WEBVTT - S1: Ep 3 - Mother 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:20.880 Mother Teresa was always traveling, flying here, flying there. I 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:22.840 tend to think of her as living a spart in life, 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:25.959 but of course she took planes like anyone else. Mary 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.040 Johnson remembers us one time in particular, the two of 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.200 them flew from Rome to Sweden. Mary was Mother's traveling 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.160 companion and assistant for the trip. We were going there 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.199 for an ecumenical conference where mother was going to be 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.000 honored and was going to give a talk. They boarded 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.600 the plane in their blue and white saris. Mary also 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.599 packed two heavy boxes of miraculous medals, these small religious 0:00:47.600 --> 0:00:50.240 tokens that Mother Teresa would kiss and hand out to people. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:54.320 Mary and Mother Teresa settled into their seats in first class. 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.280 They booked economy, but Mary says airlines always upgraded their tickets. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.520 They're trying to avoid all the commotion that would happen 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:05.080 if people knew Mother Teresa was on the plane. Mary says, 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:06.840 Mother Teresa pulled on the sleeve of one of the 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:10.400 flight attendants and said, all that extra food you know 0:01:10.560 --> 0:01:12.959 that people aren't eating, that you're going to have to 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:15.880 throw away anyway, Could you give it to me and 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.760 I will use it for the poor. The flight attendant 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:22.200 looked hesitant, awkward. She explained they had to throw the 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:24.560 food waste away. It was against the rules to keep it. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.440 And she said, oh no, just tell them Mother Teresa 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.000 needs it for the poor. They won't make any fuss 0:01:30.120 --> 0:01:35.200 for you. And anyway, long story short, Eventually she went 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:38.440 around with a big black trash bag, collecting things from people, 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.800 and of course that's how people came to know that 0:01:40.840 --> 0:01:43.240 Mother Teresa was on the plane. And then they all 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:46.120 started to come, one by one and standing next and 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.040 Mother would sign things for them and kiss the metal 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.800 and give it to them and pray with them and 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.480 all the rest of it. And when we finally landed 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.000 in Stockholm and we got out of the plane and 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:03.960 there was the Catholic bishop and the Lutheran big shot 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:07.120 guy whoever he was in the Salvation Army general, and 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:09.960 they were all waiting for us there, and his mother 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.480 Theresa met them. The flight attendant came out with these 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:16.960 two huge trash bags full of sugar packets and ketchup 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:21.600 packets and salt packets and little candy bars and whatever 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:26.359 else you can have, these these big trash bags. And 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.280 Mother Teresa saw it and she turns to the Salvation 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:32.239 Army general, and she says, you work with the poor, 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:34.720 don't you? And she gives him the two trash bags 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.200 full of all of these little things from the airplane. 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:51.400 And I don't have any idea what he did with them. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:53.760 Hearing this story made me wonder about Mother Trees at 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.720 the Person. The woman who loved to hand out miraculous 0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.320 metals so much she ran out. The woman who do 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.840 anything to save a few scraps of food, who was 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.680 tough enough to lead a worldwide organization until months before 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.000 she died at seven. The woman who wrote she knew 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.240 from the beginning she was setting herself up for misery, 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.520 all in service to the poor. I wanted to know more. 0:03:14.360 --> 0:03:16.520 She hadn't always been a living saint. She was young 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.720 once she had a whole interior life. How did Mother 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.600 Trees at the Person become Mother Trees at the Icon. 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.360 I wanted to talk with sister still in the order, 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:29.160 but finding current sisters who would speak with us was 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:34.079 not easy to do. Gosh, I'm nervous. My name is 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:42.000 in testing testing. Oh, my name is Erica Lance. If 0:03:42.160 --> 0:03:44.160 you would be willing to chat with me for a 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:48.000 few minutes, or if there's somebody else next. A couple 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.800 of times a sister would answer a few questions as 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:54.840 long as we didn't record. I totally understand. Oh, you 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:57.520 need permission from the mother House, she said she couldn't 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.240 give me. I'm not I'm not interested in becaming a 0:04:00.320 --> 0:04:05.000 sister personally now. Also ended the conversation with God, bless sorry, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.200 bless you. I can't remember which I was a really 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.400 quick no wow. I guess that's the way they say goodbye. 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.120 Most of the time they wouldn't talk. I'm getting this 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.760 sound that still ringing? All right? That time I got 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.640 the busy super Instead, they directed me to a regional house. 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:21.440 The regional houses would direct me to the Bronx House, 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:24.719 the main house in the US. Gosh, just imagine they're 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:27.679 in grand silence and this phone is ringing and long stuff. 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:29.800 The Bronx House sent me to the Mother Teresa of 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.599 Calcutta Center, which has an amazing website. By the way, 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:34.960 when you open it you hear music and Mother Teresa's 0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:37.520 voice A and t Z. But they sent me to 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:40.800 the top the mother House in Calcutta and the Superior 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:49.720 General Sister Mary Prama Pieric. Sister Prama declined to speak 0:04:49.760 --> 0:05:01.920 with me. In some respects, the refusal to be interviewed 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.520 makes sense. Mother Teresa wasn't always very open with journalists. 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:09.000 She was careful about which writers and interviewers she talked to, 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:11.760 so her followers don't like to talk to journalists either. 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.359 The missionaries of charity are very protective of Mother Teresa 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.039 and the organization. Early on, I was warned by multiple people, 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:22.720 they're not going to talk to you, but some former 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.600 sisters would, sisters who knew Mother Teresa, who worked with 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.560 her directly, who have stories they haven't shared publicly before. 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:35.160 When I say mother Teresa, what comes to mind immediately 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:39.040 for you? Who she was? Because I know her, I 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:44.839 know her well from Rococo Punch and I Heeart Media. 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:49.400 This is the turning I Am America Lance Part three. Mother, 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:12.400 I'm feeling I'm being much too open and um not 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:16.320 guarded enough in a sense for something public. That's my fear. 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:20.560 I mean, I do have some apprehension about the I 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.440 don't think Sister Kathleen Hughes worried she tell me something 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.719 horrible or some major piece of dirt. I think it's 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.320 just that concerned that any imperfect detail could take away 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.239 from all the good Mother Trees that did. In general, 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.400 one thing I've noticed is that part of Mother Trees's 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.839 power is that she's as symbol. I think sometimes there's 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.920 a mindset that any blemish or misconstrule could take away 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:43.760 from that. And I mean think about it. As an MC, 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.599 you're essentially instructed not to talk much about your life 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.359 with the outside world, don't write about it in letters 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:53.720 to your family, don't discuss it with outsiders. So talking 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:56.080 to a journalist, I can see why that might feel 0:06:56.080 --> 0:06:59.840 a little strange, even for X M. C. S. I 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.280 can't speak for Sister Kathleen, but it was clear she 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.159 wasn't sure she wanted to talk. It was a definite 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.279 no from me, and I'm sure you felt that it 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.720 was going to be a definite no. And and then 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:14.840 the Holy Spirit just I don't know how he did it. 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:19.640 He was like, no, you're going to do it, and 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:25.920 I said, oh, okay, let me introduce you to Sister Kathleen. 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.640 I was twenty nine years a missionary of charity with 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.800 Mother Trees of Calcutta. I was our first American sister too, 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:40.240 joined from the United States. Even though Sister Kathleen is 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:43.960 no longer, an MC Jesus is still her spouse. I've 0:07:44.000 --> 0:07:47.240 lived the last seventeen years as a consecrated woman, a 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:51.880 consecrated virgin here in the Archdiocese of Boston. A consecrated 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:55.080 virgin is basically a woman declared sacred by the Catholic Church, 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.880 committed to a life of virginity as a bride of Christ. 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.720 She's not a non per se, but Sister Kathleen attends 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.560 Mass daily and continues her mission work in the community. 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.640 I'm very grateful to God for all my years in 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.520 whichever path He's led me. If I may say that 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.400 Sister Kathleen was drawn to join the m c S 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.680 the way a lot of women were by a British 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:20.280 documentary filmed the nineteen sixty nine and Kolkata, called Something 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:24.200 Beautiful for God. When she was twenty years old. Sister 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:27.119 Kathleen wasn't a sister yet. She was a college student 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.520 in upstate New York at Syracuse University. She heard that 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.000 Something Beautiful for God was going to be screened there, 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.440 and when I arrived, somehow I mixed up the time 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:41.920 or was delayed, and I missed the film, and something 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.920 inside of me actually kind of gave a sigh of relief. 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.840 I don't know why, it was just instinctive, you know. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:54.000 And I know the guy who was the projectionist, and 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.240 he said, why didn't you sit down? It's so good. 0:08:56.520 --> 0:08:59.720 I'll just sit here and show it again just to you, 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.480 and I felt, oh, dear, I guess I'm going to 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:12.079 see this. This film was a big deal because it 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.520 showed a lot of people who Mother Teresa was and 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.520 it inspired a lot of women to join her order, 0:09:17.600 --> 0:09:19.800 including a number of the former sisters we spoke to. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.880 So I wanted to watch it, and I watched it 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.040 with Allen, who is a producer on the show and 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:28.400 also my sister. So basically, there was this guy, Malcolm 0:09:28.440 --> 0:09:32.760 Muggridge who was a TV commentator and filmmaker, and he 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.240 interviewed Mother Teresa in London for TV and he honestly 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:39.800 thought the interview wasn't very good. I think it called 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:44.880 it barely usable. Yeah, but they aired it anyway and 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:49.679 it ended up getting this huge response. So he decided 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.240 to go to Calcutta to make an entire film about her, 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.920 and it's this film, something Beautiful for God. It's an 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.400 interesting film to watch. You see all of the Indian 0:10:00.440 --> 0:10:03.600 locals who are in difficult situations. They're sick or dying, 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.720 they have leprosy. I doubt the film crew asked their 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:09.880 permission to film them. They don't talk with them directly, 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:13.160 they don't feature interviews with them. It's like Muggerage is 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:15.400 interested in what Mother Teresa is doing, but not so 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:18.800 much in the people she's doing it for. Yeah, And 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.720 basically what happens is Mother Teresa shows Muggerage around and 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.960 at one point she comes up to these cribs of 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:31.800 babies just crammed in these cribs like sardines, and she 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:36.920 picks a baby up that's really a tiny baby, and 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:38.760 she kind of holds it out for the camera and 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:43.319 strokes the baby's head, and the baby looks very sick. 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.280 I could see if you are watching this and you 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.400 wanted to help people in the world, it's like, well, 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.560 these people need help. They're right in front of you. 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:53.440 And that becomes even more clear when they go to 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.400 the Home for the Dying, where there are just rows 0:10:56.480 --> 0:11:02.240 of cots of very thin, sick looking people, their hair 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:06.080 cut short, and Mother Teresa tells Mugridge that they've cared 0:11:06.120 --> 0:11:09.679 for over two people there that half of them have died, 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:13.360 and Mugridge asked this question. He basically says that some 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:15.800 people might say, why keep these people alive at all? 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.000 And Mother Teresa says that she wants to show them 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:23.800 love before they die, and she quotes someone she says, 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.000 they live like animals, but now they die like angels. 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:40.480 Now they die like angels. Sister Kathleen watched all of 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.559 this alone and the auditorium and upstate New York. In 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.840 ninety three she joined the Missionaries of Charity, and she 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:50.360 remembers the first time she met Mother Teresa. Somebody said 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:56.320 Mother's here, and when I saw her, something struck me. 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.560 I I felt like I fell back a little bit. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:05.240 There was a force, a power, a presence that moved 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:09.480 me somehow, and she said, come, come, and that's how 0:12:09.520 --> 0:12:13.760 I met her. In the early nineteen seventies, Mother Teresa 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.640 was just at the start of her rise to fame, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.040 but over the coming years she'd become an international figure, 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.760 meeting with the likes of Kofe and Nan, Nancy and 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:26.400 Ronald Reagan, Queen Elizabeth the Dalai Lama. There were critiques 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:28.720 of Mother Teresa to be sure and we'll get to 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.840 those but in the public eye she was a living saint. 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:36.480 She could look right through you. She would look right 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:42.040 into your soul, into the depths of your soul. I 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.559 loved her. She she was. I mean, people say, well, 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:47.600 she's just human and all of that. Yes she was, 0:12:47.720 --> 0:12:52.640 but she was a little bit above humanity. Joan Worcester 0:12:52.800 --> 0:12:54.600 was a sister with the Missionaries of Charity in the 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.080 nineteen eighties, and she said the same type of thing 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.680 about Mother Teresa. And when you talk to her, you 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:01.720 could held that because when she talked to you, she 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.679 wasn't looking at you like we look at each other 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:07.480 and we're talking. She almost looked through you, almost, Jones says, 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.840 like she could see into your soul. But what was 0:13:10.880 --> 0:13:39.000 in hers? It surprises me sometimes how much isn't known 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.240 about Mother Teresa's life. The information we do have is 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:45.040 often clouded with an accuracy, is repeated over and over. 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.720 But here's what we do know. Mother Teresa was born 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:52.880 in in an Albanian family in the city of Scorpia, 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.880 now part of North Macedonia. Back then, her name was 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:02.600 Anya Gonju. We think of Mother Teresa as this impoverished figure, 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.280 but her family was pretty well off When she was young, 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:07.920 her father was sort of a celebrity in their town. 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.160 He was a member of the town council, a businessman, 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:14.880 and an activist. But when she was around nine years old, 0:14:15.000 --> 0:14:17.679 her father died. He may have been murdered because of 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:22.000 his political activism. A few months after that, seven more 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:25.840 close relatives died. It was the nineteen eighteen flu pandemic, 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.440 and they've gotten the Spanish flu years later, when she 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:34.040 was famous mother, Teresa wouldn't publicly talk about her childhood much, 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.680 but it seems her Catholic family became even more religious 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:40.120 after her father's death and the loss of her other 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:44.400 family members. As she told malcol Muggridge, she felt the 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:48.400 religious call when she was just twelve years old and 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:51.640 since then this four pears, I've never dealted even for 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.600 a second that I've done the right thing. It was 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.560 the real of good. That was his choice, and that 0:14:57.720 --> 0:15:02.440 has given you complete serenity in peace and happiness, the 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:06.040 happiness that no one can take from them and has 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:11.280 never been a doubt or unhappiness. When she was eighteen, 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.320 she joined the Loretto Sisters, a Roman Catholic order in 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:18.160 Ireland known for its schools and so Anya's became Sister 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:21.840 Mary Teresa. She chose the name Teresa after St. Terres, 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.600 a saint known for valuing simple acts of kindness. The 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.920 Loretto Sisters stationed Sister Teresa in Calcutta, India. The city 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.120 she becomes synonymous with. What happened was when Mother Teresa 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.080 was here. You know, she's so white, a vibrant city. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.600 This is Shantony Chacobardi. He's a history professor at the 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.800 University of Calcutta and an expert on contemporary Indian history. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:48.720 In the nineteen twenties and thirties, when Mother Teresa arrived, 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.320 India was under British rule. Of course, there was a 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:57.400 lot of colonial exploitation. Indian industrialization was hampul to a 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:02.800 large extent. But you know, Colonia connection also linked up 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:06.160 India globally. People are moving to Calcatta from all over. 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.640 There is a Buddhist revivalist movement, and in the thirties 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.520 it was an epicenter to the country's film industry. All 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.920 the major movie studios were located here. With the Loretto Sisters, 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.280 Mother Teresa taught at a school for girls and later 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:23.280 became headmistress. In seven she took her final vows and 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:28.160 following Loretto custom, became mother. She was no longer Sister Teresa. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:40.040 She was now Mother Teresa. Then came September. Mother Teresa's 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:42.280 thirty six years old. She's on a train to a 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:45.120 retreat in the foothills of the Himalayas, and she hears 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.920 a voice. The voice, as she called it, it was 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:53.240 very clear and distinct. That's Father Brian Colladay Chuck. He's 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.600 an MC priest and Superior General of the MC Fathers. 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.440 The one person from the Missionaries of Charity who agreed 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:02.520 to record an interview. He edited the book on Mother 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:06.800 Teresa's divine calling, compiled her personal letters, and studied her spirituality. 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:11.360 Father Brian says Mother Teresa knew that the voice was Jesus, 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:14.240 and that Jesus told her to follow a new calling. 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.240 He said to quote, give up all and follow him 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:20.879 to the slums to serve him in the poorest of 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:25.000 the poor. In a letter, Mother Teresa writes that Jesus 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:29.040 told her, quote, little one, give me souls, Give me 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:32.640 the souls of the poor, little street children. He said, 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.520 I want Indian missionary sisters of Charity who would be 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:40.200 my fire of love amongst the very poor. The sisters 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:43.000 that would offer their lives as victims of my love. 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:47.080 Would bring these souls to me. Jesus will say, speaking 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.200 of the poor, they don't know me, so they don't 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:58.680 want me. You go and be my life. Her call 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:01.960 came at a pivotal time and cut his history. August 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.760 sixteen to nineteen ninety six is known as the Great 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:10.640 Calcutta Killing in India. Mother Teresa was there. Here's Shantony 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:15.240 Chaco party again. In ninety six, you had severe communal 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.520 rats in the cities between Hindus and Muslims, as a 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:21.320 result of which, you know, you had dead bodies festering 0:18:21.720 --> 0:18:24.760 in the drains for five to ten days, a lot 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.760 of people, you know, killed or named for life. Somewhere 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.240 between five and ten thousand people died. This all happened 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:34.399 just a month before Mother Teresa heard that voice on 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:39.040 the train. Then, in ninety seven, India gained independence from 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.160 Britain from the country was partitioned into India and Pakistan. 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.200 Violence broke out near the border with what is now Bangladesh. 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:50.399 Fifteen million people were displaced from their homes. Refugees flocked 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.919 to Calcutta, and the first thing which must have struck 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:57.080 her was the huge number of people simply living on 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:03.280 the streets, and she started catering to them, and erhaps 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:10.720 to this strained them to her sense of mission. After 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.320 Mother Teresa's calling on the train, she experienced visions for months. 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.719 Father Brian writes that during this time she enjoyed an 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.879 intense degree of union with our Lord. He likens it 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:25.439 to a kind of spiritual ecstasy. Mother Teresa wrote, I 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:28.600 have been longing to be all for Jesus, to identify 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.880 myself with Indian girls completely, and so love him as 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:35.320 he has never been loved before. I thought it was 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:46.440 one of my many mad desires. She tells her confessor 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:50.679 what Jesus said. Eventually she tells the archbishop too. She 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.360 wants to start a new congregation of religious sisters, as 0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:57.520 Jesus instructed, but she's rebuffed. They want her to slow down. 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.320 They need prayer and reflection and time to see if 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.200 her call is true. At one point to even say 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:07.800 she's not allowed to think about it anymore. Mother Teresa obeys, 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:10.560 but when they opened the door, she goes full force, 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.840 writing letter after letter she needs to obey Jesus's call 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.240 to Finally, after two years it pays off, the Pope 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:22.320 grants her permission to form a new congregation. In nineteen 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:26.159 Mother Teresa officially founds the Missionaries of Charity under the 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:31.399 Archdiocese of Calkatta. By the way, what she created was 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:35.200 technically a religious institute, not a religious order, and they're 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:39.200 not actually nuns. They're religious sisters. Nuns live contemplative lives, 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.080 while religious sisters are active out in the world, but 0:20:42.160 --> 0:20:44.960 these terms are used interchangeably all the time, and even 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:50.040 former MC sisters will call themselves nuns. The Missionaries of 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:53.680 Charity started with just twelve sisters. At first, Mother Teresa 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.359 planned they live off of just rice and salt, but 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.560 she was advised that's not enough to survive on. They 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:03.399 weren't dan. Sorry is their habit? Mother Teresa said, Jesus 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.879 told her to quote dressed in simple Indian clothes, or 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:11.200 rather like my mother, dressed simple and poor. So Mother 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:13.679 Teresa chose as sorry that resembled with women who swept 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.680 the street. Would wear the blue stripes and the border 0:21:16.720 --> 0:21:19.879 would represent the Virgin Mary and purity, and their mission 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:22.920 would be to serve the poor. But not quite how 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:28.080 most people understand it. I think Mother Teresa often said 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:31.280 that the m c s were not social workers because 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:33.919 for her, helping the poor was not an end in itself. 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.080 It was the means of expressing love for God. It 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:40.960 was all for God. Let me explain, and em C 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:43.760 houses around the world you'll find painted in big letters 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.879 the words I thirst. It comes from the Bible, the 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:49.520 Gospel of John, when Jesus is dying on the cross 0:21:49.560 --> 0:21:53.680 and says I thirst. Mother Teresa interpreted his words metaphorically. 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:56.840 She said he thirsted not for water, but for love, 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:00.159 for sacrifice. She believed the m C mission was to 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:02.840 sayciate that thirst, and the way to do it was 0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:07.920 to quote love, suffer and save souls. Here's Mother Teresa 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.560 addressing a group of sisters before they take their vows. 0:22:11.240 --> 0:22:16.520 We are fully consecrated to Jesus to serve the poorest 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:20.080 of the poor. And by so doing, to say she 0:22:20.280 --> 0:22:25.080 it is dust, the dust of Jesus on the cross 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:30.879 for love for souls. By working at the salvation and 0:22:31.080 --> 0:22:36.800 sanctification to the poorest of the poor. In short, love 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:39.840 the poor like you love Jesus and bring souls to him, 0:22:40.480 --> 0:22:43.680 or you could say conversion. Mother Teresa knew this would 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.600 be hard. Father Brian says, she signed up for suffering. 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:52.280 Your vocation is to love and suffer and save souls. 0:22:52.640 --> 0:22:55.720 To love, suffer and save and save souls. You know, 0:22:55.800 --> 0:22:59.680 because as she would say, thirst quench, say ship Jesus 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:06.320 first for love and souls. And Mother Teresa did just that, 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:09.800 even when her suffering became great and she did suffer. 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.560 This is how she put it in her letters and 0:23:13.640 --> 0:23:15.960 the work. There will be complete surrender of all I 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:19.800 have and all I am. There will be nothing absolutely left. 0:23:24.440 --> 0:23:27.000 Most of us have secrets, parts of ourselves we try 0:23:27.040 --> 0:23:30.959 to hide, and Mother Teresa wasn't any different. She labored 0:23:31.000 --> 0:23:34.919 with a deep darkness, a spiritual darkness, but none of 0:23:34.920 --> 0:23:38.120 the sisters in the congregation knew. She kept it to herself. 0:23:39.320 --> 0:23:42.200 I've never bult it even for a second, that I've 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:44.520 done the right. Think it was the really good. That 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:49.280 was his choice, and that has given you complete serenity 0:23:49.280 --> 0:23:53.160 and peace and happiness, that happiness that no one can 0:23:53.200 --> 0:24:00.280 think from me. It has never been a doubt or unhappiness. Yeah. 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:04.520 In reality, almost immediately after she formed the m c S, 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:08.359 the foundation of her life cracked. That Jesus, who had 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:12.359 been speaking to her calling her, he went silent. She 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:17.879 couldn't feel God's presence anymore. Instead, prayer felt dry. She wrote, 0:24:18.480 --> 0:24:21.240 there are such terrible darkness within me, as if everything 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:25.160 was dead, and it would stay that way the rest 0:24:25.160 --> 0:24:49.840 of her life. Almost fifty years. Mother Teresa's darkness was profound. 0:24:50.320 --> 0:24:52.600 She only told a handful of people about it, her 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:56.840 confessors and the Archbishop. She wrote early on, to him 0:24:56.880 --> 0:25:00.480 your grace, there's so much contradiction in my soul, such 0:25:00.520 --> 0:25:03.080 deep longing for God, so deep that it is painful, 0:25:03.720 --> 0:25:08.800 a suffering, continual no faith, no love, no zeal. Souls 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:13.080 hold no attraction. Heaven means nothing to me. It looks 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:18.000 like an empty place. But to the world she smiled. 0:25:22.960 --> 0:25:26.600 By the nineteen seventies, Mother Teresa's Order was booming. They 0:25:26.720 --> 0:25:29.800 expanded through most of South America, and after the success 0:25:29.840 --> 0:25:32.720 of the documentary Something Beautiful for God, they just kept growing. 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:35.840 It seemed like mother trees. It was everywhere at once. 0:25:36.280 --> 0:25:39.800 She received international awards. Em SE houses opened around the world, 0:25:40.040 --> 0:25:43.640 including the US, with a continent in the Bronx. Despite 0:25:43.640 --> 0:25:47.200 her unyielding schedule, she still spend time with sisters like Kathleen. 0:25:48.000 --> 0:25:51.240 Sister Kathleen remembers what she calls the early days when 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:53.960 Mother Teresa would visit the Bronx in the summer. She 0:25:54.040 --> 0:25:56.000 would come and the first thing we would do was 0:25:56.560 --> 0:26:00.480 pack the van and go on the picnic with her. 0:26:00.520 --> 0:26:03.960 It was so much fun, Sister Kathleen remember is one 0:26:03.960 --> 0:26:06.639 of these picnics, someone had donated a tin at chocolate 0:26:06.720 --> 0:26:10.320 chip cookies homemade, which we never got. And one of 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:12.560 the sisters knew I loved cookies. She used to call 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:15.560