Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, is one of the most beloved figures among Catholics worldwide. Her childhood in Skopje, in a deeply Christian family, was the fertile ground in which God planted the seed of her vocation.
From her earliest years, Gonxhe showed a particular sensitivity: a gaze capable of recognizing pain in others, a heart that beat in unison with those who suffered. Her family, rooted in the Catholic faith, cultivated in her a love for Christ and for the weakest among us. Every prayer, every act of charity lived at home became concrete preparation for the mission that awaited her.
But it was her father's sudden death that marked a profound turning point in her life. That pain, which could have broken her spirit, instead became the instrument through which God began to shape her vocation. Like clay in the potter's hands, young Gonxhe was being molded for an extraordinary purpose.
The call that changes everything
At just twelve years old, during prayer, Gonxhe heard the voice of Jesus for the first time. It wasn't a vague intuition or a passing desire: it was a clear, powerful call, impossible to ignore. The Lord wanted her entirely for Himself.
At eighteen, with a courage that only grace can give, she left everything. Her family, her homeland, the comfort of familiar things. She entered the Sisters of Loreto with the name "Teresa" in honor of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and left for India, toward a completely unknown world. She never looked back.
That young woman said goodbye to her mother for the last time, knowing she would probably never see her again. Yet in her heart burned a certainty greater than any fear: she was following God's will.
The train to Darjeeling: when heaven breaks through on earth
September 10, 1946 remains a crucial date in Church history. Jesus asks her to leave everything and go among the poorest of the poor. That moment becomes the turning point of her life. Despite doubts and difficulties, she embraces the mission with a radical yes, marking the beginning of her work among the abandoned. Every gesture becomes prayer and service, every step toward the poor an act of faith. The call teaches that God can speak in the most ordinary places and that the willingness of the heart changes reality. The train journey symbolizes the beginning of a life dedicated to mercy, where every small gesture has eternal value. From that day forward, service becomes the center of her existence, and her life a model of concrete love.
Mother Teresa's response was a total, absolute, unconditional yes. But it wasn't immediately realized. Years of discernment followed, of harsh trials, of obedience to superiors, of patient waiting.
In the streets of Calcutta: love made flesh
December 1948. Finally Mother Teresa receives the long-awaited permission. She leaves the convent and steps into the streets of Calcutta, armed only with her white sari bordered in blue and a burning desire: to love Jesus in the poor.
Her first works were disarmingly simple, yet of immense spiritual power. She bandaged foul-smelling wounds that no one dared to touch. She picked up the dying from the sidewalks and brought them to a place where they could die with dignity. She listened to the cries of those who no longer had a voice. She brought food, consolation, a smile, a prayer.
Every poor person became Jesus Crucified for her. Every festering wound was a sacred wound of Christ. Every act of care was an act of Eucharistic adoration performed in the suffering flesh of her brothers and sisters.
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A family is born: the Missionaries of Charity
Mother Teresa's witness couldn't remain hidden. In 1949 a former student knocked on her door to join her, then another and another. The seed planted by God was sprouting.
On October 7, 1950, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Holy See officially approved the congregation of the Missionaries of Charity: a new religious order with a unique and powerful charism. The sisters added to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience an extraordinary fourth vow: to serve freely and with total availability the poorest of the poor. Not just to help, but to recognize in every face the face of Christ.
This radical choice defined their identity: to be completely at the disposal of the least, without schedules or reservations. By the late sixties, the small mission born among the slums of Calcutta began to spread throughout the world. Like the mustard seed, that tiny seed became a great tree under which many found shelter.
Houses for the poor, shelters for the dying, soup kitchens, schools, centers for lepers, orphanages: Mother Teresa's charity crossed oceans, cultures and borders. From India to Africa, from Latin America to Europe, wherever there was suffering, the Missionaries brought the tenderness of Christ.
Evangelical love, incarnated in the small and tireless hands of that tiny nun, showed the world that the true revolution isn't born from ideologies, but from concrete, humble and daily charity.
The Nobel Prize and the humility of a saint
In 1979, the entire world recognized Mother Teresa's greatness by awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize. It was a moment of global visibility, a stage that many would have used to glorify themselves.
But not her. Mother Teresa accepted the prize "in the name of the hungry, the homeless, the unwanted, of all those whom no one wants." Even before the powerful of the earth, journalists, the world's television cameras, she remained simply what she had always been: a small nun who desired to give Jesus "a love without limits."
During her acceptance speech, she spoke of the sanctity of life, of love for the unborn, of the dignity of every human being. Her words were uncomfortable for many, but she wasn't seeking the world's applause. She sought only to be faithful to the voice she had heard on that train forty years earlier.
An empire of love
When Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, she left a legacy that surpasses all imagination. More than 4,000 Missionaries of Charity served Christ in the poorest in 123 countries around the world. Thousands of houses, centers, hospices, schools continued her mission.
But the numbers, however impressive, aren't enough to describe the true impact of her life. Mother Teresa had demonstrated that a soul that truly says "yes" to God can change the world. She had shown that holiness is possible even today, even in our modern cities, even amid the contradictions of our time.
Her living witness to the transforming power of evangelical love continues to challenge each of us.
The dark night: the secret of a saint
After her death, Mother Teresa's private letters revealed a shocking secret that moved the entire world. For decades, almost fifty years, she lived in a profound interior darkness. She no longer felt God's presence, perceived no spiritual consolation—it was as if Heaven had become silent.
God deprived her of spiritual consolations so that everything she did was pure gift, without any search for personal gratification, not even spiritual gratification.
Her smile often hid a titanic interior battle. It was a daily victory of faith over desolation, of hope over darkness, of love over emptiness.
The hidden heroism of faith
For us Catholics, this aspect of Mother Teresa's life is perhaps the most moving and the most powerful. It teaches us that holiness isn't feeling beautiful things, but choosing to love even when you feel nothing.
Mother Teresa loved without feeling anything in return. She served without seeing any sign of divine presence. She believed without having proof. She continued to pray even when her prayers seemed to fall into the void. She smiled even when her heart was in the darkest night.
This is the authentic heroism of Christian faith. It's not mystical ecstasy (which can also exist), but daily faithfulness when everything seems to lose meaning. It's saying "yes" to God not because we feel Him near, but because we have chosen to trust Him once and for all.
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A saint forever
On September 4, 2016, in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa of Calcutta before hundreds of thousands of faithful who came from every part of the world. It was the official consecration of what God's people already knew: that little Albanian nun was truly a saint.
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta remains today a point of reference for all those who desire to live the Gospel in its purest and most radical form: concrete love toward those who have no voice, tenderness toward those who have been discarded, dignity restored to those who had lost it.
The mission continues
Mother Teresa's story didn't end with her death. Her mission continues today, at this very moment.
It continues in the streets of our cities, where the Missionaries of Charity serve the homeless. It continues in hospitals, where they care for the terminally ill. It continues in forgotten villages of Africa and Asia, where they bring education and hope. It continues in the hearts of thousands of people who, inspired by her example, have decided to transform their faith into concrete acts of mercy.
Mother Teresa teaches us that holiness isn't for a chosen few, but is the universal vocation of every baptized person. She teaches us that extraordinary things aren't needed, but we need to do ordinary things with extraordinary love.
She teaches us that a smile can be a prayer, that a gesture of tenderness can be an evangelization more powerful than a thousand speeches, that serving the poor is worshiping Christ Himself.