Living Advent with hope and charity: lessons from Mother Teresa’s sisters

Rome Newsroom, Dec 16, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

On a crisp December morning in Rome, a group of women gathered not for their usual Bible study but to bring Christmas gifts to a homeless shelter run by the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by St. Teresa of Calcutta, also known as Mother Teresa.

The women were greeted at the door by a petite Indian sister dressed in the familiar white sari trimmed with blue. With a gentle smile, she welcomed them inside and led them through the modest shelter into a small chapel. At the center was a simple tabernacle, flanked by a crucifix and the words “I thirst.” The sister gestured for them to sit and pray, then spoke quietly.

“Ask the Lord,” she said, “How can I be a channel of peace to people? … How can I be a sign of hope to people around me?”

“How can I become a sign of hope to my family, where I may be struggling with my husband, children, friends? How can I become the sign of hope in the place where we are?”

The Advent season, rooted in hope and longing for the Messiah, is a time when Christians prepare their hearts for the coming of Christ. It’s also a time for almsgiving and acts of charity to bring hope to a world filled with struggle and need. For the Missionaries of Charity, whose charism is to serve “the poorest of the poor,” this isn’t just for a liturgical season — it is a way of life.

The transformational power of charity

María Teresa Ávila Fuentes, a doctoral student at the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, has spent years studying the ripple effects of the Missionaries of Charity’s work. She calls it the “transformational power of charity,” a concept she is exploring in her dissertation.

“My doctoral research is around the transformative power of charity, and it’s a study through the prism of the missionaries of Mother Teresa,” Fuentes explained.

Fuentes’ research examines how the sisters’ simple yet profound acts of love impact not only the communities they serve but also the volunteers and laypeople who witness and participate in their work.

“It’s this idea that love is expansive,” Fuentes said, referencing Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate. 

“Charity has an impact not only in micro relations but also in macro relations — society, culture, economy. Everything gets impacted by charity because charity is agape love.”

She shared stories of lives transformed by the sisters’ witness. “I’ve interviewed people who have adopted children because of the sisters’ testimony, people who have changed careers completely after volunteering, people who have founded NGOs [nongovernmental organizations] or schools. Volunteers often say that seeing the sisters’ relationship with the poor — and experiencing their relationship with the volunteers themselves — is what transforms them.”

The Missionaries of Charity, with their radical simplicity, live a profound trust in God’s providence. They do not fundraise, nor do they accept recognition for their work. Even their presence in this article is mediated by lay witnesses like Fuentes, as the sisters themselves are not allowed to be quoted by name or photographed.

“Precisely because they become so small and so empty, God is able to fill them so generously,” Fuentes told CNA.

This approach reflects Mother Teresa’s belief that small acts of love, done with great devotion, have the power to transform hearts and communities. 

One sister explained: “We don’t have to do big things to be a sign of hope. A smile, a compassionate look, just a listening attitude, a welcoming attitude. … We’ll be happy if we’ve given five minutes to someone patiently and lovingly, so at the end of the day, I was able to do something good with God’s grace. So we hope to be a sign of hope to others, especially this year of hope.”

Advent: a season of hope and charity

Advent, a time of joyful expectation, calls Christians to embody hope in their families, workplaces, and communities. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Advent as a season to renew the “ancient expectancy of the Messiah … by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming.”

This year, Advent also leads up to the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee, themed “Pilgrims of Hope,” which will begin on Christmas Eve. For the Missionaries of Charity and their collaborators, this theme resonates deeply. Their work is a tangible expression of hope — bringing dignity to the destitute, companionship to the lonely, and a home for the neglected and abandoned.

“What is beautiful,” Fuentes reflected, “is that since they live this total surrender, you ring the doorbell and you just say, ‘I want to volunteer,’ and God will have something prepared for you there with the sisters.”

Fuentes herself experienced this transformation firsthand. Originally from Chihuahua, Mexico, she spent five months volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India, an experience that she said changed the course of her life.

“I was teaching high school, but I quit, and my best friend and I went to Calcutta to volunteer in a house for kids with disabilities,” she said. “It transformed me.”

For those inspired to volunteer with the sisters, the order has launched a website listing the contact information for some of their missions.

At the time of Mother Teresa’s death in 1997, there were nearly 4,000 sisters in 594 missions in 123 countries. Today, the Missionaries of Charity are also present in some of the most dangerous and war-torn places in the world, including Gaza, Kiev, and Syria.

The Missionaries of Charity Fathers have also created the “I Thirst” apostolate, a movement for laypeople to grow in the charism of Mother Teresa to deepen their faith and learn how to serve others with love and humility.

“Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity,” Benedict XVI wrote in Caritas in Veritate.

“Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth.”