Mother Teresa Narrative Essay

MOTHER TERESA In my English assignment, I was asked to do a report on someone or things that I am interested with. So, I decided to choose Mother Teresa as my role model to accomplish my task. To me, a role model is someone you want to emulate or hope to be like one day. Besides that, a role model is also someone who has inspiring actions or words. However, I feel that a role model needs to be honest, kind-hearted, humble, and caring. Therefore, I choose Mother Teresa as my role model because she had many great qualities that made her an inspiration in my life. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on the 26th August 1910 in Skopje.
It is the current capital of Republic of Macedonia which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time of her birth. She was baptized on 27th of August 1910 and receives her First Holy Communion at the age of five and a half. She was the youngest among her three siblings, they were Aga, her older sister; and Laza her brother. Her parents were Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Their families were a completely religious Roman Catholics. Her father was a well-respected local businessman and her mother was a housewife. Nevertheless, her father was active in politics as part of the Skopje council members and owned few houses.
Not long after, her father died and it was being believed that he died because he was poisoned by his political enemies. Under those circumstances, her family’s lifestyle changed completely and her mother had to work to raise the family. Agnes learned about being a charitable person from her parents. They did not neglect those who were in need in terms of financial or materials needs. Then, her religious faith was further strengthened when she actively involved herself with the activities that were conducted by the Church of Sacred Heart (Kurdasy 2009). At the age of twelve years old, she decided to become a nun.

As time went by, and turned eighteen, she made a decision to leave her home in September 1928 to live with the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary which was known as the Sisters of Loreto at Ireland because of her desire to become a missionary. Agnes is a person that was willing to learn and was brave in accepting a new environment. In Ireland, she had to speak English, so she learned it and after a month, she brought the language back to India and established an education centre, St. Mary’s high school in Calcutta for seventeen years as a teacher and principal.
Not long after that, she accepted her vows as Sister Mary Teresa as she took the name of the patron saint of the missionaries, St. Therese of Lisieux. Sister Mary Teresa made her Final Profession of Vows on 24th May 1937 and after she said she was the “spouse of Jesus” for “all eternity”, she was called as Mother Teresa (Langford 2008) Mother Teresa announced her mission to help the poorest of the poor while living with them as she discovered her calling from Jesus when she was on her way to an annual retreat on 10th September 1946. It all happened when she was on the train.
She believed that if she did not obey what God had told her, it meant that she had to break the faith. She was given the permission to leave the Loreto Order of Nuns after a year but she did not leave until 16th August 1948. People were able to identify with her simple clothing that she wore every day; that is a simple cotton sari with blue borders. She went to cities wearing that outfit. It is a hard decision full of sacrifices that she made, for she had to leave her friends and companions just to do God’s will all by herself with the strength and guidance from God.
But she did not realize that the organization of Loreto Order of Nuns would adopt her outfit has their habit (Mandela 2013). The most interesting part about Mother Teresa is that before she started her mission, she learned a lot of medical skills from the Medical Missionary Sisters. After three months, she was set out to help the poor in Calcutta because of her caring heart towards others. When she reached Calcutta, she communicated with Father Van Exem to assist her in finding a place to stay. Mother Teresa stayed at St. Joseph’s home.
She received a warm welcomed from the Little Sisters of the Poor and they approached her to follow them to help the elderly at the beginning of her mission after she left Loreto Orders of Nuns (2009). Not only that, she started her mission without any financial aids. Mother Teresa did not have any money but gave her attention and energy to the poor. Even though it was tiring, she did not stop because of her love and compassion towards God and people. She helped those people that no one dared to get close to such as the lepers and the dying. Every night she would want to get back to her easy life at Loreto but then she prayed to God to help er to go through it all. Mother Teresa never stopped praying to God to ask for assistance and wisdom as she knew that without God’s help, she cannot endured the suffering of helping the poor (Mandela 2013). Besides that, Mother Teresa helped incalculable poor and homeless people. She always thought to herself that there were many in need. She cared about her health and she was so devoted to help and care for those who are in need as she sees Jesus in every person. As it was stated in The Good News Bible of Genesis 1:26-27, “for we were created by God through his own image” (p2). She was called to establish ‘help’ to reach out to the poor.
Through her duty of helping others, she received high financial aids from a wealthy people such as the Kennedy family and even from the Pope Paul VI by using the money of the church to help her in conducting her mission. Not only that, she also receive a lot of awards such as Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation Award, Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion; Presidential Medal of Freedom and Noble Peace Prize (2009). Mother Teresa did not care what other people will think or say. She was criticized by a lot of people for wasting all the money for the dead and the dying.
But it never stops her as she loved towards the poor, the dying and the victims of leprosy. Mother Teresa was motivated to seek medical treatment for all of them. However, in order to provide it for them, the nuns of her organization set up clinics so that people are able to receive medical care and treatment. Soon after that, the sisters opened up a rehabilitation clinic for lepers. They established of over forty acres of land at Town of Peace meant for the lepers (2009). Through her compassionate heart, it actually taught me to be more compassion with others when I receive any rejection or criticism from other people.
In conclusion, Mother Teresa was a person that was admired; loved and respected by the world. Her entire life was she dedicated it to God to use her to serve the poorest of the poor as a sign Jesus’s love through her actions, deeds and words. She was a type of person that made a great impact in my life and made people look at the world differently. The world is filled with good people, people that donate billions of dollars, those who dares to raise their voice or opinion to make changes, but then; Mother Teresa stands out in the crowd with bravery as she was a very unique person with the help of God.
Mother Teresa said this, “let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work” (Teresa). To sum up, Mother Teresa taught me to have a pure heart and love others just as I love myself. Her actions and kindness had actually opened my eyes, she said that “not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love” (2009) and that is the reason I chose Mother Teresa as my role model in life. References “Essay on Mother Teresa” (blog), Mac 4, 2009, http://www. customwritings. om/blog/sample-essays/essay-mother-teresa. html, accessed January 2013. Good News Bible, 2nd Edition (Manila: Philippine Bible Society, 1992), p. 2. John Langford, Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire: That Changed Her Life, and How It can Transform Your Own (2008), PDF e-book, [p20], [http://books. google. com. my/books? id=20jT6DZziQsC&pg=PA9&dq=where+can+i+find+a+book+about+mother+teresa+life&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MB31UIHcJ42hlQWSsoHADg&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=twopage&q=where%20can%20i%20find%20a%20book%20about%20mother%20teresa%20life&f=false], accessed January 2013. Mother Teresa of Calcutta quotes”, 2013, http://thinkexist. com/quotation/let_us_touch_the_dying-the_poor-the_lonely_and/216343. html, accessed January 2013. ( cek balik) Nelson Mandela, “Mother Teresa Biography”, 2013, http://www. biography. com/people/mother-teresa-9504160, accessed January 2013. Robin Nelson, Mother Teresa: A Life of Caring (Minneapolis: Lener Publication Company, 2007), PDF e-book, [pp1-3],