A person’s life can be influenced through various aspects of religion, whether it be certain beliefs and traditions or certain people throughout that person’s life. Mother Teresa, born as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Albania, had many influences through Christianity within her life and lived as a person of religion. At an early age, Agnes received a calling from God to help people, which then led to her leaving her home at the age of 18 and joining the Sisters of Loreto. Mother Teresa found meaning through her vocation and was influenced by many beliefs and teachings of the Church such as, the option for the poor and vulnerable, life and dignity of the human person and the two commandments spoken by Jesus.
A common principle that all Christians share within the Church is one of the seven Principles of Catholic Social Teaching, the option for the poor and vulnerable. This teaching states that followers of the Church have a right and responsibility to put the needs of the poor and vulnerable before their own and to create conditions for the marginalised voices to be heard. It calls upon the whole community assist those who are most vulnerable. The preferential option for the poor and vulnerable originates from many of Jesus’ teachings within the Bible, stating “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) as well as “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). These statements state that Jesus’ mission when he appeared among man was to preach the good news of the Lord to the poor and needy and that all Christians must treat those who are poor like they would treat Jesus himself and therefore must not deny the...
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To begin, Mother Teresa stands as a strong activist from India, who deserves recognition for her tremendous actions. Mother Teresa, founder of a religious group of nuns in Calcutta, India, devoted her life to aiding sick and poor people throughout the world. I see Mother Teresa as an important figure to depict, since she dedicated her life to helping other and even inspired others to do the same. Born in war-torn Albania, Mother Teresa survived her childhood and at 19 joined the Sisters of Loreto in India. She served with missionary order of nuns for 20 years, until she had a realization of her life’s mission. She found that she needed to help the poor and sick. So, Mother Teresa descended into the slums of Calcutta and began the Sisters of Charity. From there, she led the Sisters of Charity in ministering to the sick and hungry by giving them much needed food and live. Mother Teresa received local reconviction; but in 1969, after a documentary on her work, she became a celebrity and was deemed a modern day saint. Mother Teresa used this to increase awareness of her work, thus benefiting the poor and sick further. She gave speeches all over the world emphasizing the struggle of the poor. Before her death, Mother Teresa had met a large number of world l...
...ess fortunate in their time and assist with having good practices with their neighbors. As today’s Christians, we can think of one of the great commandments in the New Testament, “thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”. (Matthew 22:39). When we care for our neighbor and help provide for the less fortunate, we display holiness as well as show our faith to the world. Matthew 25:37-40 states, “Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirst, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you. In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these ye brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Jesus teaches that when his followers ignore the poor and marginalized, they ignore Jesus himself. Indeed he also teaches in the same passage (Matthew 25:31-46) that when his followers take care of the poor and marginalized, they take care of Jesus himself. Those who claim to follow and take serious the teachings of Christ, then, must necessarily care about the poor and marginalized. Thus the rising inequality of income in the United States today is not merely an economical issue to be kept separate from the Church, but a moral issue of which the Church must necessarily find ways to insert itself in the conversation.
In the simplest words of Dorothy Day, “We cannot live alone. We cannot go to heaven alone. Otherwise, as Péguy said, God will say to us, ‘Where are the others?’” (Day, p. 91). This statement reflects the need for all Christians and humans alike to unite and work together toward going to heaven. Such acts of solidarity come in many forms ranging from harmony with our neighbors, the poor, the vulnerable, the suffering, or a unity for peace and love for all. Acts for solidarity are so widespread that through the writings of Dorothy Day, Pope Francis, Bernard Brady, Richard Gula, and Gregory Boyle, their plentiful experiences and calls of action for camaraderie in society suggest that solidarity is the primary goal for those Christians striving
As Saint Francis Assisi said, “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance.” Catholics throughout the Saint Louis area must recognize this quote and understand God’s calling for all His people to give to those less fortunate
Many people are extremely faithful to their religion. People go on and on about how their religion is the best and that everyone should follow their footsteps. Some people in the 1400s took their religion to the extreme, especially in Italy. Prime examples of these people would be nuns, and one of the most well known nuns of this era was Catherine of Siena. Catherine was a religious figure and also a political figure during these times. Still till this day, people in Italy have sanctified as a saint. In this paper we will discuss the life of Catherine of Siena, her impact on the Catholic church and then also we will finish by discussing the impact she had politically.
Christianity propagated charity as one of the necessary acts that a good Christian should follow. Graham Gordon believes that in Christianity, "Charity is considered chief of the Christian virtues," and that "Charity is commended by St. Paul for being the true way to the end which religious practices seek"(10). We can see that in being a chief virtue, charity is highly encouraged in the sense that helping others is considered to be a great deed of good doing. Therefore, we can draw the notion that those who wish to follow the "true way to the end," are those that contribute the most to the poor, as opposed to those mentioned by Walsh who see themselves as "not responsible for the welfare of human beings.
“Americans are harder working and more productive than ever, yet the rewards of that productivity flow into the pockets of fewer and fewer people (Ketteler, 2006).” This relates to the previous articles in that the wealth are becoming wealthier, while the poor are becoming poorer, and this is something that goes against everything the common good stands for and the teachings of the church for so many years. As we can see over and over again, people become greedy and selfish and only do what is in their best interest, and this goes against the teachings and the actions of Jesus Christ. Father Ketteler writes that Jesus chose the poverty life, to be close to those who are in need most. “Jesus lived out a preferential option in standing on the side of those most in need, physically and spiritually (Ketteler, 2006).” Father Ketteler finishes with saying that when we love one another, nobody is a burden and everything that is produced is shared equally among all men and women, “civilizations of love abandons a mentality in which the poor as individuals and as peoples are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced (Ketteler,
It all started in 1922 in Skopje, Yugoslavia. One day while, the soon to be known as, Mother Teresa was walking, she felt God call her to serve the poor at only the age of 12. Seven years later she discovered her calling was to serve the poor in Calcutta, India and prepared to leave her comfy nunnery in Loretto. As she walked through the beautiful garden in the nunnery, before she left, she questioned leaving all of this beauty for the slums of Calcutta.
Catholic just one of many, excellent examples of the poor, and how easily we are
Teresa builds her doctrines based on her experiences of divine origin. Teresa’s idea of humility is identical to that of Jesus’ teachings of a humble and loving life. Teresa helped build what it is today’s Church, evident of her title of the Doctor of the Church. For Teresa, “prayer must be the foundation in which this house is built.” To her prayer permits people to get to know God better in an intimate way. In my opinion, I agree with St. Teresa’s theological perspective of a humble and intimate life with God. She has greatly impacted the Church and is the inspiration for many, because of her spiritual ideals on her life and writings, for this she will always be remembered as the great Catholic
As the practical influence was the more important of the two, the Catholic Church developed an extremely large practical role in the social services before it evolved. Today this order is being reversed. The church’s role as a service provider was deteriorating mainly because falling vocations left the church without suitable persons to sustain their roles. The reputation of the Catholic Church has also been stained by the found information of the shocking abuses committed by members of the Catholic Clergy on vulnerable people, particularly children, whom had been placed in their care. Despite the effects of these scandals, the new means of influencing social policy debate has a substantial effectiveness and may well offer a means by which the church can play an important role in the development of social policy in the future (Socialjustice.com. 2014).
One of the most basic teachings in the Catholic Church is to ?Love one another as I have loved you.? This can be implied towards people living in poverty as we can follow the steps that Jesus had undertaken to love other people even if they are your enemies. By showing love and compassion we can create a world that is aware of poverty issues and help the declination of poverty. Countless organisations are heavily involved in carrying missions to help ultimately eradicate poverty. These charities and organisations include CARITAS, World Vision, Oxfam, St Vincent de Paul and many other non profitable organisations which help carry out work to help those who are in need.
Mother Teresa is one of the most recognized women in the world. Teresa brought in a revolutionary change in the world with her positive thoughts and love for humanity. Her missionary work started way back 1931 when she was still a little girl. She joined the Nuns as a kid in 1931, and she was later named Teresa from Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. It was in respect and honor of the Saints of Theresa. Mother Teresa’s missions were concentrated around helping the poor people with their basic needs such as food, water and shelter. She also demonstrated a lot of interest in taking care of the weak and defenseless people in the society. For example, it has been recorded that she spent a lot of time caring for the elderly, disabled and injured. At the same