Apart from being awed by the selflessness Mother displayed towards her love for the underprivileged and the poor, there is a lot that Sister Joyce learnt from her.
“I read about Mother Teresa’s work in a newspaper while I was working in a bank in Kerala, way back in 1968,” recalls Sister Joyce MC (Missionary of Charity), who works at the Missionaries of Charity Institute in Yelahanka. “Just reading about her great work inspired me to the extent of becoming a missionary myself.”
Sister Joyce has had the opportunity to work with Mother Teresa for 18 long years. Apart from being awed by the selflessness Mother displayed towards her love for the underprivileged and the poor, there is a lot that Sister Joyce learnt from her.
“She taught me how to pay attention to everyone’s needs — whether rich or poor. Her strong faith in God and dedication to work is worth taking inspiration from and, I try my best to follow in her footsteps,” says Sister Joyce, now teary-eyed. “Mother Teresa started her work for the poor with just Rs5 in her pocket and I salute to the contribution she has made to the world in her life span.”
Sister Joyce, who had been transferred to many places after working with Mother Teresa in Kolkata, didn’t have the support of her family members then. She says, “My parents and other relatives didn’t want me to tread this path, but today, they are proud of me.”
Another missionary who has pledged to dedicate her life to serving the poor, Sister Pushpika MC, has had the good fortune of not only being trained by Mother Teresa in Kolkata, but also working with her in the relief work for the victims of the Andhra Pradesh cyclone in the year 1977. “I joined the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata in the year 1969,” she recalls. “What inspired me most about Mother Teresa was her simplicity and humility even though she had become a public figure.”
Missionaries of Charity is a Roman Catholic religious order established in 1950 by Mother Teresa of Kolkata, which consists of over 4,500 sisters and is active in 133 countries. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order’s initials, ‘MC’ Member nuns must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and the fourth vow, to give “Whole-hearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor”.
“Mother’s simplicity and compassion for the poor was the most inspiring aspect for me,” says Sister Vinod Michael, who also works for the Missionaries of Charity Institute in Yelahanka. “She was truly a mother to all of mankind.”
Another Sister who has had the good fortune of working with Mother Teresa is Sister Miriam Teresa MC. “I’ve been working with the Missionaries of Charity Institute in Yelahanka for many years now. The one thing that still drives me to do this work is Mother’s faith in God and her way of praying,” she says. “Mother Teresa lived up to her word of serving the poorest of the poor till her last breath and she is an example of love and devotion for all mankind.”
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}