They Walked with God: Book 2 highlights the lives of St. Teresa of Calcutta, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe and St. John Bosco. These three remarkable individuals conformed their lives to God in simple ways that became extraordinary ways. Regardless of their particular circumstances, they share a common calling. They are teachers. With profound wisdom, they teach us how to live in the challenging school of life.
St. Teresa of Calcutta :was born in 1910 in Skopje, in present-day Macedonia, Mother Teresa joined the Sisters of Loreto religious congregation in Dublin, Ireland in 1928. As a Sister of Loreto, she taught geography at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, India for twenty years. In 1950, she started her own religious congregation, the Missionaries of Charity, in order to minister to the poorest of the poor. To people throughout the world, Mother Teresa is an icon of goodness and compassion. Pope Paul VI said, "The work of Mother Teresa shows this - her inexhaustible energy, her potential for good, the resources of her human heart, are poured out. The leaven of her personal sacrifice as well as her courage enabled her to do unbelievable things with God's help."
St. John Bosco was born in Becchi, Italy in 1815. He established a religious congregation known as the Salesians and he was the co-founder of Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, an order of religious Sisters whose purpose was to help orphaned and destitute girls in Italy. He organized an association for the laity called the Salesian Cooperators. The Cooperators were to be activists, fully committed to helping the destitute. Pope Pius IX was among the first to enroll as a Cooperator. The schools Don Bosco founded were considered the best in Italy and he became known as one of Europe's finest educators. He developed a teaching method called the "Preventive System" which was based on reason, religion and kindness. By the end of his life, he and his religious congregation were helping 131,000 disadvantaged and orphaned children. When praised for his works of charity he said, "I have done nothing by myself. Our Lady has done everything."
St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe who was born in 1894, was a Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan Friar. In 1917 he founded the Militia Immaculatae, a worldwide movement that promotes total consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary as a means of spiritual renewal. He established a friary which he named "The City of the Immaculate" near Warsaw, Poland. By 1939, the City of the Immaculate had become the largest Franciscan friary in the world. He published a monthly magazine which he called Knight of the Immaculata. He lived in Japan for a period of six years where he established a friary - the Garden of the Immaculate. He studied Japanese and was able to successfully write and publish the Knight magazine in the Japanese language.
When he returned to Poland, he continued to write and print his publications. With very little money, he built one of the most advanced religious printing plants in Europe. For years, he had wanted to use the media of radio to broadcast spiritual programs. With a short-wave radio borrowed from the army, he was finally able to do so. He once said, "If St. Francis of Assisi was alive, he would be using all of the modern means of technology and mass communication. Father Maximilian Kolbe was known and loved throughout Poland and considered a national hero. The fact that he was a person of such great influence caused the Nazis in Occupied Poland to consider him dangerous. In 1941, he was arrested and taken to the German death camp of Auschwitz. When the Nazi guards selected 10 prisoners to die in punishment for one escapee, Kolbe offered his life in exchange for one of the prisoners. His death was mourned by thousands.
