Quote of the day by Mother Teresa: 'It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us...' ; life lessons from celebrated Catholic saint

It is very easy to yearn for people who live far away, out of your reach. Loving those who live with us—our family members, spouses, parents, children, or close friends—can be much more challenging. Familiarity brings disagreements, misunderstandings, and moments of frustration that test our patience and affection. Years ago, Mother Teresa’s wise words revealed this truth about relationships.

Quote Of The Day By Mother Teresa

The celebrated Catholic nun once said: “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us… Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.”

Deeper Meaning Of The Quote

This quote expresses a bitter truth - it is easy to care for people who are far away. It requires nothing from us. Distance allows us to love an idealized version of humanity. However, caring for people who live with us is more challenging as it examines our patience, our ability to love selflessly and also the ability to care for a person despite their flaws.

Relevance Of Mother Teresa’s Words

In a digital era, we are living in a world moulded by performative empathy. Social media enables us to champion for global causes, make posts about geopolitical disasters, yet causes a distance and deep sense of disconnection in our personal relationships.

The quote reminds us, that we needn’t always fret about making the next viral post or hopping on the next social media bandwagon, but make some time, listening to an ageing parent, or spend some moments with our partner.

Who Was Mother Teresa?

Mother Teresa was a celebrated Catholic nun. Born in the city of Skopje, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire, Mother Teresa grew up in a deeply religious Catholic household. At the age of 18, she left her homeland and traveled to Ireland to join the Sisters of Loreto. Soon afterward, she moved to India, the country that would become her home for the rest of her life and the center of her humanitarian and missionary efforts.

Teresa's birth name was Anjeze or Agnes Gonxhe. She was born in 26 August 1910 into a Kosovar Albanian family in Skopje which then was part of the Ottoman empire. According to her biographer Joan Graff Clucas, she was interested in the life of missionaries from a very young age.

In 1928, at the age of 18, Anjezë made the life-changing decision to leave her family and homeland in pursuit of a religious calling. She traveled to Ireland and entered the Sisters of Loreto at Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, where she began her preparation for missionary work. One of the primary reasons for her move was to learn English, as it served as the official language used by the congregation in India.

In 1950, she launched the Missionaries Of Charity that was an organisation dedicated to serving the poor and the marginalised. Over the decades, the congregation expanded its operations to 133 nations and ran a whole gamut of services - from running soup kitchens, orphanages to managing homes for those with HIV, leprosy etc.

Mother Teresa became a renowned figure for her contribution to serving the poor and the needy. She was recipient of many awards such as the Nobel Peace Prize and Ramon Magsaysay Peace Prize.

In recognition of her work and her reputation for holiness, the Catholic Church formally declared her a saint on September 4, 2016, bestowing upon her the title of Saint Teresa of Calcutta.