A digital sketch of the Mother by Ragini
THE SAINT GUARDIAN -
MOTHER TERESA
The Saint Guardian - Mother
Teresa
26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997
26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997
Baptized August 27, 1910
1979 Nobel Prize for Peace
Beatified October 19, 2003
“As that man whom we picked
up from the drain, half eaten with worms, and we brought him to the home. I
have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel,
loved and cared for. And it was so wonderful to see the greatness of that man
who could speak like that, who could die like that without blaming anybody,
without cursing anybody, without comparing anything. Like an angel - this is
the greatness of our people.”
-- taken from her
Nobel Speech (1979)
These
words, they have been like a guiding spirit personified. Being the enlightening
words to discipline your life, they always stay with you, making their presence
even more personal for you when you find your ‘self’, your ‘soul’ haunted by
the elements of darkness.
Like
every other life of her stature, her life was her message. She was life
personified telling us how and what should be a life.
True,
her name was associated with some controversies. Her name is still associated with
controversies, even after her death. But such developments tell of her greatness
only, because her work always silenced her critics.
Because,
she remained undeterred, focusing on her work, focusing on her way to work for
the poor and the needy.
Compassion
was her tool. Compassion was her only language.
She
once wrote in a letter:
“Often
I wonder what does really God get from me in this state — no faith, no love —
not even in feelings. The other day I can't tell you how bad I felt. — There
was a moment when I nearly refused to accept. — Deliberately I took the Rosary
and very slowly and without even meditating or thinking – I said it slowly and
calmly. The moment passed- but the darkness is so dark, and the pain is so
painful. – But I accept whatever He gives and I give whatever He takes. People
say they are drawn closer to God- seeing my strong faith – is this not
deceiving people? Every time I have wanted to tell the truth – “that I have no
faith” – the words just do not come – my mouth remains closed. – And yet I
still keep on smiling at God and all.”
She
was strongly religious but she had friends in every religion. She ran a
charity, a large one, but despite being a devout Catholic and running a
Missionary organization, she was never associated with religious controversies
like conversions.
She
tells us about good side of every thing. Religion is a good reason but also has
nefarious elements of a bad reason. Religion has been and religion is still the
reason for the maximum bloodbath in the world. A life like her is the message
of the good reason, to see religion as the good reason to follow it as a way of
life. It reflects in one of her quotes:
“If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong
to each other.”
I
also love one of the quotes in circulation that I thought was by her but later
on came to know that it was by someone else and got popularized after it was
found hanging on the wall of Mother Teresa’s Calcutta
Do Good Anyway– “People are often unreasonable and illogical. Forgive them
anyway. If you are kind, they may accuse you of ulterior motive. Be kind
anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true
enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest
anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway. If you find happiness and serenity, they might be jealous. Be
happy anyway. The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good
anyway. Give the world the best you have, it may never be enough. Give the
world the best you have anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between
you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
The website www.motherteresa.org says ‘this is
an adaptation of the Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith)’.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
