"Love cannot remain by itself-it has no meaning, Love has to be put into action and that action is service... All works of love are works of peace."

Peace and Love are synonymous with each other. Without love there can be no peace and peace cannot exist without Love. No single person had demonstrated the binding connection between the two better than Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She has devoted her life to caring for the sick and destitute. Her commitment to humanity has inspired hope and preached for peace. As John Sanness, the chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee elucidated, "the hallmark of her work has been the respect for the individual and the individual's worth and dignity. The loneliest and the most wretched, the dying and the destitute, the abandoned lepers, have been received by her and her Sisters with warm compassion devoid of condescension..." Indeed, she is a true hero, among few others.

Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gouxha Bojaxhiu to a peasant family in Macedonia. At an early age she had recognized the special problems associated with poverty. Horrified by its dehumanizing effects, she firmly committed herself to try and help alleviate the pain of those who suffered from it. Thus, referring to this early decision as her "vocation to help the poor," Agnes sustained that the ultimate path of fulfillment has the clothing of an active involvement in the Roman Catholic Church. Despite the protestations of her family, the young Agnes at age 18 decided to leave home and join with the Congregation of Loreto nuns working in Bengal, India.

As she began her training, Agnes chose Teresa to be her new name. The adaptation of a distinct new name was a choice rich in symbolic meaning and has been a defining characteristic of her life. The name was selected in honor of St. Teresa of Lisieux, the patron saint of missionaries.

The two Teresas had practically lived parallel lives. Saint Teresa had been acknowledged for her modest simplicity, patience in the face of opposition, and advocacy of the "the little way," the pleasures in performing the most humble duties. Similar qualities are also attributed to the more modern Mother Teresa that the world has recently lost.

While working for the Loreto sisters, Mother Teresa received what has been described as her second calling: to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. After receiving Papal permission from the Vatican to work as an "non-cloistered nun," she removed the traditional black and white habit and dawned her now widely recognized outfit: a white sari with three blue stripes. This appearance enabled her to blend with those who lived on the street and become more closely connected with them. Living with the poor, she had continuously demonstrated her love and respect for them.

One of her first projects was to establish an open-air school for homeless children. Her actions of sincere benevolence inspired many people to follow her and live by her examples. Soon she and her helpers received official Papal recognition as the Missionaries of Charity within the Archdiocese of Calcutta. Today, projects by the Missionaries of Charity include homes and schools for orphaned children, mobile clinics, leprosy centers, food kitchens, and peace centers for the dying. Furthermore, the Missionaries of Charity are no longer confined to India. They have greatly expanded and dispensed aid on an international level.

In 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Robert McNamera, former president of the World Bank, commented, "Mother Teresa deserves the Nobel Peace Prize because she promotes peace in the most fundamental manner, by her confirmation of the inviolability of human dignity." Through the simple act of love, Mother Teresa has become a hero and has taught countless others that peace can be found in each and every one of us.