism Mother’s words elicited.41

REFLECTION

“In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.’ ” (Lk 10:21–22)

“Help a child who has difficulty in the school with his homework. Share with others what you know.”42

Are there areas of my life, especially my spiritual life, where I need to realize and recognize my ignorance and take steps to learn, especially the wisdom of “little souls”? Am I obstinate in my attitude of superiority and unwillingness to learn and improve? Do I have the courage to stand for what I know is right and true, in spite of contrary opinions around me? Is my stubbornness and unapproachability an impediment to spreading Gospel truths and values? Do I teach not only with my words, but with my example, with the spirit of doing good to others.

PRAYER

Grant, O Merciful Father, that Your divine Spirit may enlighten, inflame, and cleanse our hearts, that He may penetrate us with His heavenly dew and make us fruitful in good works, through Jesus Christ, Our Lord.

Amen.

—The closing prayer of the Litany of the Holy Spirit, prayed by Mother Teresa on Mondays