Many writers have depicted Mother Teresa as someone who
saw the poor and responded sympathetically to their needs.
That is not quite the case. Mother Teresa served the poor not
because they needed her but because God called her to the
work. She was obedient to God’s call, not to her social con-
science. She often remarked that if God had told her what was
to happen after she picked up the first dying person off the Cal-
cutta street, she would never have done it, for she would have
been too afraid.^15Mother Teresa called herself “a pencil in God’s hand.” What she meant
was that she was simply God’s instrument and she did only his bidding, re-
lying on his providence to provide for her order and the poor. Part of her
success lay in her ability to tap into and inspire a large number of volun-
teers, many of them young men and women who needed help. Quite
often, it was the more knowledgeable and qualified volunteers who had
the most trouble working with and understanding Mother Teresa. But for
many young people who had only high ideals but were not sure how to put
those ideals into practice, Mother Teresa and her work were a good
match. No matter if they stayed an hour, a week, or a year, they were al-
ways welcomed. For in the time they stayed, these volunteers made a dif-
ference to those around them and Mother Teresa was grateful for their
gifts. For others, Mother Teresa was unique, not because of her work with
the poor, but because for many people, she was doing what they wished to
do. She was what they were not.
Her legacy is strong; at the time of her death, there were more than
4,000 sisters in the Missionaries of Charity, along with 400 brothers and
thousands of others who have volunteered as Co-Workers, Lay Missionar-
ies of Charity, and Missionaries of Charity Fathers. It is through these vol-
unteers that Mother Teresa’s spirit lives on. Yet, Mother Teresa had her
flaws as well: she was stubborn, difficult to work with, and demanding.
Perhaps she needed those qualities to carry out the work to which she be-
lieved God had called her. But Mother Teresa was also a woman who sang
Happy Birthday to Jesus at Christmas, who regarded all life as holy, and
who saw the face of God in the face of every human being she encoun-
tered. For Mother Teresa, her works came not from the strength of her in-
tellect, but of the great power and love she had in her heart.
140 MOTHER TERESA