Sacred Themes

This piece is written in honor of Mother Teresa, who was canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church on September 4, 2016. This date falls on the eve of the 19th anniversary of her death. She moved to India in 1929 as a nun within the Sisters of Loreto. She served as a school teacher there and worked within her Order to help the people of India. While on a spiritual retreat, she received a "Call within a Call" from God to make an even more extreme commitment to serve the very poorest of the poor in India. With the help of the Church and many spiritual advisors she formed her own Order within the Church called the Missionaries of Charity in 1950. The "MC", as they are called, now number nearly 4,500 Sisters, plus many more Brothers, Priests and lay volunteers. The Missionaries of Charity now minister to the poor and homeless around the world. In 1985 The Secretary General of the United Nations called Mother Teresa the "most influential woman in the world." Then, as now, her example of "Dependence, Detachment, and Dedication" (the focus of her community) have inspired many, many people around the world. I have been greatly humbled and inspired in my own faith by reading about her life, her works, her service, her daily commitment to both study the Bible and to pray.