ASIA/INDIA – Teachers Day: Mother Teresa, teacher ‘par excellence’

ASIA/INDIA – Teachers Day: Mother Teresa, teacher ‘par excellence’
New Delhi (Agenzia Fides) – “As India marks today, 5 September, Teachers Day, by happy coincidence the Church celebrates the feast day of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, teacher ‘par excellence’”: Fides learned from Jesuit Fr. Cedric Prakash sj, director of the Human Rights Centre in Ahmedabad, in the Indian state of Gujarat.
In a report sent to Fides, Fr. Prakash recalls “the vision of our late President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who, besides being a great pedagogue and philosopher, firmly believed that education was the key to the inclusive development of India”. As a tribute to the President, since 1962 every year on 5 September, the anniversary of his birth, India celebrates, “Teachers Day”.
“Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta died precisely on 5 September 1997 – Fr. Prakash continues – she began her mission in India teaching at Santa Maria secondary school in Calcutta, a task she continued until 1948, when she founded her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity. From then onwards Mother Teresa, with words and testimony showed herself to be a teacher of excellence. She was convinced that slum children should go to school, but realised that her mission was to announce to the world the values of Jesus, true Master and Teacher”.
According to Fr. Prakash, Mother Teresa taught above all the values of compassion, courage and commitment. “With compassion – he said – she expressed her love for the outcast and the vulnerable, in particular the poorest of the poor. She had the courage to answer a special call from God, to serve the poor living in slums. She never looked back, she was committed, certain of the providence of God, even when she and her sisters and the people in their care had little or nothing to eat ”.
The Jesuit concludes: “Today, more than ever, our world needs the example of compassion, courage and commitment lived out by Madre Teresa. An example certainly not propagated in advertising. Marking Teachers Day India turns its thoughts to Mother Teresa, teacher ‘par excellence’” . (PA) (Agenzia Fides, 5/9/2014)