Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity to care for the poor and unwanted in society, including the hungry, homeless, sick, and dying. She believed in serving the poorest of the poor as if serving Jesus himself. Her mission was to show love and care to those who felt unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.

1. What are some of the problems
people face in our modern world?
• Poverty
• Suffering
• Starvation
• Illness
• Abuse
• Torture
• Cruelty
• Pollution
• War
• Terrorism

2. Group Work Task
Instructions: look at each picture and discuss them as a group
Think about:
• How it makes you feel
• Words that describe the picture
• Whether anything can be done to change the situation in the
pictures

5. Reflection task
1. What are some of the causes of poverty?
2. Use the word POVERTY and create an acrostic poem to express what it is and how it
makes people feel.
• Some useful words:
poor tired thirsty everyone years
ruins eternity people responsibility
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5qig9HIJ7k
(What is poverty)

6. What has this got to do with today’s topic?

7. Mother Teresa was a Roman Catholic nun who founded a worldwide
organization called the Missionaries of Charity. She believed that what
she was doing was directly helping Jesus. Her aim was:
…to care for the hungry, the naked,
the homeless, the crippled, the blind,
the lepers, all those people who feel
unwanted, unloved, uncared for
throughout society, people that have
become a burden to the society and
are shunned by everyone.
Who was Mother Teresa?

8. The message was quite clear, it was an order. I was to leave
the convent. I felt that God wanted something more from
me. He wanted me to be poor and to love Him in the
distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.
In 1946 Mother Teresa received a vocation from God "to serve Him
amongst the poorest of the poor".
Mother Teresa believed that the poorest of the poor were ‘Christ in
disguise’.
Day of decision

9. Task: working through the
information on Mother
Teresa and select six
important events to design
your story board.
Who was she and what did she do?

10. Mother Teresa

11. Time line Mother Teresa
• In 1910 - Mother Teresa was born
Mother Teresa was born in Macedonia. She was named Agnes, and she later
changed her name to Teresa.
• In 1928 - Agnes becomes a nun
At the age of 18, Agnes decided to dedicate herself to God's work. She became a
nun and changed her name to Teresa.
• In 1931 - Sister Teresa becomes a teacher
Teresa was called Sister Teresa when she first began working at St. Mary's High
School in Calcutta, India.
• In 1944 - She is promoted
Mother Teresa became the principal of St. Mary's.

12. Time line Mother Teresa
• In 1948 - Mother Teresa moves on
After seeing the poor people on the streets outside of St. Mary's, Mother Teresa
asked the church leaders if she could help them. She left the school so she could
minister to the poor of Calcutta.
• In 1957 - Mother Teresa opens an orphanage
Mother Teresa had a heart for the destitute, and especially for children. This led
her to open her first orphanage in India.
• In 1969 - Mother Teresa establishes Missionaries of Charities
Mother Teresa worked for years with the poor. When she noticed they had no
hospitals or clinics, she began working to give them medical treatment, which led to
the establishment of Missionaries of Charities.

13. Time line Mother Teresa
• In 1979 - She is awarded great honours
Mother Teresa was awarded many honours for her works, including the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1979. Other awards were the Medal of Freedom and the Order of Merit
from Queen Elizabeth.
• In 1980 - Mother Teresa the home builder
Mother Teresa established homes for people who had no place to live. She used the
donations of people from around the world to pay for the homes.
• In 1997 - Mother Teresa's health declines
Mother Teresa continued her work even as she grew older and frail. By this time she
had over 4000 workers in over 120 countries. She returned to Calcutta in India
where she died.

14. Who was Mother Teresa?
Design a timeline of the life of Mother Teresa
using all the information you know about her now
25
minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXunqd8oAuE
(The Life of Mother Teresa – 10mins)

15. The poorest of the poor means all those who are
unwanted and unloved and rejected by society, such
as cripples, orphans, lepers, the blind, the dying and
the homeless.
Why would these people be unwanted and unloved?
Working with the poorest of the poor
Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her work with the
‘poorest of the poor’ all around the world but particularly in Calcutta, India.

16. The unwanted and unloved
Being unwanted is the worst disease any
human being can experience.
What these people need even more than food
and shelter is to be wanted. They understand
that even if they only have a few hours left to
live, they are loved.

17. What did justice mean to Mother Teresa?
Justice for Mother Teresa meant showing love to those who had
been abandoned and left on the streets to die in terrible
poverty with no one to care for them.
She put into practice Jesus’ teaching about loving your neighbour
and helping those in need. She felt that every time she touched a
leper or helped an abandoned baby she was seeing Christ in front
of her.

18. She picked him up and took him to a hospital but they turned him away saying
that they could not help someone who was dying.
Mother Teresa decided to open a home for the dying so that people could
die with dignity knowing they would be cared for and loved.
What qualities did Mother Teresa display in this story?
Helping a dying man – an example of justice
Mother Teresa came across an old man dying on the streets of
Calcutta. His feet were being gnawed away by rats.

19. She prayed for a cease fire so that she could rescue them and bring them to
safety.
There was a ceasefire and the Red Cross helped her bring the children out
of the war zone. They were looked after by the Missionaries of Charity.
What qualities did Mother Teresa
display in this story?
Helping disabled children – an example of justice
Mother Teresa found out that some disabled children were trapped in the
war torn city of Beirut.

20. Why is the last point the most important?
Answer: because she believed that she was helping Jesus
by helping the poor and unwanted.
How Mother Teresa used Christian scriptures
I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger
and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I
was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least
of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
(Matthew 25:35-40)

21. Write a letter explaining what Mother Teresa would like or dislike
about the way the unwanted and unloved are treated where you live.
A love letter to the world
Mother Teresa believed that her life was like writing God’s love letter to the world.
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