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The greatest science in the world; in heaven and on earth; is love.
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Mother Teresa
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every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing
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Mother Teresa (The Joy in Loving)
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Our poor people are great people, a very lovable people, They don't need our pity and sympathy. They need our understanding love and they need our respect. We need to tell the poor that they are somebody to us that they, too, have been created, by the same loving hand of God, to love and be loved.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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Jesus wants me to tell you again...how much is the love He has for each one of you-beyond all what you can imagine...Not only He loves you, even more--He longs for you. He misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you. He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy...
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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What mattered to her was that she loved God, whether or not He granted her the consolation and joy of His felt presence.
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Brian Kolodiejchuk (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta" (Wheeler Large Print Book Series))
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To commit herself to becoming "an apostle of Joy" when humanly speaking she might have felt at the brink of despair, was heroic indeed. She could do so because her joy was rooted in the certitude of the ultimate goodness of God's loving plan for her. And though her faith in this truth did not touch her soul with consolation, she ventured to meet the challenges of life with a smile. Her one lever was her blind trust in God.
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Brian Kolodiejchuk (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta" (Wheeler Large Print Book Series))
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To the good God nothing is little because He is so great and we so small- that is why He stoops down and takes the trouble to make those little things for us- to give us a chance to prove our love for Him.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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There is so much deep contradiction in my soul. Such deep longing for God - so deep that it is painful - a suffering continual - and yet not wanted by God - repulsed - empty - no faith - no love - no zeal. Souls hold no attraction - Heaven means nothing - to me it looks like an empty place - the thought of it means nothing to me and yet this torturing longing for God. Pray for me please that I keep smiling at Him in spite of everything. For I am only His - so He has every right over me. I am perfectly happy to be nobody even to God. . . .
Your devoted child in J.C.
M. Teresa
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Brian Kolodiejchuk (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta" (Wheeler Large Print Book Series))
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For the first time in this 11 years--I have come to love the darkness--for I believe now that it is a part, a very, very small part of Jesus' dakness and pain on earth. You have taught me to accept it [as] a "spiritual side of 'your work'"... (Mother Teresa, quoated in Kolodiejchuk, p. 208).
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Brian Kolodiejchuk (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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The personal love Christ has for you is infinite - the small difficulty you have regarding the church is finite.... What is happening on the surface of the church will pass, but Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
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Mary Poplin (Finding Calcutta: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Meaningful Work and Service (Veritas Books))
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Mother Teresa was once asked by a journalist why she does what she does, that is, how she is able to take the dying poor from the streets of Calcutta, nurse and love them. Her response reflected her deep self-knowledge: “I realized a long time ago that I had a Hitler within me.”2 This realization became the basis of her self-transcendence and of her unique holiness.
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Wayne Teasdale (The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions)
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Our poor people are great people, a very lovable people, They don't need our pity and sympathy. They need our understanding love and they need our respect. We need to tell the poor that they are somebody to us that they, too, have been created, by the same loving hand of God, to love and be loved.”
― Mother Teresa,
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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When we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged on how much we loved.
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Mother Teresa
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Bring all you are suffering to [Jesus] . . . only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are. He will do the rest. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta,
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Bob Schuchts (Be Healed: A Guide to Encountering the Powerful Love of Jesus in Your Life)
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Your False Self is who you think you are. Your thinking does not make it true. Your False Self is almost entirely a social construct to get you started on your life journey. It is a set of agreements between your childhood and your parents, your family, your neighbors, your school chums, your partner or spouse, and your religion. It is your “container” for your separate self. 4 Jesus would call it your “wineskin,” which he points out usually cannot hold any new wine (Mark 2: 21–22). Your ego container likes to stay “contained” and hates change. Your False Self is how you define yourself outside of love, relationship, or divine union. After you have spent many years laboriously building this separate self, with all its labels and preoccupations, you are very attached to it. And why wouldn’t you be? It’s what you know and all you know. To move beyond it will always feel like losing or dying. Perhaps you have noticed that master teachers like Jesus and the Buddha, St. Francis, all the “Teresas” (Avila, Lisieux, and Calcutta), Hafiz, Kabir, and Rumi talk about dying much more than we are comfortable with. They all know that if you do not learn the art of dying and letting go early, you will hold onto your False Self far too long, until it kills you anyway.
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Richard Rohr (Immortal Diamond: The search for our true self)
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I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.’ Mother Teresa of Calcutta
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Anna Smith (To Tell the Truth)
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They provided education for the poor, and love and medical care for those who would otherwise be abandoned, often giving them a sense of dignity and true acceptance in their last days. In
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Michael J. Ruszala (Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Witness to Love)
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40. From Those To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected
When I left school, I worked for six months running a series of self-defence classes around London to earn some money so I could go backpacking. Finally, I saved enough to travel to India, where I had always wanted to go and see the mighty Himalayas with my own eyes. I knew it would take my breath away.
But it was the other things I witnessed in India that really blew my mind.
In the back streets of Calcutta I saw sights that just should not happen: legless, blind, ragged bodies, lying in filth-strewn gutters, holding out their blistered arms to beg for a few rupees. I felt overwhelmed, inadequate and powerless - all at once.
I sought out the mission run by Mother Teresa and saw there how simple things - cleanliness, calm, care and love - made a difference to those in need. These are not costly things to give, and the lesson I learnt was simple: that we all have it within our power to offer something to change a life, even if our pockets are empty.
We’ve come to think of charity as being about big telethons or rock stars setting up foundations, but at its heart, charity is about small acts of kindness.
No matter the circumstances in which you were brought up, no matter what your job or how much you earn, we all have the capacity to give something - whether it’s time, love or a listening ear to someone in need.
And the thing to remember is this: don’t wait until you have more time, money or energy. Mother Teresa said: ‘Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.’
It is a great lesson, and the more we try to do this with whatever little we have, the more real success will gravitate toward us. People will love you back, your own sense of purpose and achievement will grow, and your life will have influence beyond the material.
That is a great way to be known and to live your life.
For the record: I am definitely still a work in progress on this one, but we all benefit from trying to aspire to this more.
So look around you for those in need - you won’t have to look far - and your own life will grow in meaning.
Success is not success unless you live this one.
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Bear Grylls (A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character)
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The assurance that “Christ’s love is stronger than all that we have or are” had helped her not to succumb to the interior darkness and the pain of nothingness. It was in this state, when she felt that in her heart there was “no faith—no love—no trust”74 that she had formulated the prayer “Jesus in my heart, I believe in your faithful love for me. I love you.” Later she would alter the prayer by replacing “faithful” with “tender.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellow men
throughout the world who live and die in poverty and hunger. Give them through our hands this day their daily bread,
and by our understanding love, give peace and joy. Amen.
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Jon Leonetti (Beginner's Guide To Mother Teresa of Calcutta: (Almost) Everything You Need To Know In 10,000 Words)
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The fruit of silence is prayer. The fruit of prayer is faith. The fruit of faith is love. The fruit of love is service. BLESSED TERESA OF CALCUTTA
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Christoph Schönborn (YOUCAT English: Youth Prayer Book)
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Prayer for the Miracle of God’s Love3 Our Father, here I am, at your disposal, your child, use me to continue your loving the world, by giving Jesus to me and through me, to each other and to the world. Let us pray for each other, that we allow Jesus to love in us, and through us, with the love with which His Father loves Him. Amen. — BL. MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA
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Larry Richards (Surrender!: The Life-Changing Power of Doing God's Will)
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It was her concern and commitment to a friend which last year involved her in perhaps the most emotional period of her life. For five months she secretly helped to care for Adrian Ward-Jackson who had discovered that he was suffering from AIDS. It was a time of laughter, joy and much sorrow as Adrian, a prominent figure in the world of art, ballet and opera, gradually succumbed to his illness. A man of great charisma and energy, Adrian initially found it difficult to come to terms with his fate when in the mid-1980s he was diagnosed as HIV positive. His word as deputy chairman of the Aids Crisis Trust, where he first met the Princess, had made him fully aware of the reality of the disease. Finally he broke the news in 1987 to his great friend Angela Serota, a dancer with the Royal Ballet until a leg injury cut short her career and now prominent in promoting dance and ballet. For much of the time, Angela, a woman of serenity and calm practicality, nursed Adrian, always with the support of her two teenage daughters.
He was well enough to receive a CBE at Buckingham Palace in March 1991 for his work in the arts--he was a governor of the Royal Ballet, chairman of the Contemporary Arts Society and a director of the Theatre Museum Association--and it was at a celebratory lunch held at the Tate Gallery that Angela first met the Princess. In April 1991 Adrian’s condition deteriorated and he was confined to his Mayfair apartment where Angela was in almost constant attendance. It was from that time that Diana made regular visits, once even brining her children Princes Willian and Harry. From that time Angela and the Princess began to forge a supportive bond as they cared for their friend. Angela recalls: “I thought she was utterly beautiful in a very profound way. She has an inner spirit which shines forth though there was also a sense of pervasive unhappiness about her. I remember loving the way she never wanted me to be formal.”
When Diana brought the boys to see her friends, a reflection of her firmly held belief that her role as mother is to bring them up in a way that equips them for every aspect of life and death, Angela saw in William a boy much older and more sensitive than his years. She recalls: “He had a mature view of illness, a perspective which showed awareness of love and commitment.”
At first Angela kept in the background, leaving Diana alone in Adrian’s room where they chatted about mutual friends and other aspects of life. Often she brought Angela, whom she calls “Dame A”, a gift of flowers or similar token. She recalls: “Adrian loved to hear about her day-to-day work and he loved too the social side of life. She made him laugh but there was always the perfect degree of understanding, care and solicitude. This is the point about her, she is not just a decorative figurehead who floats around on a cloud of perfume.” The mood in Mount Street was invariably joyous, that sense of happiness that understands about pain. As Angela says: “I don’t see death as sad or depressing. It was a great journey he was going on. The Princess was very much in tune with that spirit. She also loved coming for herself, it was an intense experience. At the same time Adrian was revitalized by the healing quality of her presence.” Angela read from a number of works by St. Francis of Assisi, Kahil Gibran and the Bible as well as giving Adrian frequent aromatherapy treatments. A high spot was a telephone call from Mother Teresa of Calcutta who also sent a medallion via Indian friends. At his funeral they passed Diana a letter from Mother Teresa saying how much she was looking forward to meeting her when she visited India. Unfortunately Mother Teresa was ill at that time so the Princess made a special journey to Rome where she was recuperating. Nonetheless that affectionate note meant a great deal to the Princess.
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Andrew Morton (Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words)
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The mother and the father must both accept the gift of each child and open themselves to love, making the sacrifices necessary to welcome this new person created in the image of God.
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Michael J. Ruszala (Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta: A Witness to Love)
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Humility is the mother of all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent. If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed, you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint, you will not put yourself on a pedestal. Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
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Anthony Vincent Bruno (The Wisdom of the Saints)
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My weakness and sinfulness, my inability, my want of many things must cause you fear as it does me- but I am very sure of God. I trust his love.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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Love Jesus—live with Jesus that you may live for Jesus. M. Teresa45
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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I embrace suffering even before it actually comes, and like this Jesus and I live in love.
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Mother Teresa
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The work we do is nothing more than a means of transforming our love for Christ into something concrete. I didn’t have to find Jesus. Jesus found me and chose me. A strong vocation is based on being possessed by Christ. He is the Life that I want to live. He is the Light that I want to radiate. He is the Love with which I want to love. He is the Joy that I want to share. He is the Peace that I want to sow. Jesus is everything to me. Without Him, I can do nothing.
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Mother Teresa (My Life for the Poor: Mother Teresa of Calcutta)
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Even Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, who spent her life ministering in the world and truly changed the world through her service, believed this. When she received the Nobel Peace Prize and was asked what people can do to promote world peace, she answered, “Go home and love your family.
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Haley Stewart (The Grace of Enough: Pursuing Less and Living More in a Throwaway Culture)
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Love demands sacrifice. But if we love until it hurts, God will give us His peace and joy…. Suffering in itself is nothing; but suffering shared with Christ’s Passion is a wonderful gift.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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her “smile”—as an expression of her loving disposition toward God—in spite of her feelings.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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As for myself—there is but one desire—to love God as He has never been loved—with deep personal love.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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Love Jesus—live with Jesus that you may live for Jesus.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)
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With St. Ignatius47 you may add: My only wish and desire, the one thing I humbly crave to have is the grace to love God, to love Him alone. Beyond that I ask for nothing more.
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Mother Teresa (Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta)