ASIAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

A RESEARCH PAPER ON

MOTHER TERESA’S SPIRITUALITY AND ITS IMPACT TO HER SERVICE

BY
ELMA ALBO

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN

MISSIONAL SPIRITUALITY

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. CHARLES RINGMA

March 25, 2019

Introduction

Defining “spirituality” is almost impossible according to Segundo Galilea. It is

never about your prayer life alone nor about the deeds of love for the neighbor alone

but rather the whole of life lived in God’s presence.1 It is a life of following Christ. As

for Mother Teresa, she believes that spirituality and service are interrelated with each

other. They are inseparable. This paper will explore some of the significant practices

and disciplines in Mother Teresa’s life that show how her spirituality has impacted her

service to the poor. It will also examine how Mother Teresa’s love for Christ and love

for the neighbor are interrelated with each other.

Mother Teresa was the noblest woman of the twentieth century.Malcolm

Muggeridge described her as a “person who embodies Christian love in action”. 2She

left her native land through an urge to serve the poorest of the poor, worked as a

teacher in the Loreto Convents of Calcutta and Darjeeling, started as social worker in

a dingy room in Kipling’s city of the dreadful night, founded 172 centres of the

Missionaries of Charity world over and blossomed into Princess of Charity adored by

the heads of States and loved by man in the street throughout the world.3 The life of

her community was at first restricted to Calcutta, but gradually it spread out to every

part of the world.4According to Eisen she is the “world-renowned minister to the

unwanted, unloved, uncared for”.5By her devotion to serving the poorest of India’s

1 Charles Ringma, Wash the Feet of the World with Mother Teresa ( Regent College Pub., 2008) 9.
2 Malcolm Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971) .
3 Sunil Thakur. Mother, as I Saw Her (Latest, 1998) .
4 Mary Xavier Laemmle, “Mother Teresa: Her Life, Her Works.” Sisters Today 64, no. 1 (January 1992):
67–68. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiEYD160808002414&site=ehost-live.(accessed February 26, 2019).

5 Tony Gallagher, “Saint of Darkness: The Path to Canonizing Mother Teresa.” National Catholic
Reporter 52 (2016): 1. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiEYD161010000794&site=ehost-live. (accesed February 26, 2019).
poor and dispossessed, she embodied the Christian teaching that one finds Christ in

the ‘least of these brethren’.6

Spiritual Disciplines and Practices of Mother Teresa

Devotion to God

Mother Teresa is not only a woman who is known for her life of service to the

poor but to her deep devotion to God as well. Although many people regarded Mother

Teresa as a saint, she envisioned herself more “as a little pencil in the hands of the

Lord.”7 She believes that holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things but in

accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us.8 It consists in accepting and following

the will of God. Her life of submission to God was seen in all her daily routine and

activities.

Mother Teresa and the Sisters who worked with her took the vow of chastity.

They gave their hearts completely and undividedly to Christ--an entire dedication to

Christ.9 They devoted themselves to free service for the poor knowing that they are

doing all of these for the sake of Christ. She remarked, “our works are only

expression of our love for Christ.10 They were confident that Christ is working with

them and through them.

In her deep devotion to God, she believes that they must be able to radiate the joy

of Christ through their actions. That was the reason why they were really aiming to

bring to the people the willing hands to serve and the hearts, to go on loving them,

and to look at them as Christ. 11 They see Christ in the people they served and they

found joy in them.

6T.R. F. ,“Mother Teresa: A Life of Dedication.” Contemporary Review 287 (2005): 188.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=18412804&site=ehost-live. (accessed February
26, 2019).
7 Charles DeCelles,“Mother Teresa: Agnes Bojaxhiu (1910-1997).” The Priest 72 (2016): 43.
8 Teresa and José Luis González-Balado, In My Own Words ( Logos Publications, 1999) 1.
9 Muggeridge, 84.
10 Ibid, 93.
11 Muggeridge, 79.
Participation in the Eucharist

Mother Teresa also gave special attention to the participation of the Eucharist as

her encounter with Christ and the poor. According to her, the source of her own and

the Missionaries of Charity's strength is that, “ every morning we feed ourselves with

the Body and Blood of God in the Eucharistic celebration. He strengthens and fills us

with his life and love. The work we do, and the spirit in which we go to the poorest of

the poor, is an immediate result of this encounter.”12 She emphasized that, “if we truly

understand the Eucharist; if we make the Eucharist the central part of our live; if we

feed our lives with the Eucharist, we will not find it difficult to discover Christ, to

love him, and to serve him in the poor.”13 The celebration of the Eucharist is an

avenue where they encounter Christ and the poor.

For her, 14“our contact with Christ in His work is same as our contact we have

during Mass and in the Blessed Sacrament. Jesus is present in the appearance of the

Bread but here in the slums, in the broken body, in the children, we see Christ and we

touch him.” Each day Mother Teresa meets Jesus; first at the mass and then to the

needy and suffering people she meets.15

She explained further that if a person really love Jesus in the Eucharist, he will

naturally want to put that love into action by serving Him in the distressing disguise

of the poorest of the poor. We cannot separate these two: the Eucharist and the poor.”16

12 Ibid.
13 Teresa, 97.
14 Muggeridge, 93.
15 Malcolm Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971) 108 .
16 Missionaries of Charity c/o Mother Teresa Center of the Missionaries of Charity“ A Spritual Journey with
Mother Teresa”, https://www.motherteresa.org/a-spiritual-journey.html (accessed March 20, 2019).
Prayer

Prayer also played a vital role in Mother Teresa’s life of service to the poor . The

Missionaries of Charity have a strong commitment to times of prayer throughout the

day.She also taught the Sisters at the Covent the importance of prayer as it enlarges

the heart until it is capable of containing God’s gift of Himself.17

According to her, it is not possible to engage in the direct apostolate without

being a soul of prayer.18 She pointed out that prayer and work are intimately

interrelated. Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue

working as if it were a prayer.19Our work is our prayer because we carry it out through

Jesus, and for the sake of Jesus. And once we have learned to seek God and his will,

our contacts with the poor will become the means of great sanctity to ourselves and to

others20.Mother Teresa is suggesting that the nature of my work and the way in which

I do it can be a form of prayer, so that at day’s end I can say, “ Here, Lord, is the work

of my hands, which I offer to you as a fragrant offering.”21 Through prayer we are

seeking God’s benediction on all our activities. According to Teresa, “we are not

merely social workers but religious contemplatives in the world.”22

Muggeridge shared a part of Mother Teresa’s devotion, “Make us worthy Lord, to

serve our fellow men throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands this day their daily bread, and by our understanding

love, give peace and joy.”23

Silence

17 Muggeridge, Something Beautiful for God: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 25.

18 Ibid,47.
19 Teresa, In My Own Words, 7.
20 Muggeridge, 48.
21 Ringma, Wash the Feet of the World with Mother Teresa, 187.
22 Mary Xavie rLaemmle, “For the Least of My Brothers: The Spirituality of Mother Teresa and Catherine
Doherty.” Sisters Today 62 (1990) 389. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLAiB8W160801001371&site=ehost-live. (accessed February 26, 2019)
23 Muggeridge.
 Mother Teresa was a friend of silence. 24 She believes that the more we receive in

silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life25. We need silence to be able to

touch soul. According to her,we need to find God, because he cannot be found in

noise and restlesness. In silence, we hear God’s voice clearly. The essential thing is

not what we say, but what God says to us and through us. All our words are useless

unless they come from within--- words which do not give the light of Christ increase

darkness.26

As author Kerry Weber writes, “ The reason silence was so important to her is

because it offers us the opportunity to begin shedding false understanding of ourselves

and the world.”27 It is the time where we can reflect and contemplate. It gives us new

outlook on everything. 28 In the silence of the heart, God speaks. If you face God in

prayer and silence, God will speak to you. 29And if your heart is full of other things

you cannot hear the voice of God. But when you listen to the voice of God in

stillness, then your heart will be filled with God. 30

Faith

Mother Teresa believes that faith is a gift of God.31 According to her, our

work should always be built on our faith in God. Love and faith go together

24 Franciscan Media,“ Mother Teresa on the Power of Silence” (August 9, 2016)

https://blog.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit/mother-teresa-on-the-power-of-silence (accesed March 20,
2019).

25 Muggeridge 48.
26 Ibid.

27 Franciscan Media,“ Mother Teresa on the Power of Silence” (August 9, 2016)

https://blog.franciscanmedia.org/franciscan-spirit/mother-teresa-on-the-power-of-silence (accesed March 20,
2019).

28 Ibid.
29 Samy Abulela, “Mother Teresa on Silence” , ( March 25, 2010)
https://www.newworldlibrary.com/Blog/tabid/767/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/19/Mother-Teresa-on-
Silence.aspx#.XJb9B4gzbIU (accessed March 21, 2019).

30 Ibid.
31 Muggeridge, 90.
and complete each other.32 Our faith in God can expressed through our

direct contact with our fellow human beings. “ For in getting in touch with

people, they will find God .33 Whatever yo do to your neighbour is also what

you do to Christ.

As a woman of great faith, most people don’t know that throughout

Mother Teresa’s life she also felt plagued by pain of doubt. 34Mother Teresa

experienced a “crisis of faith”. She felt abandoned by God. She wrote to a

confessor in 1959, “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss—of God

not wanting me—of God not being God—of God not really existing. In my

heart, there is no faith---no love---no trust---there is so much pain--- the

pain of longing, of not being wanted—I want God with all the powers of my

soul.”

According to Susan Hutchens, “ it’s common to question your faith at different

times in your life.” 35It is the nature of being a finite human living in a complex world

filled with pain, disappointment, and questions about existence that will never be

answered on this side of life. It takes courage to face uncertainty an to live with

doubts that may never completely go away.36

Mother Teresa felt burnt out while she was serving the poor, but her faith supplied

what was lacking.37During the times that Mother Teresa experienced abandonment,

32 Ibid, 92.
33 Ibid.
34 Ben Young, “What You Can Learn about Doubt from Mother Teresa” (August 15, 2017)
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/what-you-can-learn-about-doubt-from-mother-teresa.html (accesed
March 21, 2019).

35 Sisters of St. Benedict “The Doubts of a Saint: Mother Teresa’s Unfelt Faith”
https://www.smmsisters.org/who-we-are/sister-stories/86/the-doubts-of-a-saint (accessed March 22, 2019).

36 Ben Young, “What You Can Learn about Doubt from Mother Teresa” (August 15, 2017)
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/what-you-can-learn-about-doubt-from-mother-teresa.html (Accesed
March 21, 2019).
37 Caro Zaleski, “The Dark Night of Mother Teresa.” First Things 133 (May 2003): 24–27.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0001433172&site=ehost-live.
she learned to convert this feeling of abandonment from God, into an act of

abandonment to God. Mother Teresa strongly believes that faith is a gift from God. It

is not a feeling, but a gift that must be nurtured. 38 We have to believe that God is with

us no matter where we are on the continuum of faith. 39 Mother Teresa didn’t have the

clarity about everything, but had always trust in God. 40Perhaps that should be our

goal. Not a doubt-free existence, but a simple trust in the God who is really there.

This God who meets us in the midst of our suffering, and doubt.41

Service

An ultimate model of spiritual inspiration and passionate devotion to Christ,

Mother Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity sisterhood with Vatican approval

in 1950.42 Their primary task was to love and care for those persons nobody was

prepared to look after. Mother Teresa’s main objective has been to do all the good she

can for the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. 43 She strongly believes that loving God

and loving our neighbor is inseparable. If we do not love God, we cannot love our

neighbor, and if we do not love our neighbor we cannot love God. 44

As she started her service in Calcutta, she encountered abandoned children on the

streets. She picked them up in a park, taught them basic hygiene, and helped them

learn the rudiments of the alphabet.45 Her first school began without equipment of any

kind - just in an open space between huts in Moti Jheel. She got a labourer who was

38 Sisters of St. Benedict “The Doubts of a Saint: Mother Teresa’s Unfelt Faith”
https://www.smmsisters.org/who-we-are/sister-stories/86/the-doubts-of-a-saint (accessed March 22, 2019).
39 Ibid.
40 Ben Young, “What You Can Learn about Doubt from Mother Teresa” (August 15, 2017)
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/what-you-can-learn-about-doubt-from-mother-teresa.html (Accesed
March 21, 2019).
41 Ibid.
42 The Leo House 1889, “Spritual Inspiration by Saint Teresa”,
https://leohousenyc.com/2016/09/12/spiritual-inspiration-saint-teresa/ (accessed March 22, 2019).
43 Teresa, In My Own Words.
44 Ibid.
45 Ibid.
doing nothing to chip off the grass with a spade, and wrote the Benghali alphabet in

the mud with a stick. 46

Furthermore, Mother Teresa had an encounter with a woman dying on a sidewalk.

She wanted to alleviate the woman’s suffering by offering her a bed---a peaceful and

dignified place to die---Mother Teresa took the woman with her. This act of mercy led

Mother Teresa to open the Home for the Dying, in August 1952, called Nirmal Hriday

(Home for the Pure Heart). 47

As for Mother Teresa, she believed in the personal touch of one to one.48 She

explained that in order, “to get to love the person we must come in close contact with

him. She also stated that, “every person is Christ for me.”49 Mother Teresa believed

that loving and serving the poor is seeing Jesus in them.50 She never stopped serving

the needy. To her, “as long as God gives me vocations, it’s a sign that God wants to

spread, and wherever there are poor we shall go and serve them.”51

Mother Teresa never failed to challenge others to do same to the least of his

brethren. She asked them to come and love the people, to give their hands to serve

them, and their hearts to love them.”52She stated that ,“you can find Calcutta in every

part of the world, if you have eyes to see; wherever there are persons who are not

loved, not wanted, not cared for---the rejected and forgotten.”53And so everywhere

there are the opportunities and challenges to love, to care, to give. Love is always

46 E.Garnsey, 1979. “Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work.” St Mark’s Review 97 (March): 39–41.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000486535&site=ehost-live. (accessed
February 26, 2019).
47 Teresa, In My Words,X.
48 Teresa,99.
49 Muggeridge, 97.
50 Ibid.
51 Muggeridge, 83.
52 Ibid, 96.
53 Ringma, Wash the Feet of the World with Mother Teresa, 105.
sought for and love can always be given.”54We all have the duty to serve God where

we are called to do so. 55

Implication

Mother Teresa’s life and example has taught me so many lessons about loving

God and loving my neighbor. Coming from a Roman Catholic faith, I didn’t really

consider much of her deeds as remarkable. But after doing this research paper, I began

to respect and admire her exceptional love for God and her selfless service for those

who are in need. I’m grateful to learn from someone who has come from a Roman

Catholic faith without any judgment.

Mother Teresa taught me to live my life as a blessing to other people. She devoted

her life to being an instrument of God’s blessing to the needy, believing that her work

is also God’s work. I’ve started asking myself on how I could be a blessing to my

brothers and sisters. I am reminded by what Galilea taught me that everyone can serve

a particular group of people. For mother Teresa, they were the poorest of India.I

believe that each of us has the duty to serve God where we are called to do so. Mother

Teresa is challenging me to find my very own “Calcutta” in the world, where I could

grow in love to God and to others. There are so many people who are hungry for love,

who are neglected and uncared for. I will start as an educator, I will serve others

through teaching and being a good role model to my students. In my words and in my

deeds I will show what Christ has done to me.

Mother Teresa also inspired me to always see God in everything, especially in my

neighbor. They are also my brothers and sisters, my co--human, my neighbor whom

Jesus commanded me to love. Every encounter with the needy, the sick and the

54 Muggeridge.
55 Teresa, 99.
neglected is also an encounter with God. Loving God is loving my neighbor,

welcoming them, accepting them and letting them be part of my life.

Mother Teresa was not only active in public ministry but also in prayer and

contemplation. She is in complete submission to God, listening to His voice and

committing everything into His hands. Being a Christian and a follower of Christ

means total surrender to Him. I have to accept and trust the will of God in my life

because He is my Lord. I have to forget my selfish desires and be completely

available for Him even if I have to sacrifice a lot of things along the way. I’m living

for God and His purpose alone.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Mother Teresa is a true follower of Christ who has lived

her life in God’s presence. She embodied Christ’s love in acts of kindness and

compassion. She is a woman of great faith with great concern and love for the

needy.She has shown how our relationship with God should lead us to loving our

neighbors, our brothers and sisters, and our co-human. At the same time, our love for

others makes us experience God in them. Our encounter with the people is also our

encounter with Christ. The love we give to others is the love we give to Christ. How

can someone say he or she loves God if he or she doesn’t love his or her neighbor?

Loving God is loving our neighbor.By serving others, one expresses his or her love to

God.

And in order for us to be able to engage daily in the world, we have to really be in

constant communion with God. We have to live in complete surrender to His will ,

encountering Him in the Eucharist ,being a man or woman of prayer, spending time in

silence listening to His voice, trusting Him always even in our darkest days and

actively engaging in helping the needy where God has called each one of us.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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