By way of a very small tribute to a nun who, by her life and work, has given us the clearest example of love in action of our time, my book for October is Mother Teresa, a Simple Path compiled by Lucinda Vardey.
The introduction explains that Mother Teresa was unsure about yet another book on her mission and its meaning. She had asked why anyone needed a guide to her 'simple path'. All that was needed was to pray and to start to love one another more. On the advice of Mother Teresa, visits to the various homes in the care of the Sisters and Brothers were made and this helped convince the team of researchers that a book on how to help people to learn to pray, to love more easily coupled with how to offer service to others was indeed needed. They talked openly at length to Mother Teresa but also to specific Sisters and Brothers and to various volunteers from all parts of the world.
An Indian businessman once had five lines printed for her on yellow card. These, Mother Teresa used to call her 'business cards' and were offered freely as they explained the direction of her work - her simple path. The six 'steps' naturally lead one to another and are as follows: -
The fruit of silence is prayer
The fruit of prayer is
faith.
The fruit of faith is love
The fruit of love is service
The
fruit of service is peace
Each of the six steps is then considered separately.
In 'Prayer', Mother Teresa explains the importance, first of all, of silence and that she begins her prayer time in silence. "...for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks... Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul and brings you closer to God".
The first home for contemplative sisters (whose vocation is to pray most of the day) was opened in New York as Mother Teresa felt that silence and contemplation was needed most in the cities of the world where the pace is fast.
Mother Teresa offers advice to those who are searching for God and do not know where to begin. "...Learn to pray and take the trouble to pray every day... you do not have to be in a chapel or church, you can pray at work. Tell Him everything. Talk to Him".
Sister Dolores, who runs Nirmal Hriday, the home for the dying and destitute in Calcutta, contributes that the sisters always begin their day with prayer. "It gives them strength, sustains, helps and gives us all the joy to carry out what we need to do".
This chapter then continues with suggestions on 'How to Pray', 'Make your family a family of Love', 'God is a friend of Silence' and 'Equal Before God' and finishes with some daily prayers from the Sisters' Prayer Book. I liked this one which begins: -
Deliver me, O Jesus
From the desire of being loved,
From the
desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honoured.
From the
desire of being praised.
and finishes with
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being
wronged,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being
suspected.
Mother Teresa emphasises that it is only when the love in our hearts is released that we are able to care for others with true joyfulness, altruism and peace. Together with members of the order she founded, she has cared for the deeply disadvantaged of 123 countries. The houses and homes now include refuges for the homeless in Europe and Aids clinics in the United States as well as homes for the destitute in the slums of India.
A truly spiritual guide from a truly remarkable person.
Mother Teresa, A Simple Path. £9.99
Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Skopje, Albania on 26th August, 1910, the youngest of three children. She went to Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham, Dublin in 1928 and from there to India where she began her novitiate. When she took her vows on 24th May, 1931, she chose the name Teresa after St Theresa Of Lisieux, known as 'The Little Flower'. She taught geography in St Mary's High School in Calcutta from 1929 - 1948 then, in 1950 started her own Order, the Missionaries of Charity. Their ministry was to the poorest of the poor.
She has won numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize and has created hundreds of homes throughout the world.
Mother Teresa died on the 5th September, 1997. May she Rest In Peace and Rise in Glory.
written by Lynn Winter
Return to the October 1997 Features page
return to Home page and main index
page last updated 5 OCTOBER 1997