What made Mother Teresa a great person?

Answer 1

Mother Teresa has not ever been officially named a Saint. She is called blessed Teresa. She was a wonderful person who helped some many people.

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Sorry to burst your bubble, but "Mother Teresa' never helped anyone but the treasurer of the Roman Catholic Church. Her charities raised millions of dollars, but they never employed ONE SINGLE DOCTOR or nurse, never built one hospital, or paid for medical treatment of one single sick person. All her "charity" ever provided were cots for the dead and dying to die on, rather than the gutters of Calcutta. She felt that sickness and suffering brought one closer to Jesus. She never alleviated any suffering at all.

Answer 2

Catholic Answer

The long and the short of it is contained in one word of one syllable: God. It is God who made Mother Teresa so special.

The answer is not obvious to modern people as they did not understand Mother Theresa (as of 2013, she is Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, with another miracle, she will be St. Teresa of Calcutta) because they do not understand real Christianity. Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, a Catholic sister who entered the Sisters of Loretto in Ireland to become a teaching sister, was sent to India to teach. Later, moved with compassion, and the love of God, she received a "call" from God to help the poorest of the poor. The rest of her life was spent in "darkness" which I discuss below.

Modern people, and most people who call themselves Christians, think that going to Church on Sunday, saying some things, and being nice to people is what it is all about. They are completely missing the mark. Those kind of things are just the tip of the iceberg. Mother Teresa helped others by loving God above all things, putting Him first in her life, and doing His Will no matter how painful it was for her, and it was very painful.

Mother spent most of her life in a dark night with no real feeling or personal knowledge of God. This is very common with the founders of religious orders, they are strong enough in their faith to make their way through life totally depend on Faith, Hope, and Charity: the three cardinal virtues bestowed on us in Baptism. She sacrificed herself completely for God, and was called a saint and a prophet for it.

Mother Theresa helped others the way we are all called to help others, by getting up in the morning, and taking some time to give to God first. She spend an hour in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, went to Holy Mass, received Our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist, and went to confession frequently, and regularly. And, then, when she had done these things, she went out and lived her faith by seeing her God in every individual in front of her, especially the poor, the sick, the aged, and the abandoned. She served God by serving Him in them - which is nothing more nor less than she lived the Gospel with every breath in her body.

Mother Teresa showed compassion for those who were less fortunate than she was. She gave them food, lifted their spirits, and helped them survive. She is and was considered a hero to many people. After her death, she was put on the short list for canonization, and in 2012 I believe she has already had one miracle attributed to her, and has been beatified. Of course, she loved children.

The Church often says that the only real way to help people, the way to become a good spouse, parent, teacher, or whatever, is to become a saint. Mother Teresa believed and lived this. She helped the poor by becoming a saint.

The various ways that she accomplished that was that she always did the Will of God even when she didn't feel as if God was there or approving of her. She cared for the poorest of the poor.

She established hospices and hospitals for the sick and dying, she started in Calcutta as she started a new religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, which spread throughout the world. Today the Order still cares for the poorest of the poor, the sick and dying. Mother Theresa and her sisters went out into the streets and picked up the dying homeless to bring them to her hospice. They clean them, feed them, pray with them, and serve them so that they spend their last days or hours in dignity. She and her Order treat those dying of AIDS, the lepers, the untouchables, those whom nobody else will love and care for. She saw Our Blessed Lord in everyone of them, in disguise, pleading for our help and love. She treated them as she would treat Our Blessed Lord, Himself.

Answer

She helped the homeless, poor, sick, abandoned, and sick and dying adults, regardless of their religious faith, just because they were "Jesus in his most distressing disguise." (her words)

Answer 3

Mother Teresa is not yet a saint but is in the final stages of canonization. Her title is Blessed Mother Teresa.

At the time of her death, Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity had over 4,000 sisters, and an associated brotherhood of 300 members, operating 610 missions in 123 countries. These included hospices and homes for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis, soup kitchens, children's and family counseling programs, personal helpers, orphanages, and schools. The Missionaries of Charity were also aided by Co-Workers, who numbered over 1 million by the 1990s.

Answer 4

Her fame can be in large part attributed to the 1969 documentary Something Beautiful for God, which was filmed by Malcolm Muggeridge and his 1971 book of the same title. Malcolm's original interntion was to go to India to dig up dirt on Mother Teresa and produce an expose about her but after meeting her and following her work he produced a beautiful tribute to her and even became a Catholic because of the inspiration he received from Mother Teresa. Around this time, the Catholic world began to honor Mother Teresa publicly. In 1971, Paul VI awarded her the first Pope John XXIII Peace Prize, commending her for her work with the poor, display of Christian charity and efforts for peace. She later received the Pacem in Terris Award (1976). Mother Teresa considered all this attention to be a distraction and hindrance to her work. She was, basically, a shy and private person and would much have preferred spend her hours working with the poor rather than giving interviews and having speaking engagements all over the world.

Answer 5

Mother Teresa was a much admired member of the Catholic Church, who built hospices in Calcutta and elsewhere, so that poor people could die with dignity. However, she had her faults and was perhaps not the truly great person portrayed by the Church publicity machine.

Apart from her admirable work for the poor, she also associated with autocratic rulers and allowed criminals to use her name and reputation to obtain money by deception. SF Weekly reports that when she had the opportunity to report a paedophile priest to the secular authorites, so that justice could be done, she failed to do so, even encouraging the Church hierarchy to return him to active ministry.

According to documents said to have been obtained by SF Weekly, Mother Teresa knew one of her favourite priests, Donald McGuire, was removed from ministry for sexually abusing a Bay Area boy in 1993. She urged that he be returned to work as soon as possible. The priest resumed active ministry, as well as his predatory habits. Eight additional complaints were lodged against him in the coming years by various families, leading to his eventual arrest on sex-abuse charges in 2005. Her actions delayed justice for Father McGuire's previous victims and led to the suffering of even more innocent young children.

Answer 6

Short answer? Because of God. Holy or Holiness in the Catholic mind is made up of two different things, they are both translated as Sanctity in The Bible, but they are from two different Greek words, the one denoting sanctity because one is set apart and the other of firmness or stability, both of which denote Mother Teresa.

from the Catholic Encyclopedia article on holiness

Sanctity, says the Angelic Doctor, is the term used for all that is dedicated to the Divine service, whether persons or things. Such must be pure or separated from the world, for the mind needs to be withdrawn from the contemplation of inferior things if it is to be set upon the Supreme Truth — and this, too, with firmness or stability, since it is a question of attachment to that which is our ultimate end and primary principle, viz., God Himself — "I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels. . . nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God" (Romans 8:38-39). Hence St. Thomas defines holiness as that virtue by which a man's mind applies itself and all its acts to God; he ranks it among the infused moral virtues, and identifies it with the virtue of religion, but with this difference that, whereas religion is the virtue whereby we offer God due service in the things which pertain to the Divine service, holiness is the virtue by which we make all our acts subservient to God.

The answer is not obvious to modern people as they did not understand Mother Theresa (as of 2013, she is Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, with another miracle, she will be St. Teresa of Calcutta) because they do not understand real Christianity. Blessed Theresa of Calcutta, a Catholic sister who entered the Sisters of Loretto in Ireland to become a teaching sister, was sent to India to teach. Later, moved with compassion, and the love of God, she received a "call" from God to help the poorest of the poor. The rest of her life was spent in "darkness" which I discuss below.

Modern people, and most people who call themselves Christians, think that going to Church on Sunday, saying some things, and being nice to people is what it is all about. They are completely missing the mark. Those kind of things are just the tip of the iceberg. Mother Teresa helped others by loving God above all things, putting Him first in her life, and doing His Will no matter how painful it was for her, and it was very painful.

Mother spent most of her life in a dark night with no real feeling or personal knowledge of God. This is very common with the founders of religious orders, they are strong enough in their faith to make their way through life totally depend on Faith, Hope, and Charity: the three cardinal virtues bestowed on us in Baptism. She sacrificed herself completely for God, and was called a saint and a prophet for it.

Mother Theresa helped others the way we are all called to help others, by getting up in the morning, and taking some time to give to God first. She spend an hour in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, went to Holy Mass, received Our Blessed Lord in the Eucharist, and went to confession frequently, and regularly. And, then, when she had done these things, she went out and lived her faith by seeing her God in every individual in front of her, especially the poor, the sick, the aged, and the abandoned. She served God by serving Him in them - which is nothing more nor less than she lived the Gospel with every breath in her body.

Mother Teresa showed compassion for those who were less fortunate than she was. She gave them food, lifted their spirits, and helped them survive. She is and was considered a hero to many people. After her death, she was put on the short list for canonization, and in 2012 I believe she has already had one miracle attributed to her, and has been beatified. Of course, she loved children.

The Church often says that the only real way to help people, the way to become a good spouse, parent, teacher, or whatever, is to become a saint. Mother Teresa believed and lived this. She helped the poor by becoming a saint.

The various ways that she accomplished that was that she always did the Will of God even when she didn't feel as if God was there or approving of her. She cared for the poorest of the poor.

She established hospices and hospitals for the sick and dying, she started in Calcutta as she started a new religious order, the Missionaries of Charity, which spread throughout the world. Today the Order still cares for the poorest of the poor, the sick and dying. Mother Theresa and her sisters went out into the streets and picked up the dying homeless to bring them to her hospice. They clean them, feed them, pray with them, and serve them so that they spend their last days or hours in dignity. She and her Order treat those dying of AIDS, the lepers, the untouchables, those whom nobody else will love and care for. She saw Our Blessed Lord in everyone of them, in disguise, pleading for our help and love. She treated them as she would treat Our Blessed Lord, Himself.

Answer 7

As of January 2015 Mother Teresa has been beatified but is not yet a canonized saint.

Answer 8

Mother Teresa has not yet been canonized.