Jim Towey’s To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa is the loveliest book I’ve read in recent months, rich in reflection on contemporary sanctity and including one of the Five Funniest Catholic Stories Ever."
—George Weigel
"Towey recounts the hours Mother Teresa spent daily in deep prayer as well as the cheerfulness and compassion with which she served people in crushing poverty...his retelling of his beloved friend’s persistent dark night of the soul makes the reader want to comfort her...Readers familiar with Mother Teresa’s biography will find fresh meaning in Towey’s account of her impact on his spiritual journey. Those unfamiliar with her life story will appreciate his accessible and gripping introduction."
-America Jesuit Review
"To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa is a powerful "white pill," masterfully weaving together vignettes from Towey’s own life with the arc of the Albanian nun pursuing the will of God."
-Washington Free Beacon
“Towey portrays Mother Teresa in trademark sandals and sari, and also as a human who experienced loneliness, wrestled with doubts, and loved sweets...This personal portrait is by turns autobiographical, biographical, and devotional. Especially moving are the stories of Mother Teresa’s vivid calling through a vision, her dark night of the soul, and her final decline.”
—Booklist
“Though Towey’s personal, transformative relationship with Mother Teresa forms the central theme, he also offers a fascinating inside look into Mother Teresa’s daily life...Inspiring and joyful.”
—Kirkus Reviews
To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa
To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa
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Overview
Mother Teresa was one of the most admired women of the 20th century, and her memory continues to inspire charitable work around the world. She believed the greatest need of a human being is to love and be loved. In 1948, she founded the Missionaries of Charity to work directly with the very poorest of Calcutta. From the efforts of one woman entering the slums of Entally, the Missionaries of Charity grew into an organization operating soup kitchens, health clinics, hospices, and shelters in 139 countries, at no cost to any government or to those who served. In 2016, she became Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Author Jim Towey had been a high-flying Congressional staffer and lawyer in the 1980s until a brief meeting with Mother Teresa illuminated the emptiness of his life. He began volunteering at one of her soup kitchens and using his legal skills and political connections to help the Missionaries of Charity. When Mother Teresa suggested he take up shifts at her AIDS hospice, Towey realized he was all in. Soon, he gave up his job and possessions and became a full-time volunteer for Mother Teresa. He traveled with her frequently, arranged her meetings with politicians, and handled many of her legal affairs.
To Love and Be Loved is an “inspiring and joyful” (Kirkus Reviews) firsthand account of Mother Teresa's last years, and the first book ever to detail her dealings with worldly matters. We see her gracefully navigate the opportunities and challenges to leadership, the perils of celebrity, and the humiliations and triumphs of aging. We also catch her indulging in chocolate ice cream, making jokes about mini-skirts, and telling the President of the United States he's wrong. Above all, we see her extraordinary devotion to God and to the very poorest of His children. Mother Teresa taught Towey to be more prayerful, less selfish, more humble, less worldly, move in love with God, and less in love with himself. Her lessons are here for all to share.
Editorial Reviews
Jim Towey’s To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa is the loveliest book I’ve read in recent months, rich in reflection on contemporary sanctity and including one of the Five Funniest Catholic Stories Ever."
—George Weigel
"To Love and Be Loved: A Personal Portrait of Mother Teresa is a powerful "white pill," masterfully weaving together vignettes from Towey’s own life with the arc of the Albanian nun pursuing the will of God."
-Washington Free Beacon
"Towey recounts the hours Mother Teresa spent daily in deep prayer as well as the cheerfulness and compassion with which she served people in crushing poverty...his retelling of his beloved friend’s persistent dark night of the soul makes the reader want to comfort her...Readers familiar with Mother Teresa’s biography will find fresh meaning in Towey’s account of her impact on his spiritual journey. Those unfamiliar with her life story will appreciate his accessible and gripping introduction."
-America Jesuit Review
2022-07-20
One man’s memories of the iconic saint.
Towey is a former president of Saint Vincent College and Ave Maria University, and he served as director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under George W. Bush. However, he begins this combination of memoir and biography during his days as a Senate staffer, a role that gave him the opportunity to meet Mother Teresa (1910-1997). For the next 12 years, the author developed a close friendship with her, and that relationship fundamentally changed the direction of his life. He also acted as her lawyer and as legal counsel for the order she had established, the Missionaries of Charity. This position provided Towey with a rare level of access to Mother Teresa and unique insight into her interactions with the world around her, whether in her home in Calcutta or in the halls of power around the world. Towey’s primary narrative focus is the profound impact Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity made on him throughout his life. In a short amount of time, after having witnessed and taken part in the work of the nuns, the author began to feel his goals and direction changing. “I could feel the sisters setting a new trajectory for my life, and I liked where I was heading,” he writes. “They were making me a better man.” Though Towey’s personal, transformative relationship with Mother Teresa forms the central theme, he also offers a fascinating inside look into Mother Teresa’s daily life. He paints a picture of an aging woman who has survived tremendous ordeals, ranging from hunger and disease to revolution and warfare. Despite this, the Mother Teresa he knew was unfailingly kind, loving, and—in a theme he returns to throughout the text—maternal.
Critics may read Towey’s work as a hagiography, but it is nonetheless inspiring and joyful.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940178855577 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Simon & Schuster |
| Publication date: | 09/06/2022 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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