"We can do no great things, only small things with great love."
Bl. Teresa of Calcutta
She would have turned 100 years old on Aug. 26
“‘By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.’ Small of stature, rocklike in faith, Mother Teresa of Calcutta was entrusted with the mission of proclaiming God’s thirsting love for humanity, especially for the poorest of the poor. ‘God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor.’ She was a soul filled with the light of Christ, on fire with love for Him and burning with one desire: ‘to quench His thirst for love and for souls.’ (read more from the Vatican website here)
So, let’s get personal. How do we LOVE? How do we DO as Blessed Mother Teresa encourages “small things with great love?” Some excellent advice on living humbly and living true love can be found in an article written by Alice Von Hildebrand called “On True Love” found on Catholicity.com. Here are some words from the article : “A great sign of true love is the loving patience that one has toward the weaknesses of the beloved. It can be his idiosyncrasies, his temperament, his mannerisms (we all have them); it can be his physical frailties, his psychological oddities, his intellectual inability to follow a straight line of reasoning; his disorder, or his fanaticism for order. If a monk is constantly given occasions to ‘die to his own will’ (as St. Benedict says), the same is true of marriages. John Henry Cardinal Newman writes that even in the deepest human relationships, when love is authentic, life in common will give one plenty of opportunities to prove one's love by sacrificing one's preferences.........Mannerisms, idiosyncrasies, moods; physical, psychological, and intellectual weaknesses are either interpreted as positively as possible or are borne with patience. Benedict writes about monks striving for holiness who nevertheless almost inevitably cause irritation for those living close to them...” To read full article, click here.
Let us pray today for the intercession of Blessed Mother Teresa that with each thought, word and deed we may become more loving toward God, ourselves and our neighbors.
Happy Birthday Blessed Mother Teresa! Pray for us!
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