December 10, 1979: Mother Teresa wins the Nobel Prize for Peace!
A few days preceding the award ceremony, Mother Teresa wrote to her sisters: On the evening of 5th December – I will leave for Rome and on the 7th we will have the professions there. On the 8th I will be in Oslo, God willing. As the Nobel Peace Prize Committee have sent two more tickets besides the one for me, and above all as a mark of love and gratitude to all our sisters of the first group for having the courage to join when there was nothing, the joy of having nothing & yet possessing Jesus to the full & because they loved Jesus they loved the poor, so I will be taking Sr M Agnes and Sr M Gertrude with me to Oslo.
But, I’m sorry to disappoint you. If you are expecting another article about Mother Teresa, this is not about her. As much as I love her, admire her and follow the charism she was given, I believe there is somebody who in my opinion is “greater” than Mother Teresa. Mother heard the Voice of God telling her to leave everything and take Him to the dark holes of the poorest of the poor. It was a clear voice, a strong order which she had to heed and obey. Deep inside her soul, Mother “knew” what it was and where it came from. She knew what she had to do. She had no doubts. Shubashini Das–better known inside the Congregation of the Missionaries of Charity as Sr. Agnes—did not hear any voice. No inspiration was hers. Hers was a total trust and blind faith in Mother. We do not know whether Mother ever talked about the Voice and Vision she received from God to young Sr Agnes, yet she believed without seeing. The day Shubashini Das joined Mother on that March 19, 1949—just a few months after Mother Teresa came out of Loreto—at 14, Creek Lane (where she was given a room), there was NOTHING.
[1] Mother Teresa’s letter to the Congregation dated November 21, 1979, unpublished, copyright Mother Teresa Centre.
Carmel Duca MC
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