Mother Teresa of Calcutta: 10 Inspiring Quotes on Faith

on September 4, 2016

The legacy of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta’s compassion and love for the poor is well known around the world. However, it wasn’t just her big heart that drove the “mother of thousands” to care for the unwanted, the sick, and the impoverished. It was her faith in Jesus Christ.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, who later became known as Mother Teresa, was born August 26, 1910 to a Catholic Albanian family in Skopje. When she was only eight years old, Agnes’ father died leaving her mother and two siblings with very few worldly possessions. Drana, Agnes’ devout mother, did not allow sudden poverty to steal her joy. She taught Agnes that happiness is not found in earthly riches, but in love and care for others.

As a young girl, Agnes accompanied her mother on visits to the local needy and sick as well as to church services. The future Mother Teresa learned much about the Christian faith from her mother. In fact, her mother’s example of devotion to God later aided Mother Teresa’s own teachings and caregiving to India’s poor. Kathryn Spink, author of the authorized biography Mother Teresa, noted, “Mother Teresa’s very distinctive sayings were almost a word-for-word echo of her mother’s spiritual directives.”

By the early age of twelve, Agnes felt God calling her to the ministry so she could “belong completely to God.” In 1929 she arrived in Calcutta to serve as a Sister of Loreto. But Agnes’ affluent surroundings in the Darjeeling community stirred her to seek God’s will on how to better serve. She was reminded of her mission in a letter from her mother instructing, “Do not forget that you went to India for the sake of the poor.”

In 1950 Mother Teresa answered God’s “call within a call” and started a new congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, devoted to India’s poorest.

In celebration of the Vatican’s declaration of Mother Teresa’s official sainthood on September 4, 2016 , here are 10 inspirational quotes that point to Mother Teresa’s source of strength and compassion:

1. “Every one of them is Jesus in disguise.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

2. “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”  –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

3. “I do not pray for success, I ask for faithfulness.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

4. “I try to give to the poor people for love what the rich could get for money. No, I wouldn’t touch a leper for a thousand pounds; yet I willingly cure him for the love of God.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

5. “Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

6. “Seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, all the time, and his hand in every happening; this is what it means to be contemplative in the heart of the world. Seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

7. “Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

8. “Many people mistake our work for our vocation. Our vocation is the love of Jesus.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

9. “Sweetest Lord, make me appreciative of the dignity of my high vocation, and its many responsibilities. Never permit me to disgrace it by giving way to coldness, unkindness, or impatience.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

10. “What is my thought? I see Jesus in every human being. I say to myself, This is hungry Jesus, I must feed him. This is sick Jesus. This one has leprosy or gangrene; I must wash him and tend to him. I serve because I love Jesus.” –Mother Teresa of Calcutta

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