You carried lonely hearts like

candles through the night 

Anjezë

[Intro] 

Anjezë… little rose of stone and fire… 

Anjezë…

[Verse 1] 

Beneath the minarets of old Shkup town 

A child was born when August burned the ground 

Drana whispered mercy through the open door 

Taught a small heart how to ache for the poor 

[Pre-Chorus – hushed] 

Then a voice like thunder in a quiet rain 

“I thirst, My child… come lose your life to gain”

[Chorus] 

Anjezë, fragile blossom of the Balkans 

White sari dancing through the monsoon’s cry 

In gutters and in wounds you found the face of God 

And every dying breath became a lullaby 

Anjezë, you turned poverty to prayer 

Anjezë, the world crowned you in Oslo’s winter air 

(Nobel light upon your trembling hands) 

Yet still you said, “I am only His pencil” 

[Verse 2] 

On the Darjeeling train the heavens tore apart 

Christ leaned from the Cross and branded her heart 

“Leave the cloister bells, come walk the burning street 

My thirsty ones are waiting barefoot at your feet” 

So she kissed the leper’s sores, cradled orphans made of dust 

Love in action was the only creed she’d trust 

[Chorus – wider, higher] 

Anjezë, gentle rebel clothed in mercy’s blue 

Nirmal Hriday, where death itself withdrew 

In every broken body beat the heart of hidden Christ 

And darkness learned to sing beneath your wounded eyes 

Anjezë, you turned poverty to prayer 

Anjezë, the nations laid their laurels in your hair 

Yet you knelt barefoot on the marble floor 

And gave the banquet gold to feed ten thousand more 

[Bridge – almost spoken, oud trembling] 

You said the poorest pain is not an empty bowl 

But feeling cast away from every human soul 

You carried lonely hearts like candles through the night 

Till loneliness itself was swallowed by the Light 

[Final Chorus – full choir, bells, soaring violin] 

Anjezë, little rose who never sought a throne 

Anjezë, mother of the streets, now saints have called you home 

From Skopje’s dust to heaven’s endless dawn 

You quench His thirst each time a soul is loved and drawn 

Anjezë, forever love 

Anjezë, forever love 

[Outro – choir fading into one lone voice] 

“I thirst…” 

You came 

You came 

Anjezë… 

 Historical Brief on Mother Teresa

 Birth and Family

- Born: 26 August 1910 in Skopje, Ottoman Empire (now North Macedonia), as Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu.

- Parents: Nikollë Bojaxhiu (father), a successful Albanian merchant and contractor who was active in local politics, and Dranafile Bojaxhiu (Drana), a deeply devout Catholic woman.

- Ethnicity: Ethnic Albanian, from a Kosovar Albanian family.

- Siblings: Elder sister Aga and elder brother Lazar.

 Early Life

- Raised in a prosperous and deeply religious Catholic family in a predominantly Muslim city.

- Her father died suddenly in 1919 when she was 8 years old, plunging the family into financial difficulty.

- Extremely close to her mother Drana, who instilled in her compassion for the poor by regularly taking in the sick and destitute.

- Active in her parish (Sacred Heart Catholic Church) from childhood: joined the Sodality, sang in the choir, and at age 12 felt her first strong religious “call”.

 Call to Religious Life

- At age 18 (1928), she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto (an Irish order) in Dublin, never seeing her mother or sister again.

- Took the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Thérèse of Lisieux (the “Little Flower”).

- Sent to India in 1929, arriving in Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1931.

- Made final profession of vows in 1937, becoming Mother Teresa.

 The “Call Within the Call”

- On 10 September 1946, while traveling by train from Calcutta to Darjeeling for her annual retreat, she experienced what she described as a direct mystical call from Christ to leave the convent and serve “the poorest of the poor” while living among them.

- After nearly two years of discernment and petitions, Pope Pius XII granted her permission in 1948 to live outside the cloister as an independent nun.

 Founding of the Missionaries of Charity

- 1950: Official Vatican approval of the new congregation, Missionaries of Charity (MC), with the distinctive white-and-blue sari.

- Began with 12 sisters; by the time of her death in 1997, the order had grown to over 4,000 sisters running 610 foundations in 123 countries.

- Later founded the Missionaries of Charity Brothers (1963), contemplative sisters, contemplative brothers, Fathers, lay Missionaries of Charity, and the Co-Workers (lay volunteers).

 Major Life Accomplishments

- Opened Nirmal Hriday (Pure Heart) in 1952 – the first Home for the Dying in Calcutta (next to a Kali temple).

- Established homes for abandoned children (Shishu Bhavan), leprosy clinics (Shanti Nagar), and orphanages.

- Responded to major disasters: Bangladesh refugees (1971), Beirut civil war (1982), Armenian earthquake (1988), Chernobyl radiation victims, etc.

- Opened the first house in a Western country (Bronx, New York) in 1971; eventually established houses in Communist countries (e.g., USSR 1986, Cuba 1986, Yemen, etc.).

- Founded the Gift of Love home for AIDS patients in New York (1985), one of the first Catholic hospices for AIDS sufferers.

 Major Awards and Recognition



- 1962: Padma Shri (India)

- 1971: Pope John XXIII Peace Prize

- 1979: Nobel Peace Prize (she asked for the banquet money to be donated to the poor)

- 1980: Bharat Ratna (India’s highest civilian award)

- 1994: U.S. Congressional Gold Medal (declined the formal banquet)

- 1996: Honorary U.S. citizenship (only the fifth person ever granted)

- Beatified by Pope John Paul II on 19 October 2003 (fastest beatification in modern history)

- Canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta by Pope Francis on 4 September 2016

 Driving Force

Mother Teresa repeatedly described her motivation in simple terms:

- “To quench the infinite thirst of Jesus on the Cross for love of souls” by serving Him in “the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor.”

- She saw every suffering person as Jesus in disguise (“I see the face of Christ in all His distressing disguises”).

- Her spirituality was rooted in the Gospel passage Matthew 25:40 (“Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me”) and in the thirst of Christ on the Cross (“I thirst” – John 19:28), which she placed beside every MC chapel tabernacle.

In her own words from the 1979 Nobel lecture:

> “It is not enough for us to say: ‘I love God,’ but I also have to love my neighbor… Today God loves the world so much that He gives you, He gives me, to love the world, to be His love, His compassion.”

Her life was driven by an intense, almost mystical personal love for Jesus experienced in contemplative prayer and translated into total service to the most abandoned.

 Mother Teresa’s Key Teachings 



(These are the core messages she repeated constantly in speeches, letters, interviews, and to her sisters)

1. “Do small things with great love” 

  The most famous line. She taught that holiness is not about spectacular deeds but about doing even the tiniest acts (a smile, washing a sore, giving a glass of water) with extraordinary love and attention.

2. See and serve Jesus in “the distressing disguise of the poorest of the poor” 

  Taken directly from Matthew 25:40. She insisted that every sick, abandoned, or dying person is Jesus Himself in disguise. Serving them is not social work—it is direct, personal love for Christ.

3. “I thirst” 

  The two words Jesus spoke on the Cross (John 19:28) became the heart of her spirituality. She placed them beside every tabernacle in Missionaries of Charity chapels. She explained: Jesus thirsts for our love and for the salvation of souls, and He continues to thirst in the suffering poor.

4. The five fingers gospel 

  When she held up her hand she would say: “You-did-it-to-Me.” 

  (One word on each finger). This was her quickest way of teaching Matthew 25.

5. Silence, prayer, and total surrender are the foundation of all work 

  She insisted on four hours of prayer a day for her contemplative sisters and at least two hours for the active ones. Without deep Eucharistic adoration and silence, she said, the work becomes mere activism and loses its soul.

6. We are not called to be successful, only faithful 

  Results belong to God. Our job is to give 100 % love and effort, then leave the outcome to Him.

7. The greatest poverty is to feel unloved, unwanted, and uncared for 

  She often said the West suffers from a deeper spiritual poverty than the material poverty of Calcutta’s streets: loneliness and being rejected by one’s own family.

8. Family prayer and love for the unborn 

  She repeatedly said the greatest destroyer of peace is abortion, because if a mother can kill her own child, no one is safe. She urged families to pray together (“The family that prays together stays together”) and to welcome children.

9. Humility and joyful obedience 

  She taught her sisters never to criticize, never to seek the first place, and to accept even unjust correction with a smile. “Joy is a net of love by which we catch souls.”

10. “I am only a pencil in God’s hand” 

  She never took personal credit. Everything was God’s work; she was merely the instrument.

In one sentence that sums up almost everything she taught: 

“We must become holy not because we want to feel holy, but because Christ must be able to live His life fully in us so that He can love the world through us.”

This is original work is produced by AK Darvinson with a combination of observation, critical thinking, insight, heart, compassion, passion, creativity, and technology. All rights are reserved. Free sharing is encouraged. Commercial use via license only.