New Film Showcases the Love of Mother Teresa

Maria V. Gallagher discovers awe-inspiring compassion in the upcoming film Mother Teresa: No Greater Love.

“An exclamation mark of joy!” That is how one photographer describes the smile of the “Saint of the Gutters”—St. Teresa of Calcutta—in the soon-to-be-released film, “Mother Teresa: No Greater Love.” Her joy in serving others was all the more amazing, given the fact that for fifty years the beloved saint suffered a dark night of the soul which tested her rock-steady faith.

The photographer is just one of the many, many people whose lives were touched by the Albanian-born Sister who founded her own religious order, the Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa’s mission was to serve the poorest of the poor with a heart overflowing with the love of Jesus. In her simple, humble way, she embodied the message of the Gospels—to love as Jesus loved.

The movie chronicles Mother Teresa’s journey from a 12-year-old with a flickering sense of her religious vocation to a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Most effective are the scenes in which Mother Teresa speaks in her own words about her groundbreaking ministry.

It is also truly touching to catch a glimpse of the people Mother Teresa helped along the way—the destitute, the abandoned, the desolate, and the medically fragile. These are individuals who experienced the profound love of God through Mother Teresa’s weathered hands.

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While Mother Teresa lived and worked in the 20th century, her dedication both to the people she served and to the God she adored offers timeless lessons that 21st century movie-goers can appreciate.

Also quite stirring is the legacy of love which Mother Teresa left behind, as demonstrated through the Sisters who continue her work on earth. Across continents and cultures, the compassion of Mother Teresa lives on in these admirable women who have taken her as their role model.

A particularly moving segment shows the first African-American member of the Missionaries of Charity ministering to the public on the streets of New York. With such tenderness—the tenderness she learned from Mother Teresa—she blesses each individual, marking them with the sign of the cross and wiping away their tears.

The Knights of Columbus produced the film with the aid of incredible access to archival footage and the insightful testimonials of the Missionaries of Charity. Fathom Events will present the movie in theaters Monday, October 3rd and Tuesday, October 4th.

“Mother Teresa taught us that there are no expendable people,” Knights of Columbus Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly said. “Everyone we encounter is made in the image of God. So, when she was feeding the hungry or holding the hands of someone as they lay dying, she was treating them as she would the most important person in her life, Jesus Christ himself.

“And, in all of this, she was teaching us to have a heart that sees, and if we can learn to see as she did, the world would be a radically different and, I would say, better place,” Kelly added.