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THE PRIZE FOR CONFIRMING THE
INVIOLABILITY OF HUMAN DIGNITY
Love Begins at Home
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Mother Teresa.
Go here for more about
Mother Teresa's acceptance speech.
It follows the full text transcript of
Mother Teresa's Love Begins at Home speech, delivered at
Oslo, Norway - December 11, 1979.
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As we have
gathered here together to thank God for the
Nobel Peace Prize I think it will be beautiful
that we pray the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi
which always surprises me very much. |
We pray this
prayer every day after Holy Communion, because
it is very fitting for each one of us, and I
always wonder that 4-500 years ago as St.
Francis of Assisi composed this prayer that they
had the same difficulties that we have today, as
we compose this prayer that fits very nicely for
us also. I think some of you already have got
it, so we will pray together.
Lord, make a channel of Thy peace
that, where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the
spirit of forgiveness;
that, where there is discord, I may bring
harmony;
that, where there is error, I may bring truth;
that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that, where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that, where there are shadows, I may bring
light;
that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy.
Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort
than to be comforted,
to understand than to be understood;
to love than to be loved;
for it is by forgetting self that one finds;
it is forgiving that one is forgiven;
it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life.
St.
Francis of Assisi
Let us thank God
for the opportunity that we all have together
today, for this gift of peace that reminds us
that we have been created to live that peace,
and Jesus became man to bring that good news to
the poor. He being God became man in all things
like us except sin, and he proclaimed very
clearly that he had come to give the good news.
The news was peace to all of good will and this
is something that we all want, the peace of
heart, and God loved the world so much that he
gave his son, it was a giving, it is as much as
if to say it hurt God to give, because he loved
the world so much that he gave his son, and he
gave him to Virgin Mary, and what did she do
with him?
As soon as he came in her life, immediately she
went in haste to give that good news, and as she
came into the house of her cousin, the child —
the unborn child — the child in the womb of
Elizabeth, leapt with joy. He was that little
unborn child, was the first messenger of peace.
He recognized the Prince of Peace, he recognized
that Christ has come to bring the good news for
you and for me. And as if that was not enough —
it was not enough to become a man — he died on
the cross to show that greater love, and he died
for you and for me and for that leper and for
that man dying of hunger and that naked person
lying in the street not only of Calcutta, but of
Africa, and New York, and London, and Oslo — and
insisted that we love one another as he loves
each one of us. And we read that in the Gospel
very clearly — love as I have loved you — as I
love you — as the Father has loved me, I love
you — and the harder the Father loved him, he
gave him to us, and how much we love one
another, we, too, must give each other until it
hurts. It is not enough for us to say: I love
God, but I do not love my neighbor. St. John
says you are a liar if you say you love God and
you don't love your neighbor. How can you love
God whom you do not see, if you do not love your
neighbor whom you see, whom you touch, with whom
you live. And so this is very important for us
to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt.
It hurt Jesus to love us, it hurt him. And to
make sure we remember his great love he made
himself the bread of life to satisfy our hunger
for his love. Our hunger for God, because we
have been created for that love. We have been
created in his image. We have been created to
love and be loved, and then he has become man to
make it possible for us to love as he loved us.
He makes himself the hungry one — the naked one
— the homeless one — the sick one — the one in
prison — the lonely one — the unwanted one — and
he says: You did it to me. Hungry for our love,
and this is the hunger of our poor people. This
is the hunger that you and I must find, it may
be in our own home.
I never forget an opportunity I had in visiting
a home where they had all these old parents of
sons and daughters who had just put them in an
institution and forgotten maybe. And I went
there, and I saw in that home they had
everything, beautiful things, but everybody was
looking towards the door. And I did not see a
single one with their smile on their face. And I
turned to the Sister and I asked: How is that?
How is it that the people they have everything
here, why are they all looking towards the door,
why are they not smiling? I am so used to see
the smile on our people, even the dying one
smile, and she said: This is nearly every day,
they are expecting, they are hoping that a son
or daughter will come to visit them. They are
hurt because they are forgotten, and see — this
is where love comes. That poverty comes right
there in our own home, even neglect to love.
Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is
feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is
feeling worried, and these are difficult days
for everybody. Are we there, are we there to
receive them, is the mother there to receive the
child?
I was surprised in the West to see so many young
boys and girls given into drugs, and I tried to
find out why — why is it like that, and the
answer was: Because there is no one in the
family to receive them. Father and mother are so
busy they have no time. Young parents are in
some institution and the child takes back to the
street and gets involved in something. We are
talking of peace. These are things that break
peace, but I feel the greatest destroyer of
peace today is abortion, because it is a direct
war, a direct killing — direct murder by the
mother herself. And we read in the Scripture,
for God says very clearly: Even if a mother
could forget her child — I will not forget you —
I have carved you in the palm of my hand. We are
carved in the palm of His hand, so close to Him
that unborn child has been carved in the hand of
God. And that is what strikes me most, the
beginning of that sentence, that even if a
mother could forget something impossible — but
even if she could forget — I will not forget
you. And today the greatest means — the greatest
destroyer of peace is abortion. And we who are
standing here — our parents wanted us. We would
not be here if our parents would do that to us.
Our children, we want them, we love them, but
what of the millions. Many people are very, very
concerned with the children in India, with the
children in Africa where quite a number die,
maybe of malnutrition, of hunger and so on, but
millions are dying deliberately by the will of
the mother. And this is what is the greatest
destroyer of peace today. Because if a mother
can kill her own child — what is left for me to
kill you and you kill me — there is nothing
between. And this I appeal in India, I appeal
everywhere: Let us bring the child back, and
this year being the child's year: What have we
done for the child? At the beginning of the year
I told, I spoke everywhere and I said: Let us
make this year that we make every single child
born, and unborn, wanted. And today is the end
of the year, have we really made the children
wanted? I will give you something terrifying. We
are fighting abortion by adoption, we have saved
thousands of lives, we have sent words to all
the clinics, to the hospitals, police stations —
please don't destroy the child, we will take the
child. So every hour of the day and night it is
always somebody, we have quite a number of
unwedded mothers — tell them come, we will take
care of you, we will take the child from you,
and we will get a home for the child. And we
have a tremendous demand from families who have
no children, that is the blessing of God for us.
And also, we are doing another thing which is
very beautiful — we are teaching our beggars,
our leprosy patients, our slum dwellers, our
people of the street, natural family planning.
And in Calcutta alone in six years — it is all
in Calcutta — we have had 61,273 babies less
from the families who would have had, but
because they practise this natural way of
abstaining, of self-control, out of love for
each other. We teach them the temperature meter
which is very beautiful, very simple, and our
poor people understand. And you know what they
have told me? Our family is healthy, our family
is united, and we can have a baby whenever we
want. So clear — those people in the street,
those beggars — and I think that if our people
can do like that how much more you and all the
others who can know the ways and means without
destroying the life that God has created in us.
The poor people are very great people. They can
teach us so many beautiful things. The other day
one of them came to thank and said: You people
who have vowed chastity you are the best people
to teach us family planning. Because it is
nothing more than self-control out of love for
each other. And I think they said a beautiful
sentence. And these are people who maybe have
nothing to eat, maybe they have not a home where
to live, but they are great people.The poor are
very wonderful people. One evening we went out
and we picked up four people from the street.
And one of them was in a most terrible condition
— and I told the Sisters: You take care of the
other three, I take of this one that looked
worse. So I did for her all that my love can do.
I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful
smile on her face. She took hold of my hand, as
she said one word only: Thank you — and she
died.
I could not help but examine my conscience
before her, and I asked what would I say if I
was in her place. And my answer was very simple.
I would have tried to draw a little attention to
myself, I would have said I am hungry, that I am
dying, I am cold, I am in pain, or something,
but she gave me much more — she gave me her
grateful love. And she died with a smile on her
face. As that man whom we picked up from the
drain, half eaten with worms, and we brought him
to the home. I have lived like an animal in the
street, but I am going to die like an angel,
loved and cared for. And it was so wonderful to
see the greatness of that man who could speak
like that, who could die like that without
blaming anybody, without cursing anybody,
without comparing anything. Like an angel — this
is the greatness of our people. And that is why
we believe what Jesus had said: I was hungry — I
was naked — I was homeless — I was unwanted,
unloved, uncared for — and you did it to me.
I believe that we are not real social workers.
We may be doing social work in the eyes of the
people, but we are really contemplatives in the
heart of the world. For we are touching the Body
of Christ 24 hours. We have 24 hours in this
presence, and so you and I. You too try to bring
that presence of God in your family, for the
family that prays together stays together. And I
think that we in our family don't need bombs and
guns, to destroy to bring peace — just get
together, love one another, bring that peace,
that joy, that strength of presence of each
other in the home. And we will be able to
overcome all the evil that is in the world.
There is so much suffering, so much hatred, so
much misery, and we with our prayer, with our
sacrifice are beginning at home.
Love begins at
home, and it is not how much we do, but how much
love we put in the action that we do. It is to
God Almighty. How much we do it does not matter,
because He is infinite, but how much love we put
in that action. How much we do to Him in the
person that we are serving.
Some time ago in Calcutta we had great
difficulty in getting sugar, and I don't know
how the word got around to the children, and a
little boy of four years old, Hindu boy, went
home and told his parents: I will not eat sugar
for three days, I will give my sugar to Mother
Teresa for her children. After three days his
father and mother brought him to our home. I had
never met them before, and this little one could
scarcely pronounce my name, but he knew exactly
what he had come to do. He knew that he wanted
to share his love.
And this is why I have received such a lot of
love from you all. From the time that I have
come here I have simply been surrounded with
love, and with real, real understanding love. It
could feel as if everyone in India, everyone in
Africa is somebody very special to you. And I
felt quite at home I was telling Sister today. I
feel in the Convent with the Sisters as if I am
in Calcutta with my own Sisters. So completely
at home here, right here.
And so here I am talking with you. I want you to
find the poor here, right in your own home
first. And begin love there. Be that good news
to your own people. And find out about your
next-door neighbor. Do you know who they are? I
had the most extraordinary experience with a
Hindu family who had eight children. A gentleman
came to our house and said: Mother Teresa, there
is a family with eight children, they had not
eaten for so long — do something. So I took some
rice and I went there immediately. And I saw the
children — their eyes shinning with hunger — I
don't know if you have ever seen hunger. But I
have seen it very often. And she took the rice,
she divided the rice, and she went out. When she
came back I asked her — where did you go, what
did you do? And she gave me a very simple
answer: They are hungry also. What struck me
most was that she knew — and who are they, a
Muslim family — and she knew. I didn't bring
more rice that evening because I wanted them to
enjoy the joy of sharing. But there were those
children, radiating joy, sharing the joy with
their mother because she had the love to give.
And you see this is where love begins — at home.
And I want you — and I am very grateful for what
I have received. It has been a tremendous
experience and I go back to India — I will be
back by next week, the 15th I hope — and I will
be able to bring your love.
And I know well that you have not given from
your abundance, but you have given until it has
hurt you. Today the little children they have —
I was so surprised — there is so much joy for
the children that are hungry. That the children
like themselves will need love and care and
tenderness, like they get so much from their
parents. So let us thank God that we have had
this opportunity to come to know each other, and
this knowledge of each other has brought us very
close. And we will be able to help not only the
children of India and Africa, but will be able
to help the children of the whole world, because
as you know our Sisters are all over the world.
And with this prize that I have received as a
prize of peace, I am going to try to make the
home for many people that have no home. Because
I believe that love begins at home, and if we
can create a home for the poor — I think that
more and more love will spread. And we will be
able through this understanding love to bring
peace, be the good news to the poor. The poor in
our own family first, in our country and in the
world.
To be able to do this, our Sisters, our lives
have to be woven with prayer. They have to be
woven with Christ to be able to understand, to
be able to share. Because today there is so much
suffering — and I feel that the passion of
Christ is being relived all over again — are we
there to share that passion, to share that
suffering of people. Around the world, not only
in the poor countries, but I found the poverty
of the West so much more difficult to remove.
When I pick up a person from the street, hungry,
I give him a plate of rice, a piece of bread, I
have satisfied. I have removed that hunger. But
a person that is shut out, that feels unwanted,
unloved, terrified, the person that has been
thrown out from society — that poverty is so
hurtable and so much, and I find that very
difficult. Our Sisters are working amongst that
kind of people in the West. So you must pray for
us that we may be able to be that good news, but
we cannot do that without you, you have to do
that here in your country. You must come to know
the poor, maybe our people here have material
things, everything, but I think that if we all
look into our own homes, how difficult we find
it sometimes to smile at each, other, and that
the smile is the beginning of love.
And so let us always meet each other with a
smile, for the smile is the beginning of love,
and once we begin to love each other naturally
we want to do something. So you pray for our
Sisters and for me and for our Brothers, and for
our Co-Workers that are around the world. That
we may remain faithful to the gift of God, to
love Him and serve Him in the poor together with
you. What we have done we should not have been
able to do if you did not share with your
prayers, with your gifts, this continual giving.
But I don't want you to give me from your
abundance, I want that you give me until it
hurts.
The other day I received 15 dollars from a man
who has been on his back for twenty years, and
the only part that he can move is his right
hand. And the only companion that he enjoys is
smoking. And he said to me: I do not smoke for
one week, and I send you this money. It must
have been a terrible sacrifice for him, but see
how beautiful, how he shared, and with that
money I bought bread and I gave to those who are
hungry with a joy on both sides, he was giving
and the poor were receiving. This is something
that you and I — it is a gift of God to us to be
able to share our love with others. And let it
be as it was for Jesus. Let us love one another
as he loved us. Let us love Him with undivided
love. And the joy of loving Him and each other —
let us give now — that Christmas is coming so
close. Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in
our hearts. And share that joy with all that we
come in touch with. And that radiating joy is
real, for we have no reason not to be happy
because we have no Christ with us. Christ in our
hearts, Christ in the poor that we meet, Christ
in the smile that we give and the smile that we
receive. Let us make that one point: That no
child will be unwanted, and also that we meet
each other always with a smile, especially when
it is difficult to smile.
I never forget some time ago about fourteen
professors came from the United States from
different universities. And they came to
Calcutta to our house. Then we were talking
about that they had been to the home for the
dying. We have a home for the dying in Calcutta,
where we have picked up more than 36,000 people
only from the streets of Calcutta, and out of
that big number more than 18,000 have died a
beautiful death. They have just gone home to
God; and they came to our house and we talked of
love, of compassion, and then one of them asked
me: Say, Mother, please tell us something that
we will remember, and I said to them: Smile at
each other, make time for each other in your
family. Smile at each other. And then another
one asked me: Are you married, and I said: Yes,
and I find it sometimes very difficult to smile
at Jesus because he can be very demanding
sometimes. This is really something true, and
there is where love comes — when it is
demanding, and yet we can give it to Him with
joy. Just as I have said today, I have said that
if I don't go to Heaven for anything else I will
be going to Heaven for all the publicity because
it has purified me and sacrificed me and made me
really ready to go to Heaven. I think that this
is something, that we must live life
beautifully, we have Jesus with us and He loves
us. If we could only remember that God loves me,
and I have an opportunity to love others as he
loves me, not in big things, but in small things
with great love, then Norway becomes a nest of
love. And how beautiful it will be that from
here a centre for peace has been given. That
from here the joy of life of the unborn child
comes out.
If you become a
burning light in the world of peace, then really
the Nobel Peace Prize is a gift of the Norwegian
people.
God bless you!
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