Mother Teresa
“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].” ~ Mother Teresa
For several years, I have been working my way through a beautiful book: “A Call to Mercy: Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve.” This text is mainly a collection of Mother Teresa’s writings with editorial pieces by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC. When we think of Mother Teresa, we may immediately think of her service to those who needed food and care the most desperately. And she certainly dedicated her life to this work! However, one chapter specifically focuses on Mother Teresa as a teacher. I’d like to share this excerpt with you today:
“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” (p.143-144).
