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Mutter Teresa: Die wunderbaren Geschichten

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Mutter Teresas Leben klingt wie eine Legende. Das albanische Mädchen, das mit 18 Jahren in einen irischen Orden eintrat, um als Missionarin nach Indien zu gehen, wurde zu einem Engel der Armen. Nicht nur Christen, sondern auch Muslime, Hindus und Ungläubige verehren diese rastlos tätige, 1979 mit dem Friedensnobelpreis geehrte Frau längst als Heilige. Von den Slums der indischen Metropole Kalkutta aus trug sie die Botschaft der christlichen Nächstenliebe in alle Welt.Leo Maasburg war als "Father Leo", wie sie ihn nannte, war er viele Jahre als Priester und Ratgeber, als Reisebegleiter und Übersetzer an Mutter Teresas Seite.Rechtzeitig zu ihrem 100. Geburtstag und zu ihrer erwarteten Heiligsprechung hat "Father Leo" nun erstmals die wunderbaren und köstlichen Geschichten, die kleinen und die großen Wunder zusammengefasst, die er an der Seite von Mutter Teresa erleben durfte. Hier wird eine humorvolle und geistreiche, eine weise und zupackende Frau sichtbar, die eine Botschaft der Hoffnung für unsere Zeit hat.

312 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

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Leo Maasburg

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5 stars
414 (61%)
4 stars
177 (26%)
3 stars
63 (9%)
2 stars
16 (2%)
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4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
Profile Image for Ene Sepp.
Author 15 books98 followers
April 18, 2020
Ema Teresast on vast kõik kuulnud. Ja kindla peale on tema olemasolu maailmas väga palju muutnud ja teatud osades elu edasi aidanud. Ma ei ole ise religioosne, nii et ega ma suurt rohkemat temast ei teadnud. Samas raamatut oli ikkagi päris huvitav lugeda, kõik need jutukesed ja juhtumised, mis Ema Teresat saatnud preester kirja on pannud, olles ise neid kogenud või teistelt kuulnud.
Ainus asi, kus tahtsin korraks raamatu tõesti käest panna, oli see, kui jutt jõudis Ema Teresa arvamuseni abordi ja rasestumisvastaste vahendite osas. Tema jaoks peaksid mõlemad olema täiesti kategooriliselt keelatud. No ei saa sellega nõustuda, ei saa. Aga samas, ega ei pea ju ka. Sest üks mulje, mis jäi nii raamatust kui ka Ema Teresast oli see, et kui on üks asi, mida ta ei tee, siis selleks oleks oma usu peale surumine ja teiste "pööramine".
Profile Image for Natalie Votipka.
175 reviews
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March 19, 2018
I read this for a book club and admittedly wasn't initially enthused by the pick. I mean... Mother Teresa, don't we all know she helped feed poor people and was an all around deserving Nobel Peace Prize winner?

Well, I'm really glad I'm picked up this book. She's so much more than an accomplished social worker. A "contemplative in the world" as she said and this book clearly shows how - she truly saw Jesus in the face of every person she met, just as much as in the Tabernacle. She sought to quench his "I thirst" by serving Him in the "distressing disguise of the poor." The little scenes the author recalls are both edifying and often humorous by introducing us to her spirituality and feisty personality.

Perhaps I thought her life wasn't relevant to mine, our vocations being so different. I was very wrong. What a saint.

Mother Teresa, pray for us! Mary, Mother of God, be a mother to us.
Profile Image for Alexis.
124 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2018
Loved it! Didn’t know that much about Mother Teresa before reading this (only popular stories and out of context quotes), so this book gave a really great overview of and insight into her loving tenderness and faithful boldness.

There were so many excerpts that I loved:

“Without God we are too poor to help the poor, but when we pray, God places His love in us” - Mother Teresa(p. 84)

“When she turned to speak to someone, she concentrated on them completely. It was as if she and that person, with their questions and concerns, were the only people there. I noticed something similar in Pope John Paul II” (p. 98)

“Whenever the poor are ‘robbed,’ whenever they are deprived of their right to a life of human dignity, the social order — and the order of love for one another in the broader sense — is severely wounded” (p. 155)

“It was especially moving to observe how she touched the seriously ill and the dying, how she was not afraid to caress them — as a mother fondles her child’s head and holds its hand. How often she changed human hearts and human lives through her touch!” (p. 156)

“That was probably the secret of her success: the power of tenderness. People were not touched by her because of any special intellectual accomplishments or her exemplary social achievements, but because they saw that she treated people with so much tenderness, empathy, and self-sacrifice” (p. 165)

“Love means to be willing to give until it hurts” - Mother Teresa (p. 170)

“Holiness is not a luxury of the few. It’s a simple duty for each one of us” - Mother Teresa (p. 179)

“Mother Teresa had cleaned all the toilets, and it seems that it was precisely in cleaning the toilets that she found an antidote to any hint of pride. This would fit well with the maxim that she often repeated: ‘How do you learn humility? Only through humiliations!” (p. 180)

“God didn’t call me to be successful. God called me to be faithful” - Mother Teresa (p. 183)


Amen!!!
Profile Image for Lāsma Ašme.
37 reviews3 followers
February 21, 2019
Šī grāmata man ļāva ieraudzīt to skaistumu, ko cilvēks var parādīt blakus esošajam... mīlestību, pazemību, prieku... kas bieži vien ir izvēle nevis emocionālais noskaņojums. Māte Terēze aicina saredzēt cilvēkus līdzās, kuri ir nabagi, bet ne vienmēr sociālā nozīmē, bet tāpēc, ka ir vientuļi, atstumti un alkst mīlestības! Īpaši uzrunāja viņas vārdi: nav svarīgi, cik daudz Tu izdari, bet kādu mīlestību tu tajā ieliec...
7 reviews9 followers
August 20, 2017
This collection of stories about Mother Teresa gave me a better understanding of her life and her works of love. Some of these stories made me laugh, and some made me cry. It is an easy read, but the lessons it teaches are rich and help you to grow your love for all of humankind, no matter how different from you those in need may be. That is a lesson that is especially important in today's turbulent atmosphere. These stories touched my heart and gave me an answer to my prayer of "What can I, one person, do to lessen the pain in the world?"
Profile Image for Dianne.
509 reviews
August 6, 2019
She is an amazing woman. Some of her sayings in this book I like "It doesn't matter how much we give. It matters how much love we put in the giving." "prayer gives us a pure heart. It purifies our heart. And a pure heart can see God." "If you have a pure heart, you can see God in every thing and in every person." "If we see God, we will love one another as God loves us." The motto of her life was "Love in action" "..excuse than accuse." "If you judge someone, then you have no time to love him." "If someone accuses you, ask yourself first: Is he right? If he's right, go and apologize to him. If he's not right, then take the insult that you have received in both hands. Don't let it go but seize the opportunity and give it to Jesus as a sacrifice. Be glad you have something valuable to give Him." "I know that God will not impose on me anything that I cannot bear. But sometimes I wish that He did not have such great confidence in me." The kind of spirit she insisted her sisters have, "loving trust" then "total surrender," and finally, "cheerfulness!" "Total surrender consists, among other things, in "accepting whatever He gives and giving whatever He takes away, with a big smile." "A cheerful Sister is like a sunbeam of God's love. She is a ray of hope in eternal happiness. She is a flame of buring love."
Profile Image for Erin.
55 reviews7 followers
January 24, 2018
This was a really good "beginners" book into Mother Teresa's life from the prospective of a priest that frequently traveled with her as an interpreter and to celebrate Mass. I didn't give 5 stars because because sometimes the author repeated himself, and I would have liked a little bit more history of her life. But overall very good and I would recommend.
64 reviews2 followers
April 4, 2021
Mäletan noorena katkeid uudistest, kus näidati ema Teresat erinevatel vastuvõttudel, erinevates riikides ja kohtumisi kogu maailma auväärsete suleliste ja karvastega. Nende hulgas ka ema Teresa ja printsess Diana kohtumine. Hämmastusin neid lugusid ja uudiseid vaadates juba siis, et ise nii pisike naine, aga milline vägi temas on.
Seega kui nüüd nägin raamatukogus seda raamatut, siis täpselt kaanepildi põhjal selle raamatu riiulilt kaasa haarasingi.
Lugesin seda raamatut jupp aega, lastes selle sisul ja mõtetel endasse imbuda. Imeline naine, imeline sõnum ja imeline raamat. Mulle meeldis see sedavõrd, et tellisin raamatu endale koju. See on kindlasti raamat, mida ma oma elu jooksul tahan mitu korda kätte võtta, sirvida ja lugeda.
Tema peamine sõnum nii tema elus kui ka selle raamatu kaudu on see: "Me oleme loodud armastama ja olema armastatud." Ta tahtis olla pliiats Jumala käes, kes jagab maailmale armastust hoolimata inimeste usulistest, rassilistest vm sättumustest. Naine, kes kogu elu elas ja töötas vaeste keskel, leidis ikka, et kõige vaesemad ei ole need inimesed, kel pole kodu, riideid ja süüa, vaid need, keda mitte keegi ei armasta. Ka lääne ühiskonna hädad nagu narkomaania, alkoholism, vägivald jms tulenevad tema sõnul armastuse puudumisest.
Raamatus on palju juhtumeid tema ja ta õdede ohtlikust tööst erinevates maailmanurkades; viisidest, kuidas nad surijate, vaeste ja lootuse kaotanud inimestega suhtlesid ja neile lootust ja armastust jagasid; imedest, mis neid teenistuses saatsid, aga ka sellest, mida ema Teresa inimestele oma elu ja töö kaudu õpetas.
Profile Image for Juan González.
165 reviews2 followers
January 5, 2025
Hace unos meses, después de ya muchos encargos variopintos, mi librero en Girona saltó del habitual «lees mucho» al «y muy variado». Solté una carcajada y traduje aquel variado por un friqui, que debía de ser lo que estaba pensando, con sorpresa y reconocimiento a partes iguales. Ahora, en preparación del inminente viaje a Calcuta, la curiosidad me lleva a intentar reconstruir la poliédrica figura de (santa) Teresa de Calcuta: adorada en mis años jóvenes (lastres de una educación católica), detestada después por parte de su conservadora moral (por eso se entendía tan bien con Juan Pablo II), quizá sea el momento de intentar revisitar el personaje desde más ángulos. Empiezo por este retrato hagiográfico de uno de sus sacerdotes de cabecera: entrañable, cortesano, y buscadamente dulce, se alinea de pleno con la literatura evangelizadora acrítica de la doctrina católica. Aun así, resulta una lectura simpática. Vendrán después una biografía autorizada y dos textos críticos. En fin…
Profile Image for Ken Madsen.
72 reviews5 followers
February 18, 2023
A fabulous gem of a book. The author, Father Leo, had the opportunity to witness firsthand the charitable acts of a great saint of the 21st century. We get to experience the woman who would not take no when it came to serving the poorest of the poor.

I'm a salesman and I've had experiences when your best laid plans go awry. Mother Teresa had many similar events. The one that impressed me was how she handled the dictator Daniel Ortega. She was granted an audience to gain permission to establish a Sisters of Charity house in Nicaragua. It is obvious the Holy Spirit guided her in this unexpected rant from Ortega.

If you want a firsthand experience of the beauty and grace of this great saint, read this book
Profile Image for Carolyn O’Connor .
239 reviews
September 6, 2025
So hard not to love St Mother Teresa. She lived in my lifetime and you could see her as a living saint. She is extremely humble, lives poorly and gives Jesus all the glory with none for herself. It really strikes me how hard she worked every single day even with old age and afflictions of pain. She would say that every pain and suffering was a gift of God.
This book has a lot to unpack as in learning not just reading, the simple nuggets she tries to teach everyone around her all of the time. You could open this book to any page and grasp a nugget of truth and apply it to your own life. Loved this woman that I never knew, but I have learned a lot through her own story. What an inspiration!
Profile Image for Nanci Robertson.
212 reviews6 followers
January 3, 2025
I bought this book second hand at a Goodwill store in Slidell, Louisiana, because I couldn't find anything 'better'. Turns out, this was an excellent book!! Written by Leo Maasburg, a Catholic priest and companion of Mother Teresa, both at the Vatican and around the world, for many years. This is truly a wonderful, saintly and fearless woman who helped, and LOVED everyone she came in contact with, especially the poorest of the poor. Maasburg relays many accounts of Mother Teresa's compassion, and unending drive to bring joy wherever she went.
77 reviews
January 31, 2024

Sometimes a book finds you and this was one for me.
Her life's devotion to the poorest of the poor was summed up in the following messages.
"It doesn't matter how much we give. It matters how much love we put into giving.
"Doesn't matter race, doesn't matter religion, doesn't matter Christian or Communist-we are all created to love and be loved."
What a world this would be if everyone took this message to heart.
Profile Image for Kathi.
6 reviews3 followers
February 17, 2018
It was quite good book and I've learned many new things about Mother Teresa. She wasn't just a religious person, there happened real wonders nobody of us can understand. Sometimes the book could have had a little more suspense, but altogether I recommend it to all those who like reading about great personalities in our world, no matter whether you're religious or not.
411 reviews11 followers
July 31, 2019
Maravilloso!!!!!

Escrito con enorme frescura y muy muy fácil de leer.

Me he emocionado en multitud de ocasiones lo que me ha gustado mucho, porque me ha dado la sensación de que he vivido las historias intensamente.

Lo recomiendo totalmente y estoy seguro de que quien lo lea no quedará defraudado.

Un grandísimo 5 estrellas.
Profile Image for Lara.
76 reviews
January 16, 2020
These stories about Mother Theresa deserve five stars. I learned so much about her spirituality, her tenacity, and her great works. Unfortunately, the writing was a little confusing at times. Still, I recommend this book as an enjoyable way to learn about Mother Theresa. You will finish feeling inspired to change the world in ways great and small.
434 reviews1 follower
November 23, 2025
Touching and interesting diary of stories from the priest who accompanied Mother Teresa in her journeys. I learned so much about this saint’s personality. The definition of humility who is one of the most well known women who ever walked the earth. The living example of God’s perfect love. An inspiring life well lived walking with Jesus.
Profile Image for Paul Smith.
27 reviews3 followers
July 2, 2018
Tells a number of really touching stories about Mother Teresa and how she inspired those who worked her and those she worked for. Almost seems to branch into hagiography, but if anyone deserves that, it's her.
Profile Image for Becca O'Hara.
39 reviews8 followers
July 23, 2018
A touching and powerful account of the life of a saint. I’d never heard most of Fr Leo’s stories before. Mother Teresa is a docile powerhouse of a woman, as evidenced by dozens of anecdotes here. A profound read!
181 reviews
October 1, 2017
Very short, simple collection of reflections and memories by a priest who was often in contact with Mother Teresa.
Profile Image for Brooke.
27 reviews
December 5, 2017
Nice short read that portrays her and her ideas very well.
Profile Image for Hailey Studer.
23 reviews
Read
December 29, 2019
Although this book took me awhile to finish it was full of inspiring stories from mother Teresa's life.
Profile Image for Liz.
5 reviews
March 12, 2020
Fantastic book - inspiring and entertaining!
Profile Image for Danielle.
55 reviews4 followers
April 29, 2020
I LOVED this book! It was so fun to get to know Mother Teresa through these anecdotes and to discover her personality a bit.
Profile Image for Michelle.
123 reviews
August 28, 2021
Maravilloso 🙏🏻 inspirador, perturbador, Interpelador. Sin duda, una mujer Santa. Un ejemplo muy alto
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews

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