Mother Teresa Research Paper

Mother Teresa, a catholic nun, best known for fighting for the rights of the sick and helpless; was a humanitarian. This mean she did work to help out other people. Mother Teresa was born in Uskub, Ottoman Empire on August 28, 1910. She was raised as a Roman Catholic and decided to devote her life to God at a young age. She joined the sisters of Loreto at the age of 18, to become a missionary to India.

1. Identify practices, beliefs and values that these Spirit-filled people have contributed to building a just, inclusive and healthy society.

Mother Teresa was a catholic nun, who spent her life living for others. She will be remembered for her loving acts. At the age of 36, Mother Teresa felt the call from God to help the poor in Calcutta

(India). She had a lack of support whilst trying to feed and help the poor.

While living in Calcutta during the 1930’s and 40’s, she taught at St. Mary’s Bengali Medium School. Shortly, other woman joined Mother Teresa and all formed the Missionaries of Charity. In Mother Teresa’s words, the missionaries of charities purpose was to take care of “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who felt unwanted, uncared for throughout the society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone”. Once her work started to expand, she bought a four storey building that housed abandoned children and babies. Following her beliefs of never leaving anyone behind, she never turned her back on anyone. Mother Teresa expressed her values in the statement, “We are not nurses, we are not doctors, we are not teachers, we are not social workers. We are religious, we are religious, and we are religious”. The missionary of charity began with only

13 members and today have over 4,000 nuns who care for people and walk in Mother Teresa’s footsteps. Mother Teresa’s values and beliefs shaped not only her work but also guided her. Being a Christian, Mother Teresa followed in the footsteps of Jesus, caring for the poor in Calcutta. She believed in the three vows of poverty: chastity, obedience and also one of her own – she would give ‘wholehearted and free service to the poor. Mother Teresa strongly believed in never leaving anyone behind, and making sure that those she had met felt loved and wanted.
Mother Teresa’s beliefs and values helped build a just, inclusive and healthy society. Her beliefs and choices impacted her choices. The relationships she built with those suffering from poverty were aided with her understanding of their hardship.

2. What are the diverse ways in which religion and spirituality find expression in society through people?
All kinds of people, no matter what county they’re from or what religion they follow, have a different prospective as to what religion and spirituality means to them.

Religion being a culture that’s followed by people with different morals and beliefs and spirituality is more based on an individual’s inner soul. There are many ways as to how people in society express their religion and spirituality, some wear different attire to others, some eat different foods to others based on what religion they follow, some go to holy places to pray while others meditate at home. Some believe helping others will get them closer to god others strictly follow their God’s set path to get closer to God and many more but at the end of the day, being a good human is what should be expressed by religion and

spirituality.

3. What do the actions of this spirit-filled person tell us about how we should live our lives?

Through the actions of Mother Teresa, she teaches how to live our lives. Through Mother Teresa’s work, we understand that it is vital to help everyone in need. Through her actions and words we are taught to always involve those around us, as poverty is a terrible way to feel lonely and unloved. She teaches that the best way to live our life is by spreading love, as stated in her famous quote “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier”. Through her work with the hungry and poor, she tells us to feed those in need, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one”.

4. What message do these spirit-filled person offer people in today’s world?

People in today’s world have a lot to learn from Saint Mother Teresa’s exceptional work for humanity. She set an example by performing deeds which weren’t and aren’t common in our everyday lives. Saint Mother Teresa’s doings teach us to be grateful for what we have, to be humble at all times, to give to the less fortunate, to spread love everywhere you go, to see everyone and everything as the gods creation. ‘There is no greater hunger than the hunger of the heart’ (Purposefairy.com, LUMINITA D. SAVIUC, 2014) meaning all sorts of physical diseases can be cured but the hunger of heart can only be cured by love.