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Reflections from Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Nobel Peace Prize winner and foundress of the Missionaries of Charity,
Mother
Teresa brought the homeless, sick, destitute and dying home to “die
like
angels.” She attributed her many charitable works to her daily
Holy Hours of
prayer before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Teresa said,
“I know I would
not be able to work one week if it were not for that continual force
coming
from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
“On the Cross Jesus said: ‘I thirst.’ From the Blessed
Sacrament Jesus
continues to say to each of us: ‘I thirst.’ He thirsts for our
personal love,
our intimacy, our union with Him in the Blessed Sacrament. His
longing for us
to be with Him in the Blessed Sacrament is infinitely greater than our
longing
to be with Him.” “Put your sins in the chalice for the
precious blood to
wash away. One drop is capable of washing away the sins of the world.”
“The Eucharist is connected with the Passion. If Jesus had not
established
the Eucharist we would have forgotten the crucifixion. It would have
faded into
the past and we would have forgotten that Jesus loved us. There is a
saying
that to be far away from the eyes is to be far away from the heart. To
make sure
that we do not forget, Jesus gave us the Eucharist as a memorial of his
love.” “When you look at the crucifix, you understand how
much Jesus loved you.
When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you
now.”
“Our lives must be woven around the Eucharist . . . fix your eyes on
Him Who
is the light; bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart; ask Him to
grant
you the grace of knowing Him, the love of loving Him, the courage to
serve Him.
Seek Him fervently.” “To be alone with Jesus in adoration and
intimate
union with Him is the greatest gift of love—the tender love of our
Father in
Heaven.”
“All of us know that unless we believe and can see Jesus in the
appearance of
bread on the altar, we will not be able to see him in the distressing
disguise of the poor. Therefore these two loves are but one in
Jesus.”
“If we really understand the Eucharist, if we really centre our lives
on
Jesus' Body and Blood, if we nourish our lives with the Bread of the
Eucharist, it
will be easy for us to see Christ in that hungry one next door, the one
lying
in the gutter, the alcoholic man we shun, our husband or our wife, or
our
restless child. For in them, we will recognize the distressing
disguises of the
poor: Jesus in our midst.”
“Through Mary the cause of our joy you discover that no where on earth
are
you more welcomed, no where on earth are you more loved, than by
Jesus, living
and truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament . . . He is
really there in
Person waiting just for you.”
“Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and
day, He
is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the
Eucharist,
come back to that Adoration.”
“Our hours of adoration will be special hours of reparation for sins,
and
intercession for the needs of the whole world, exposing the sin-sick and
suffering humanity to the healing, sustaining and transforming rays of
Jesus,
radiating from the Eucharist.”
Eucharistic Adoration Increases Vocations
“If you are looking for vocations, as a community have adoration every
day.”
“It was not until 1973, when we began our daily Holy Hour that
our
community started to grow and blossom . . . In our congregation,
we used to have
adoration once a week for one hour, and then in 1973, we decided to have
adoration
one hour every day. We have much work to do. Our homes for
the sick and
dying destitute are full everywhere. And from the time we started
having
adoration every day, our love for Jesus became more intimate, our love
for each other
more understanding, our love for the poor more compassionate, and we
have
double the number of vocations. God has blessed us with many
wonderful
vocations. The time we spend in having our daily audience with God
is the most precious
part of the whole day.”
“Our holy hour is our daily family prayer where we get together and
pray the
Rosary before the exposed Blessed Sacrament, the first half hour, and
the
second half hour we pray in silence.”
“We cannot separate our lives from the Eucharist; the moment we do,
something
breaks. People ask, ‘Where do the sisters get the joy and
energy to do what
they are doing?’ The Eucharist involves more than just
receiving; it also
involves satisfying the hunger of Christ. He says, ‘ Come to Me.’ He
is hungry
for souls.” “When the Sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes
in work; when
all seems to go awry, they spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed
Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit: they
experience peace and
strength.”
“I am very glad to know about the perpetual adoration movement . . .
Thank
God for His love for you—for His presence in you and the joy with
which you
love and serve Him in the Blessed Sacrament and in each other. Each one
of us is
a co-worker of Christ—we must labour hard to carry Him to the hearts
where He
has not yet been known and loved. But unless we have Jesus we
cannot give
Him; that is why we need the Eucharist. Spend as much time as
possible in front
of the Blessed Sacrament and He will fill you with His strength and His
power.
Tell Him, ‘Come to our hearts Lord and stay with us.’
Then you will become
instruments of His love, peace and joy.”
“Perpetual adoration with exposition needs a great push.” “Perpetual
adoration is the most beautiful thing you could ever think of doing.
People are
hungry for God.”
“Perpetual Adoration, Eucharistic Adoration offers to our people the
opportunity to join those in religious life to pray for the salvation of
the world,
souls everywhere and peace on earth. We cannot underestimate the power
of prayer
and the difference it will make in our world.” “Ask your
parish priest to
have Perpetual Adoration.”
“Be only all for Jesus and give Jesus to others. That is why
Jesus made
Himself the Bread of Life. That is why He is there twenty-four
hours. That is
why He is longing for you and for me to share the joy of loving.
And He says:
‘As I have loved you.’ If I can give you any advice, I beg you
to get closer
to the Eucharist.” “I beg the Blessed Mother to touch
the hearts of all
parish priests that they may have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in
their
parishes, and that it may spread throughout the entire world.”
“Her [Mother Teresa’s] mission began every day, before dawn, in the
presence
of the Eucharist. In the silence of contemplation, Mother Teresa
heard the
echo of Jesus’ cry on the Cross: ‘I thirst.’ This cry,
received in the depths
of her heart, spurred her to seek out Jesus in the poor, abandoned, and
the
dying on the streets of Calcutta and to all the ends of the earth”
(Pope John
Paul II, Sunday Angelus, September 7, 1997).
Quotes of Mother Teresa
“The time you spend with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the
best time you
will spend on earth. Each moment that you spend with Jesus will
deepen your
union with Him and make your soul everlastingly more glorious and
beautiful in
Heaven, and will help bring about everlasting peace on earth.”
“Who is Jesus to me? Jesus is the Word made Flesh. Jesus
is the Bread of
Life. Jesus is the Victim offered for our sins on the cross.
Jesus is the
sacrifice offered at holy Mass for the sins of the world and for mine.
Jesus is
the Word—to be spoken. Jesus is the Truth—to be told. Jesus is
the Way—to be
walked. Jesus is the Light—to be lit. Jesus is the Life—to be
lived. Jesus
is the Love—to be loved.”
“Like Mary, let us be full of zeal to go in haste to give Jesus to
others.
She was full of grace when, at the annunciation, she received Jesus.
Like her,
we too become full of grace every time we receive Holy Communion. It is
the
same Jesus whom she received and whom we receive at Mass . . . let us go
in haste
to give Him to our sisters, to our poor, to the sick, to the dying, to
the
lepers, to the unwanted, and the unloved.” “When communicating
with Christ in
your heart—the partaking of Living Bread—remember what Our Lady must
have
felt when the Spirit overpowered her and she, who was full of grace,
became full
with the body of Jesus.”
Prayers of Mother Teresa
“Mary, mother of Jesus, give us your heart, so beautiful, so pure, so
immaculate, so full of love and humility, that we may be able to receive
Jesus in the
bread of life, love him as you love him, and serve him in the
distressing
disguise of the poor.”
The fruit of silence is PRAYER
the fruit of prayer is FAITH
the fruit of faith is LOVE
the fruit of love is SERVICE
the fruit of service is PEACE.
“This [Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration] truly is a work of grace. By
means of
perpetual Adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, families,
parishes and
neighborhoods will grow in love of God and one another and will help to
bring
peace on earth.”
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