Moved to pursue missionary work, Agnes Bojaxhiu joined the Sisters of Loreto and took the name Teresa. After her first profession, she moved to the Loreto Convent in Kolkata, where she taught for about 17 years before she received her call to establish the Missionaries of Charity, to serve the ‘poorest of the poor'. She left the secure confines of the Loreto Convent and moved into the uncertainty of the slums and streets, to aid the sick, destitute and needy.
Awarded the Padma Shri, the Bharat Ratna, and the Nobel Peace Prize, she received them for the glory of God and in the name of the poor.
A true contemplative in action, she remained focused on ‘seeing Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor’. Whatever she did, she did it for Him.
Extraordinary Missionary Month, October 2019