Mother Teresa

Today I will be talking about Agnes GondÐ*Ñ*a BojadÐ*Ñ*iu. A Macedonian woman with Albanian heritage that has impacted the lives of millions including mine. Although she was born on August 26, 1910, She considered the day after as her 'true birthday' as it was the day she was baptized. She was born in Uskub, Ottoman Empire which today is part of the Republic of Macedonia.

She worked in Kolkata, India. I had the privilege of meeting her. She ran Missionaries of Charity which at the time of her death had over 500 missions running in over 100 countries. Some of those missions included homes for people with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, leprosy, counseling programs and soup kitchens.

If you have not figured it out by now, the person I admire is Mother Teresa. She was the youngest of her siblings who were fathered by Nikola and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Nikola died when Agnes was 8 years of age. After that event, Dranafile raised Agnes as a Roman Catholic.

She gave her nun vows on May 24, 1931 then her solemn vows on May 14, 1937. She chose Teresa after ThÐ"©rÐ"Ёse de Lisieux which was the patron saint of missionaries. On September 10, 1946 Teresa experienced 'the call within the call'.

She began her work with the poor in 1948, she had no income thus making her beg for food and supplies. She experienced doubt and loneliness, as well as temptation to return to convent life at the very first months of her missionary work.

A part of her diary read as following:

“Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto [her former order] came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.”

Teresa received permission from the Vatican to start what would become the Missionaries of Charity in 1950.

Mother Teresa suffered heart problems in 1983, 1989 and 1991.

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