Beloved Mother Teresa left her physical body on September 5, 1997. Beloved Mary, the Mother of Jesus, announced on September 7, 1997 that this precious Daughter of God has Ascended and become One with Her beloved Mighty I AM Presence. Mother Mary said:

" . . . I would likewise speak of another sadness, but of the greatest Joy. For in the loss of the beloved Mother Teresa, Heaven has gained another Star. In this day, beloved Teresa has gained Her Ascension in the Light, and will walk in the Octaves of Light to Radiate Her Greater Help and Guidance for those who would follow in a selfless Path of Service and Surrender. Beloved Teresa, with the Guidance of the Ascended Masters in Council, chose this very time and hour for Her Transition in the Light in the wake of the passing of a Princess. For it was Her desire that She not be a great focus of attention. She wished only for the Good which She had accomplished to continue on. For those Activities of Light that she had supported, had put Her Whole Momentum behind, to keep up the work, to not be swayed at Her passing, but to keep putting one foot in front of the other, in selfless Service and true Charity of the Heart.

"She was not interested in being ever a center of attention - for Her focus was upon God. She wished the priorities of Life for each individual to be turned to their own God Reality and Opportunity in the Light. In all of Her Service to mankind, She continually turned toward God. She was not concerned with the comforts of the world, for She had chosen a Path of Complete Selfless Service.

"The world will mourn, but the Heavens will rejoice. And those who are connected with their own God Presence will know the great rejoicing in the heart. For She has accomplished Her Mission on Earth. There was not one aspect of Her Dharma unfulfilled.

"How many of the devotees of My Heart can say that they have fulfilled every aspect of the Law that they came into embodiment to do? How many can say that they have truly emptied their cup and given their all. How many can say 'I have loved even in the face of those who have tried to persecute me.'

"For those who have forgotten the walk of the saints, review them, study them. Learn to appreciate the fact that it is not always easy, but it is a great reward. Do you think that the walk that Mother Teresa walked was easy? Oh, We have heard the grumblings of those in embodiment who have said 'Well, this is too hard. I'm not cut out for this type of life.'

"You must realize, beloved ones, that there are many ministries, many ways of serving the Light. And if you are to know your calling, you must first enter the heart - the Secret Chamber. Bow before the Altar. Look into the Eyes of your own God Presence. Confirm 'I AM THAT I AM'.

"When you have left the Altar, resumed your place in outer activities, there must be an Overshadowing of your Lifestream by the God Presence through the dictates of your Holy Christ Self into all of your outer activities.

"If this is not present, then you are not serving God, but serving the world. You may serve God in the world, but not the world absent God. I stand as a Mother of One Who Served God in all, who left a Record of Footsteps that each of you can follow. . . . "

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, the youngest of three children of an Albanian builder, on August 26, 1910 in Skopje, Macedonia. She felt that August 27, 1910, the day of her baptism, was her true birthday.

At the age of 18 she joined the Order of the Sisters of Our Lady of Loreto in Ireland. She trained in Dublin, where the motherhouse of the Loreto Sisters was. She chose the name of Sister Teresa, in memory of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. In December 1928 she began her journey to India and continued to Darjeeling, at the base of the Himalayan Mountains, where she would continue her training towards her religious vows. Soon after, on January 6, 1929 arrived in Calcutta, the capital of Bengal, India to teach at a school for girls. While in Calcutta, she was moved by the presence of the sick and dying on the city's streets.

On September 10, 1946, on the long train ride to Darjeeling where she was to go on a retreat and to recover from suspected tuberculosis, something happened. She had a life-changing encounter with the Living Presence of the Will of God. Mother Teresa recalls:

"I realized that I had the call to take care of the sick and the dying, the hungry, the naked, the homeless - to be God's Love in action to the poorest of the poor. That was the beginning of the Missionaries of Charity."

She didn't hesitate, she didn't question. She asked permission to leave the Loreto congregation and to establish a new order of sisters. She received that permission from Pope Pius XII. Surely it was no coincidence that she chose a simple white sari with sapphire blue bands (representing God's Will) as her order's garment.

In 1952 Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity began the work for which they have been noted ever since. Her order received permission from Calcutta officials to use a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of transition and destroyer of demons. Mother Teresa founded here the Kalighat Home for the Dying, which she named Nirmal Hriday (meaning "Pure Heart"). She and her fellow nuns gathered dying Indians off the streets of Calcutta and brought them to this home to care for them during the days before they died.

In an interview with Malcolm Muggeridge, in the book Something Beautiful for God, Mother Teresa tells how she for the first time picked up a woman from the street.

"The woman was half eaten up by rats and ants. I took her to the hospital, but they could do nothing for her. They only took her because I refused to go home unless something was done for her. After they cared for her, I went straight to the townhall and asked for a place where I could take these people, because that day I found more people dying in the street. The employee of health services brought me to the temple of Kali and showed me the "dormashalah" where the pilgrims used to rest after they worshipped the goddess Kali. The building was empty and he asked me if I wanted it. I was very glad with the offer for many reasons, but especially because it was the center of prayer for Hindus. Within 24 hours we brought our sick and suffering and started the Home for the Dying Destitutes."

Ever since then, thousands of men, women and children (more that 42,000) have been taken from the streets of Calcutta and transported to Nirmal Hriday. Approximately 19,000 of those have had the opportunity to die in an environment of kindness and love. In their last hours they met human and Divine Love, and could feel that they also were children of God. For those who didn't die, the Missionaries of Charity tried to find jobs or they were sent to homes where they could live happily some more years in a caring home.

Mother Teresa's first orphanage was started in 1953, while in 1957 she and her Missionaries of Charity began working with lepers. In the years following, her homes (she called them "tabernacles") have been established in hundreds of locations in the world. You can contact them at one of their United States locations at: Missionaries of Charity, 335 East 145th Street, Bronx, New York 10451; or their Calcutta location: Missionaries of Charity, 54A, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road, Calcutta 700 016, India.

Mother Teresa's Wisdom

"I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?"

"The poor give us much more than we give them. They’re such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don’t have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. Put your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself."

"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."

"To God there is nothing small. The moment we have given it to God, it becomes infinite."

"You have to be holy in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is nothing extraordinary to be holy. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. Holiness is a simple duty for you and for me. We have been created for that."

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"Whatever You Did Unto One of the Least, You Did Unto Me"

by Mother Teresa of Calcutta