Benedicamus Domino (“Let us bless the Lord”) and the response of Deo
Gratias(“Thanks be to God”). Dressing at their bedsides with a sheet cov-
ering their heads, they went downstairs to wash their faces with water that
came from the courtyard tank and was carried in empty powdered milk
cans. They then collected ash from the kitchen stove to clean their teeth.
Each sister washed herself with a small bit of soap; this same bit of soap
was used to wash their clothes as well. Between 5:15 A.M. and 6:45 A.M.
the sisters went for morning prayers, meditation, and then mass. They
then went to the dining hall where each drank a glass of water before
breakfast. In the beginning, there was no tea for breakfast; instead milk
made from American powdered milk was given. Breakfast consisted of five
chapattis(homemade bread made from wheat or other grain flours and
baked without yeast) spread with clarified butter (ghee). The chapattispro-
vided strength and energy to the body and it was required that all eat their
allotment, something that many had a harder time doing than going with-
out food. Father Henry once told a story of how, when the first newcom-
ers joined the order, they came with the expectation that food would be
insufficient and one of many deprivations they would suffer. At their first
meal, Mother Teresa put their plates before each one. Amazed, the
women looked at the plates full of food. They were told to eat it, as it was
their due. Mother Teresa then reminded them that God “wants obedience
rather than victims.”^3 In addition to their food, all of the residents took a
vitamin pill with their meal. After their quick breakfast, the sisters were
out on the streets by 7:45 A.M. to begin their work. The sisters made a
point of traveling together in pairs for their own safety as well as to help
one another.
In the parlor of the Motherhouse is a hand-drawn chart that lists the
various activities the sisters are to do. These included providing child wel-
fare and educational programs and operating nutritional daycares; family
planning centers; dispensaries; leprosy clinics; rehabilitation centers;
shelters for the homeless, crippled and mentally disabled; homes for
unwed mothers; and hospices for the sick and the dying. A separate col-
umn notes the total number of these institutions and the number of peo-
ple who benefited from them. A world map with red pins denoted the
areas where the Missionaries of Charity established homes or foundations.
In time, Missionaries of Charity in Western Europe and the United States
offered family visits and a prison ministry. The Missionaries of Charity’s
emphasis in India and many Third World countries—besides helping to
educate the poor and tend the dying—came to be on homes for alco-
holics, shelters for the homeless, soup kitchens, and hospices for AIDS pa-
tients.
56 MOTHER TERESA