Mother Teresa Saint Of The Slums

In the 1940's, Calcutta had become decimated by famine, poverty, war and unemployment. Slums began to surface throughout the city and thousands were homeless, dying of disease or starvation. Alone and forgotten, these poorest of the poor were desperate for someone, anyone, to recognize their plight and help them. That help arrived in the form of Mother Teresa. Albanian-born, Mother Teresa knew from a young age that she wanted to become a nun and devote her life to God. What she could not envision, however, was exactly where that service to God would take her. Sent to Calcutta to teach history and geography from within the safe confines of a convent, Mother Teresa could not ignore the plight of the homeless and the dying. So she chose to give up everything in her life to serve those most in need. With nothing but her faith to guide her, she took to the slums with the hope that she could make a difference in the lives of at least a few lost souls. And with her pure heart and beautiful spirit, she wound up touching millions.

A biography of Mother Teresa, the Albanian nun who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and dedicated her life to helping the destitute.

In the 1940's, Calcutta had become decimated by famine, poverty, war and unemployment. Slums began to surface throughout the city and thousands were homeless, dying of disease or starvation. Alone and forgotten, these poorest of the poor were desperate for someone, anyone, to recognize their plight and help them. That help arrived in the form of Mother Teresa. Albanian-born, Mother Teresa knew from a young age that she wanted to become a nun and devote her life to God. What she could not envision, however, was exactly where that service to God would take her. Sent to Calcutta to teach history and geography from within the safe confines of a convent, Mother Teresa could not ignore the plight of the homeless and the dying. So she chose to give up everything in her life to serve those most in need. With nothing but her faith to guide her, she took to the slums with the hope that she could make a difference in the lives of at least a few lost souls. And with her pure heart and beautiful spirit, she wound up touching millions.

Amid the slums of Calcutta, Mother Teresa offered a comforting smile, consoling arms, soothing hands, a look that gave dignity, tears of compassion, and the light of Jesus in the darkness of great poverty. She found God in the poorest of the poor; she cherished them and became a mother to all. She is a powerful witness that "whatever we do for the least of our brothers, we do for Jesus" (cf. Matthew 25:40).

The inspiring story of Calcutta's saint Twenty years after her death, Mother Teresa continues to inspire people around the world. TIME proudly presents this Special Edition, Mother Teresa: The Life and Works of a Modern Saint, with introduction by Rick Warren addressing her giving spirit and unconditional love. This photographic telling of the modern-day saint traces her life with powerful essays from the editors of TIME magazine, revealing her achievements and miracles for today's readers. From her Albanian roots to her decades working with the sick and poor at the Missionaries of Charity, to her Nobel Peace Prize and the canonization that made her Saint Teresa of Calcutta. Thoughtful and insightful, Mother Teresa is a meaningful guide to the life of the woman known as "the mother of the world."

This historic work reveals the inner spiritual life of one of the most beloved and important religious figures in history--Mother Teresa. During her lifelong service to the poorest of the poor, Mother Teresa became an icon of compassion to people of all religions; her extraordinary contributions to the care of the sick, the dying, and thousands of others nobody else was prepared to look after has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world. Little is known, however, about her own spiritual heights or her struggles. This collection of her writing and reflections, almost all of which have never been made public before, sheds light on Mother Teresa's interior life in a way that reveals the depth and intensity of her holiness for the first time. Compiled and presented by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who knew Mother Teresa for twenty years and is the postulator for her cause for sainthood and director of the Mother Teresa Center, Mother Teresa brings together letters she wrote to her spiritual advisors over decades. A moving chronicle of her spiritual journey—including moments, indeed years, of utter desolation—these letters reveal the secrets she shared only with her closest confidants. She emerges as a classic mystic whose inner life burned with the fire of charity and whose heart was tested and purified by an intense trial of faith, a true dark night of the soul. "If I ever become a Saint-- I will surely be one of "darkness." I will continually be absent from Heaven-- to light the light of those in darkness on earth." --Mother Teresa

A biography of Mother Teresa, the Albanian nun who founded the Order of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and dedicated her life to helping the destitute.