MOTHER TERESA

“THERE IS THING YOU CAN DO BUT I CAN NOT AND THERE IS THING I CAN BUT YOU CAN NOT; SO LET US – TOGETHER – MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL FOR GOD.”

God always provides. He provides for the flowers and the birds, for everything in the world He has created. There can never be enough. At first, when I began my work, I only had five rupees. But gradually, as people came to know what I was doing for the poor of Kolkata, they brought things and money. It was all divine providence. I wanted to serve the poor purely for the love of God. I wanted to give them what the rich canʼt buy with money!

The Sisters started coming in 1949. The first Sister who joined our congregation was Sister Agnes. The first ten girls who came were all students I had taught at Loreto. One by one they surrendered themselves to God to serve the poorest of the poor. They wanted to give their all to God. Then other helpers came: doctors and nurses worked with us on a voluntary basis to help us. It was in 1952 that we opened our first Home for the Dying.

The first woman I saw, I myself picked up from the street. She had been half eaten by rats and ants. I took her to the hospital but they could not do anything for her. They only took her because I refused to move until they accepted her. From there I went to the municipality and asked them to give me a place.

The officer took me to the temple at Kalighat and showed me a dharamshala where people used to rest after they had done their worship. It was an empty building that had not been in use for a while. And this is where I began sheltering the dying and the destitute. 

Excerpts from ʻSomething Beautiful For Godʼ, a book on Mother Teresa by Malcolm Muggeridge