Editor’s note: This saint series will feature a saint and how he or she is a meaningful example for us today.

Pope Francis wrote that “the saints help all the faithful” for “their lives are concrete proof that it is possible to put the Gospel into practice.” St. Mother Teresa provides us with an example of faithfulness.

At the age of 12, Mother Teresa felt a call to missionary life. When she was 18 she left her parent’s home to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland. She did not see her family again in her lifetime. This was part of the sacrifice of being a missionary.

Mother Teresa was sent to India where she taught at a high school in Calcutta. She saw vast poverty and human suffering beyond the convent walls where she taught. Mother Teresa shared a story of when she was traveling and felt what she described as a “call within a call.” This call was to serve the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. After this first experience of a “call within a call” Jesus continued to encourage Mother Teresa to serve the poorest of the poor.

Mother Teresa received permission for this ministry she was called to, but she did not have an abundance of funds nor resources. In time, volunteers and other sisters joined her.

Shortly after, she received permission from the Pope to start her own religious order which took the name “The Missionaries of Charity” that wear the white and blue habit known around the world.

Mother Teresa, and those who served alongside her visited and tended to the sick daily, taught children in the slums, and cared for those who were dying. The sisters shared the love of Jesus Christ with those who otherwise would not have heard the Gospel.

Mother Teresa’s “call within a call” expanded in time. According to the missionariesofcharity.org, in the year 2020, there were over 5,000 sisters in 762 missions in over 130 countries around the world.

In 1996, Mother Teresa received honorary citizenship of the United States. Eight people have received this honor and only two received it during their lifetime: Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa also received the Medal of Freedom and in 1979 she won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mother Teresa spoke around the world as she had a wisdom that both intrigued and challenged those who heard her. One of her best quotes is “God didn’t call me to be successful, He called me to be faithful.”

Clearly Mother Teresa was successful in looking back with hindsight vision. However, Mother Teresa focused on faithfulness. In her acceptance speech of being awarded The Nobel Peace Prize she said, “And this is what I bring before you, to love one another until it hurts.”

Years after Mother Teresa’s death, some of her most personal and private writings were published. They revealed that Mother Teresa experienced a darkness, or deep sense of the absence of God, in the later half of her life. Her witness of serving the poor, even amidst not sensing the loving presence of God in prayer, displays to each of us that the focus on faithfulness is what matters most.

Mother Teresa remained faithful.

Luke Daghir is a seminarian for the Diocese of Erie. He is with St. Joseph and St. Luke Parishes in Warren County for his parish mission. His favorite saints are St. Andrew, St. Ignatius, St. Hubert, and Pope St. John Paul II.