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Nobel Lecture: WBCHSE Class 11 English answers, notes
Get summaries, questions, answers, solutions, notes, extras, PDF and guides for Mother Teresa’s Nobel Lecture: WBCHSE Class 11 English Literature textbook A Realm of English (B) Selection, which is part of the Semester III syllabus for students studying under WBBSE (West Bengal Board-Uccha Madhyamik). These solutions, however, should only be treated as references and can be modified/changed.
If you notice any errors in the notes, please mention them in the comments
Summary
Mother Teresa speaks about the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, which she finds very fitting for our times. She explains that God’s love is a giving love. He showed this by sending his son, Jesus, to bring the good news of peace to the world. When Mary learned she would have Jesus, she immediately went to share this news. The unborn child in her cousin Elizabeth’s womb leaped with joy, becoming the first messenger of peace. Jesus later died on the cross to show his great love for everyone, including the poor and suffering in places like Calcutta, Africa, and even wealthy cities like New York and London. The main message is to love one another as he loved us.
True love requires sacrifice and can hurt. Jesus made himself the “bread of life” to satisfy our deep hunger for love. This means he offers himself to fill our spiritual needs, not just our physical ones. He is found in the hungry, the naked, the homeless, and the lonely. Helping them is the same as helping him. Mother Teresa shares a story about visiting a home for the elderly. The people there had everything they needed but were sad because their children had forgotten them. This is a poverty of loneliness. She also saw that many young people in the West used drugs because their families were too busy for them.
She believes the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. She calls it a direct killing by a mother. If a mother can kill her own child, she asks, what is left to stop us from killing each other? She speaks of God’s promise that he has “carved you in the palm of his hand.” This is a way of saying that each person is precious and always remembered by God. Her mission fights abortion by offering adoption. They tell clinics and hospitals that they will take any child and find them a loving family.
The poor are great people who teach beautiful lessons. Mother Teresa tells a story of a woman she found on the street. Before dying, the woman simply smiled and said, “Thank you,” giving a gift of grateful love. Another story is about a Hindu mother with eight hungry children. After receiving rice, she divided it and gave half to her Muslim neighbors who were also hungry. This shows how love begins at home with the joy of sharing. Giving should not be easy; it should be a sacrifice. A man who was paralyzed gave up smoking for a week to send a small donation. This money bought bread and brought joy to both him and the hungry people who received it. The poverty of loneliness found in wealthy countries is often harder to heal than hunger. The solution starts with a simple act: a smile. A smile is the beginning of love.
Textbook solutions
1. How did Mother Teresa want to fight abortion?
Answer: Mother Teresa wanted to fight abortion through adoption. She and her Sisters sent word to all clinics, hospitals, and police stations, asking them not to destroy the child and promising that they would take the child. They offered to take care of unwedded mothers and their children and would find a home for the child, as there was a tremendous demand from families who had no children. She also mentioned that they were teaching natural family planning to the poor, which she described as a very beautiful thing.
2. What did Mother Teresa want to suggest when she comments that poor people are very great people?
Answer: When Mother Teresa commented that poor people are very great people, she wanted to suggest that they can teach us many beautiful things. She gave an example of a poor person who explained that family planning is simply self-control out of love for one’s partner. She also suggested their greatness lies in their capacity for gratitude and grace in the face of extreme suffering. She recalled a woman she picked up from the street who, in her last moments, only said “Thank you” and gave her grateful love with a smile. She also spoke of a man found half-eaten with worms who said he would die like an angel, loved and cared for, without blaming or cursing anyone. This ability to show love and acceptance without complaint is what made them great in her eyes.
3. Narrate the experience Mother Teresa had when there was a great difficulty in getting sugar.
Answer: Some time ago in Calcutta, there was a great difficulty in getting sugar. Word of this somehow reached the children, and a little Hindu boy, who was four years old, went home and told his parents that he would not eat sugar for three days. He said he would give his sugar to Mother Teresa for her children. After three days had passed, the boy’s father and mother brought him to her home. Mother Teresa had never met them before, and the little boy could scarcely pronounce her name, but he knew exactly what he had come to do. He knew that he wanted to share his love.
4. Narrate the experience and the feelings of Mother when she visited an Old Age Home?
Answer: Mother Teresa narrated an experience of visiting a home where elderly parents had been placed in an institution by their sons and daughters, who had perhaps forgotten them. She observed that the home was well-equipped with everything, including beautiful things, but all the residents were looking towards the door. She did not see a single smile on any of their faces. This was unusual for her, as she was used to seeing smiles even on the faces of dying people.
She asked a Sister why the residents were not smiling and were all looking at the door. The Sister explained that nearly every day, they were expecting and hoping that a son or daughter would come to visit them. They were hurt because they felt forgotten. Mother Teresa felt that this was where a different kind of poverty existed, a poverty that could be found right in one’s own home, which was the neglect to love.
Additional Questions and Answers
1. Why did Mother Teresa suggest praying the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi?
Answer: Mother Teresa suggested praying the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi because they had gathered to thank God for the Nobel Peace Prize, and she thought it would be a beautiful thing to do. She also explained that she and the Sisters pray this prayer every day after Holy Communion because it is very fitting for each one of them.
2. What did Mother Teresa find surprising about the prayer of St. Francis?
Answer: Mother Teresa found it very surprising that the prayer, composed by St. Francis of Assisi 400 to 500 years ago, addressed the same difficulties that people face today. She always wondered about this, noting that the prayer fits very nicely for people in the modern world, just as it did for people in the past.
3. What was the “good news” that Jesus came to bring to the poor?
Answer: The “good news” that Jesus came to bring to the poor was peace for all people of good will. Mother Teresa explained that this is something everyone wants, which is the peace of heart. Jesus, being God, became a man to proclaim very clearly that he had come to give this good news.
4. Who was the first messenger of peace? How did this messenger react to Christ?
Answer: The first messenger of peace was the unborn child in the womb of Elizabeth. When Mary, carrying Jesus, came into the house of her cousin Elizabeth, this unborn child leapt with joy. This messenger recognised the Prince of Peace and understood that Christ had come to bring the good news.
5. What does Mother Teresa mean when she says that true love “has to hurt”?
Answer: When Mother Teresa says that true love has to hurt, she means that it requires real sacrifice. She uses the example of God, explaining that it hurt God to give His son, and it hurt Jesus to love us and die on the cross. Therefore, for our love to be true, we too must be willing to give to one another until it hurts, meaning we must give in a way that involves personal sacrifice.
6. How does Jesus make himself present among the poor and suffering?
Answer: Jesus makes himself present among the poor and suffering by becoming one with them. He makes himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the sick one, the one in prison, the lonely one, and the unwanted one. He says that when we serve these people, we are doing it directly to him. The hunger of the poor people is a hunger for our love.
7. Why did Mother Teresa believe young people in the West were turning to drugs?
Answer: Mother Teresa believed young people in the West were turning to drugs because there was no one in the family to receive them. She observed that fathers and mothers were often so busy that they had no time for their children. When young people feel this lack of connection at home, they turn to the street and get involved in other things.
8. What does Mother Teresa consider the “greatest destroyer of peace today”? Why?
Answer: Mother Teresa considers abortion to be the greatest destroyer of peace today. She calls it a direct war, a direct killing, and a direct murder by the mother herself. She believes this is the greatest destroyer of peace because if a mother can kill her own child, there is nothing left to prevent people from killing each other.
9. What scripture does Mother Teresa quote about God’s love for a child?
Answer: Mother Teresa quotes a scripture in which God says very clearly that even if a mother could forget her child, He will not forget them. God says that He has carved them in the palm of His hand. This means that every person, including an unborn child, is held so close to God that they are carved in the palm of His hand.
10. Why does Mother Teresa argue that abortion leads to wider violence in society?
Answer: Mother Teresa argues that abortion leads to wider violence in society because it destroys the most basic foundation of love and protection. She reasons that if a mother can kill her own child, then the moral line has been crossed. There is nothing left to stop her from killing someone else, or someone else from killing her.
11. What was the “very beautiful” thing taught to the poor in Calcutta? What were its results?
Answer: The very beautiful thing taught to the poor in Calcutta, including beggars, leprosy patients, and slum dwellers, was natural family planning. They were taught how to use a temperature meter, a simple method that helped them practice abstaining and self-control out of love for each other.
The results were significant. They included:
- In Calcutta alone, over a period of six years, there were 61,273 fewer babies born to families who practiced this method.
- The people who learned it reported that their families were healthy, united, and that they could have a baby whenever they wanted.
12. What did the man picked up from the drain say before he died?
Answer: The man who was picked up from a drain, half-eaten with worms, was brought to the home for the dying. Before he died, he said that he had lived like an animal in the street, but he was going to die like an angel, loved and cared for.
13. How does Mother Teresa describe the work of her Sisters? Why does she call them “contemplatives”?
Answer: Mother Teresa describes the work of her Sisters as not being that of “real social workers,” even though it may appear to be social work to other people. She says they are really “contemplatives in the heart of the world.”
She calls them contemplatives because, through their work, they are “touching the Body of Christ 24 hours” a day. This means that by serving the poor and suffering, they are in a constant state of prayer and in the presence of God.
14. What is more important than the amount of work one does, according to Mother Teresa?
Answer: According to Mother Teresa, how much love we put into an action is more important than how much we do. She explains that the amount of work does not matter to God because He is infinite. What matters is the amount of love put into the action and how much love is shown to Him in the person being served.
15. Where does Mother Teresa urge her audience to find the poor first?
Answer: Mother Teresa urges her audience to find the poor first in their own homes. She tells them to begin love there with their own people. After that, she suggests they find out about their next-door neighbors. She says to start with the poor in our own family first, then in our country, and then in the world.
16. What is the difference between giving from abundance and true giving?
Answer: Giving from abundance is giving what you have in plenty, which does not require a personal sacrifice. True giving, as Mother Teresa describes it, is giving until it hurts. This means giving something that you value or need, which involves a real sacrifice and is a deeper expression of love.
17. Why did Mother Teresa find the poverty of the West more difficult to remove?
Answer: Mother Teresa found the poverty of the West more difficult to remove because it is a spiritual poverty of loneliness, not just a material one. She explained that if a person is hungry, she can give them rice and bread to remove that hunger. However, it is very difficult to help a person who feels shut out, unwanted, unloved, and terrified, as this poverty of the soul is much harder to heal.
18. What does Mother Teresa call “the beginning of love”? How does it lead to action?
Answer: Mother Teresa calls a smile the beginning of love. She advises everyone to always meet each other with a smile, even when it is difficult.
A smile leads to action because once we begin to love each other, we will naturally want to do something for one another. The simple act of smiling opens the heart to love, which then inspires acts of kindness and service.
19. What advice did Mother Teresa give to the fourteen professors from the United States?
Answer: When fourteen professors from the United States asked Mother Teresa for something to remember, she gave them simple advice. She told them to smile at each other and to make time for each other in their families. She repeated the instruction to smile at each other to show how important it is.
20. How did Mother Teresa answer the question “Are you married?”? What did her answer reveal?
Answer: When a professor asked Mother Teresa if she was married, she said yes. She explained that she was married to Jesus and that sometimes it was very difficult to smile at him because he can be very demanding.
Her answer revealed her deep and personal relationship with Jesus, whom she considered her partner. It also showed her understanding that true love is often found in demanding situations, and the ability to give with joy in those moments is where love truly comes from.
21. How did Mother Teresa view the publicity that came with the Nobel Prize?
Answer: Mother Teresa viewed the publicity that came with the Nobel Prize as a form of personal trial that prepared her for Heaven. She said that if she did not go to Heaven for any other reason, she would go because of all the publicity. She felt that it had purified her and was a sacrifice that made her ready to go to Heaven.
22. How can Norway become a “nest of love,” according to Mother Teresa?
Answer: According to Mother Teresa, Norway can become a “nest of love” if its people remember that God loves them and then take every opportunity to love others as He loves them. This love should be expressed not in big things, but in small things done with great love. If they do this, Norway will become a center for peace.
23. Explain Mother Teresa’s understanding of God’s love and how it was demonstrated through Jesus and Mary.
Answer: Mother Teresa understood God’s love as a giving love. She explained that God loved the world so much that He gave His son. This act of giving was so great that it was as if it hurt God to give. This love was demonstrated through Jesus, who became a man to bring the good news of peace to the poor. Jesus, being God, became like us in all things except sin and proclaimed clearly that he had come to give this good news. To show an even greater love, Jesus died on the cross for all people, including the leper, the hungry, and the naked person in the street.
God gave His son to the Virgin Mary, and she also demonstrated this love. As soon as Jesus came into her life, she immediately went in haste to share the good news with her cousin, Elizabeth. When she arrived, the unborn child in Elizabeth’s womb leapt with joy, becoming the first messenger of peace by recognizing the Prince of Peace.
24. Describe the poverty Mother Teresa witnessed in the West. How did it differ from material poverty?
Answer: The poverty Mother Teresa witnessed in the West was a different kind of poverty, one she found much more difficult to remove than material poverty. It was not a poverty of hunger for food, but a poverty of feeling unwanted, unloved, and lonely. When she picked up a hungry person from the street, she could give him a plate of rice or a piece of bread and satisfy that hunger.
In the West, however, she saw a poverty of being shut out and thrown out from society. She gave the example of visiting a home for the elderly where the parents had everything and beautiful things, but none of them had a smile. They were always looking towards the door, hoping a son or daughter would come to visit, feeling hurt and forgotten. She also saw many young people turn to drugs because there was no one in the family to receive them, as their parents were too busy and had no time. This poverty of the heart, of being unwanted and unloved, was what she saw as the great poverty of the West.
25. Explain Mother Teresa’s argument against abortion. Why does she call it a “direct war” and a “direct killing”?
Answer: Mother Teresa argued that the greatest destroyer of peace in the world is abortion. She called it a “direct war” and a “direct killing” because it is a direct murder by the mother herself. She believed that if a mother can kill her own child, then the foundation of peace is destroyed. If a mother can do this, she asked what is left to prevent others from killing each other, as there is nothing in between.
Her argument was also based on her faith. She referred to the Scripture where God says that even if a mother could forget her child, He would not forget us because we are carved in the palm of His hand. She explained that this means the unborn child has also been carved in the hand of God. Therefore, she appealed everywhere for people to bring the child back and to make every single child, born and unborn, wanted. Her mission fought abortion through adoption, saving thousands of lives by offering to take any child that was not wanted.
26. Narrate the story of the woman picked from the street. What lesson did Mother Teresa learn from her?
Answer: One evening, Mother Teresa and the Sisters picked up four people from the street. One woman was in a most terrible condition, so Mother Teresa decided to care for her personally. She did everything her love could do for the woman and put her in a bed. The woman had a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of Mother Teresa’s hand, said only one word, “Thank you,” and then she died.
After this, Mother Teresa examined her own conscience, asking what she would have said if she were in the woman’s place. She realized she would have tried to draw attention to herself by saying she was hungry, cold, or in pain. The lesson she learned was that the woman gave her much more than she received; she gave her grateful love. The woman died with a smile, without blaming or cursing anyone. This experience showed Mother Teresa the greatness of the poor people.
27. Describe the story of the Hindu mother and the rice. What does it teach about love and sharing?
Answer: Mother Teresa shared an extraordinary experience she had with a Hindu family. A gentleman told her that a family with eight children had not eaten for a long time. She immediately took some rice and went to their home, where she saw the children’s eyes shining with hunger. The mother of the house took the rice, divided it into two portions, and went out.
When the mother returned, Mother Teresa asked her where she had gone. The woman gave a very simple answer: “They are hungry too.” She was referring to a neighboring Muslim family. What struck Mother Teresa was that this Hindu mother, who was in great need herself, knew that her neighbors were also hungry and chose to share the little she had. Mother Teresa did not bring more rice that evening because she wanted the family to experience the joy of sharing. The children were radiating joy along with their mother. This story teaches that love begins at home and that the act of sharing, born out of love, brings its own great joy.
28. Narrate the story of the man who donated 15 dollars. What did this act of sacrifice demonstrate about giving?
Answer: Mother Teresa received a donation of 15 dollars from a man who had been on his back for twenty years and could only move his right hand. The man’s only companion and enjoyment was smoking. He told her in a note that he had not smoked for one week so that he could send her the money. This was a terrible sacrifice for him, but it was a beautiful act of sharing.
With that money, Mother Teresa bought bread and gave it to hungry people. She observed that there was joy on both sides: the man felt joy in giving, and the poor felt joy in receiving. This act demonstrated that true giving is not about giving from one’s abundance or surplus. Instead, it is about giving until it hurts. This kind of sacrificial giving is a gift from God that allows people to share their love with others in a real way.
29. What does Mother Teresa mean by being “contemplatives in the heart of the world”?
Answer: When Mother Teresa said she and her Sisters were “contemplatives in the heart of the world,” she meant that their work was a form of deep and continuous prayer, even though it was active. She explained that while they may appear to be doing social work in the eyes of people, they do not see themselves as just social workers. A contemplative is someone who thinks deeply.
For them, being contemplative meant that they were “touching the Body of Christ 24 hours.” This is because Jesus had said that whatever is done for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, and the unwanted is done for Him. By serving the poorest of the poor directly in the streets and slums, they were in constant, prayerful contact with God. Their service was their way of being in God’s presence, not in a quiet place away from people, but right in the middle of the world’s suffering.
30. How does Mother Teresa connect the family unit to world peace? What are the threats to peace at home?
Answer: Mother Teresa connected the family unit directly to world peace by stating that love begins at home. She believed that if people can create a home for the poor, starting with their own families, then more and more love will spread and bring peace to the world. She taught that a family that prays together stays together. To achieve peace, families do not need bombs and guns; they simply need to get together, love one another, and share the strength of each other’s presence in the home. By doing this, they can overcome the evil in the world.
The threats to peace at home are the things that break this love. These include:
- Neglect: When someone in the family is lonely, sick, or worried, and no one is there to receive them.
- Busyness: When parents are too busy and have no time for their children.
- Abortion: Which she identified as the greatest destroyer of peace, calling it a direct war by a mother against her own child.
- Lack of love: A simple but serious threat is the difficulty families sometimes have in smiling at each other, because a smile is the beginning of love.
31. Explain the importance of a smile in Mother Teresa’s philosophy of love and service.
Answer: In Mother Teresa’s philosophy, a smile was extremely important because it is the beginning of love. She taught that we should always meet each other with a smile. The absence of a smile indicated a deep spiritual poverty. For example, when she visited the home for the elderly, she saw that they had everything but were not smiling because they felt forgotten and unloved. In contrast, the dying woman she picked up from the street gave a beautiful smile as a gift of her grateful love.
She advised a group of professors that the most important thing they could do was to smile at each other and make time for each other in their families. She believed that once people begin to love each other, which starts with a smile, they will naturally want to do something good for one another. She connected the smile directly to God, speaking of “Christ in the smile that we give and the smile that we receive.” Even when it is difficult to smile, making the effort is the first step toward love and peace.
32. What is the connection between loving God and loving one’s neighbour, according to Mother Teresa?
Answer: According to Mother Teresa, there is a direct and unbreakable connection between loving God and loving one’s neighbour. It is not enough to say one loves God while not loving one’s neighbour. She referred to St. John, who said that a person is a liar if they say they love God but will not love their neighbour. She explained this with a simple question: How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbour whom you see, whom you touch, and with whom you live?
The connection is made real through Jesus. He made himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, and the unwanted one. When people serve their neighbours who are in need, Jesus says, “You did it to me.” Therefore, loving and serving one’s neighbour is the practical and true way to love God. The hunger of the poor is not just for bread, but it is a hunger for our love. By satisfying this hunger, one is directly showing love for God.
33. Discuss how Mother Teresa uses anecdotes and stories to illustrate her central message of love. Use two examples from her lecture.
Answer: Mother Teresa uses simple, real-life stories to show what her central message of love in action looks like. These anecdotes make her ideas clear and relatable for everyone. She shows that love is not just a feeling but something you do, often with great sacrifice.
One powerful story she shares is about a Hindu family with eight children who had not eaten for a long time. When Mother Teresa gave them some rice, the mother of the house immediately divided it in half and went out. She returned after giving one half to her neighbors, a Muslim family who she knew was also hungry. This story illustrates that love begins in the home but should extend to our neighbors, regardless of their background. It shows that even those with very little can practice active, sacrificial love, and that this act of sharing brings joy.
Another example is the story of a small, four-year-old Hindu boy. During a time when sugar was difficult to get in Calcutta, this little boy decided to give up sugar for three days. He wanted to give his portion to Mother Teresa for her children. His parents then brought him to her home to deliver his small gift. This anecdote shows that love is not measured by the size of the gift but by the amount of love and sacrifice put into it. Even a very young child, she explains, can understand and practice this kind of sharing love. These stories make her message about love tangible and inspiring.
34. Explain Mother Teresa’s concept of poverty. How does she distinguish between the poverty of the body and the poverty of the heart?
Answer: Mother Teresa speaks about two different kinds of poverty. She makes a clear distinction between the poverty of the body, which is a lack of material things, and the poverty of the heart, which is a lack of love.
The poverty of the body is what many people think of as poverty. It is being hungry, naked, or homeless. Mother Teresa often saw this in places like Calcutta. She explains that when she finds a person hungry on the street and gives him a plate of rice or a piece of bread, she has satisfied that hunger. While this material poverty is terrible, she suggests that it can sometimes be addressed with direct, physical help. It is a lack of things needed for survival.
The poverty of the heart, however, is what she found to be much more difficult to remove, especially in wealthy Western countries. This is the poverty of feeling lonely, unwanted, unloved, and forgotten. She gives the example of elderly parents in beautiful institutions who have everything they need materially but are deeply sad because their children have forgotten them and never visit. Another example is of young people who turn to drugs because there is no one in their family to receive them. This poverty is a deep spiritual and emotional pain caused by neglect and the absence of love. She considers this feeling of being unloved the most terrible poverty of all.
35. Analyse Mother Teresa’s view on the family. What are the key elements for a peaceful family and what are the greatest threats?
Answer: In her lecture, Mother Teresa presents the family as the starting point for all love and peace in the world. For a family to be peaceful and strong, she identifies several key elements. The most important is love, as she states that love begins at home. Another element is prayer; she believes that a family that prays together will stay together. She also speaks of the importance of togetherness and presence, meaning that family members, especially parents, must be there for each other and make time for one another. Simple acts, like smiling at each other, are described as the beginning of love within the family.
Mother Teresa also identifies serious threats to the peace of the family and the world. These include:
- Abortion: She states that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, calling it a direct killing and a murder by the mother herself. She argues that if a mother can kill her own child, it destroys the very heart of love and leaves nothing to prevent people from killing one another.
- Neglect from busyness: Another significant threat is neglect born from busyness. When parents are too busy and have no time for their children, the children feel unloved and may turn to harmful things. Similarly, when adult children forget their elderly parents, it causes deep loneliness and breaks the family bond, destroying peace in the home.
36. “It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do.” Discuss this statement with examples from the lecture.
Answer: This statement captures a core belief of Mother Teresa: the value of an action comes from the love and intention behind it, not from its size or material worth. She believed that every action done with love is an action done for God. She provides several stories to explain this idea.
One example is of a man who had been lying on his back for twenty years and could only move his right hand. His only pleasure was smoking. He decided to stop smoking for one week so he could send the money he saved, 15 dollars, to her. Mother Teresa notes that this must have been a “terrible sacrifice” for him. The amount of money was small, but the love and sacrifice put into the action were immense. This act brought joy to both the man who gave and the hungry people who received the bread bought with his money, showing the power of love in a small gift.
Another clear example is the story of the four-year-old Hindu boy who gave up sugar for three days to share it with her children. The amount of sugar was very small, but for a child, it was a significant sacrifice made purely out of a desire to share his love. He did not have much to give, but he gave with a full heart. This story perfectly illustrates her point that a small action becomes great when it is filled with great love. Through these examples, she shows that the true measure of any deed is the love that motivates it.
37. How does Mother Teresa connect the act of giving with personal sacrifice and joy? Illustrate with examples from her speech.
Answer: Mother Teresa consistently connects true giving with personal sacrifice, explaining that this is the only path to real joy. She states that love, to be true, has to hurt. Giving should not come from one’s abundance or surplus but should continue “until it hurts.” It is this sacrificial quality that transforms the act of giving into a source of deep joy for both the giver and the receiver.
She illustrates this connection with the story of a man who had been bedridden for twenty years. He gave up smoking, his only pleasure, for a week to donate 15 dollars. This was a “terrible sacrifice” for him. The result, as she describes it, was “joy on both sides.” The man felt the joy of giving something that truly cost him, and the poor who received the bread bought with his money felt the joy of being loved and remembered. The sacrifice was the key ingredient that produced the joy.
Another powerful example is the Hindu mother with eight hungry children. After receiving rice, she immediately shared half with a neighboring Muslim family that was also hungry. This was a great sacrifice, as her own children were starving. Yet, Mother Teresa observed that the children were “radiating joy, sharing the joy with their mother because she had the love to give.” The act of sacrificial sharing, born from love, created a profound joy that overcame their physical hunger. Through these stories, she shows that joy is not a result of receiving or having, but of giving sacrificially.
38. Discuss Mother Teresa’s belief that the poor are “very great people.” What lessons can be learned from them, according to her lecture?
Answer: Mother Teresa believed that the poor are “very great people” and “very wonderful people” not because of any material wealth, but because of their spiritual richness and the beautiful lessons they can teach others. She saw in them a capacity for love, gratitude, and dignity that often surpassed that of people who had everything.
According to her lecture, several important lessons can be learned from the poor:
- Grateful love: She tells of a woman she picked up from the street in a terrible condition. After being cared for, the woman gave a beautiful smile, said only “Thank you,” and died. She did not complain or ask for more; she simply gave her grateful love, teaching a powerful lesson in gratitude.
- Dignity and acceptance: She describes a man found in a drain, half-eaten by worms, who said, “I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel, loved and cared for.” He died without blaming or cursing anyone. This teaches a lesson about facing death with grace and dignity.
- Self-control out of love: She explains how poor families she worked with practiced natural family planning, seeing it as an act of love and self-control that kept their families united. They demonstrated that love can be expressed through discipline and sacrifice.
