Despite the spacious new surroundings, Mother Teresa was determined
that her congregation live a life shaped by extreme poverty. They would
not deny themselves the necessities; however, they would reject with
kind, but firm, graciousness any offers of material goods from the well in-
tentioned, as they were seen by the order as luxuries. “Our rigorous
poverty is our safeguard,” Mother Teresa said. She later explained that the
Missionaries of Charity did not want to do what other religious orders had
done throughout history—that is, to begin by serving the poor, but end-
ing up servicing the rich, and themselves. “In order to understand and
help those who have nothing, we must live like them.... The only differ-
ence is that they are poor by birth and we are poor by choice.”^1
In the early days of the order, maintaining the vows of poverty was not
that difficult. Besides their meager possessions, the sisters soon learned
how to beg for their needs as well as the needs of the poor. However, the
poor came first and the needs of the order second. Still, that period was
filled with a number of stories, many of them humorous, as the sisters
learned to improvise given their situation and their mission.
Finding properly fitting shoes was a continual challenge for the nuns.
On one occasion, Mother Teresa allocated the same pair of sandals to
three different sisters, all of whom were in desperate need of footwear. On
another occasion, the only pair of shoes available for one sister to wear to
church services was a pair of red stiletto heels. However, she chose to wear
them and the sight of her hobbling was the source of much amusement for
many days.
Articles of clothing were also at a premium; habits were made out of
old bulgur wheat sacks; sometimes the labels were still visible under the
thin cloth cover of the white saris, even after repeated washings. One sis-
ter’s habit clearly bore the label Not for Resale under her sari. One Christ-
mas, there were not enough shawls for the sisters to wear to Midnight
mass; instead those without wore their bed covers.JOINING THE ORDER
When Mother Teresa first established the Missionaries of Charity, she
worked hard to help prepare the young women who entered the order. Fa-
ther Van Exem and Father Henry also helped instruct the newcomers in
preparation for their lives as nuns. Gradually, these tasks became more the
duties of senior nuns. Mother Teresa always emphasized that the work of
a Missionary of Charity was no different from that of social workers. This
is not completely true; social workers, while working with the disadvan-
taged, often try to help correct the social ills that cause poverty in the first
54 MOTHER TERESA