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Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor.

As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to Armenia, to assist earthquake victims. Her devotion to the poorest of the poor in India, in fact, earned her the title “Saint of the Gutters,” but her more well-known title was Mother Teresa.
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  1. UnknownFebruary 6, 2011 at 1:12 AM

    I have been blessed with encouragement by this woman for many years and she is such a great example of love. It is amazing to me that she was used by God to actually make death easier for people. She said something about "just being there for people and helping them be comfortable in their dying." She wasn't some awesome doctor who could cure them, she just wanted to let people know that God loved them before they died. It is like she helped God take the sting out of death for all those people.
    I'm not saying this very well, but I hope you get what I mean :)

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  2. TonyFebruary 6, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    Who we look to as heroes says something about what we want ourselves to be... so now I know that you aspire to be someone who loves like she did.

    You are a thoughtful person, Gina. Thank you for reading my blog.

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