Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Dear Friends in Christ,

August 26 was the 100th birthday of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. Most of us remember this little nun who did so much good for the poor in India. Most of us remember this little nun who did so much good for the poor in India. I was privileged to hear Mother Teresa speak once in 1982 at Thomas Aquinas College. Here is an excerpt of her speech:

“I hope you have learned to pray. And if you have learned to pray, that is your strength, that is your joy. And through this life of prayer, make sure — the fruit of prayer is always the deepening of faith. And the fruit of faith is always love. And the fruit of love is action. We must put our love for Jesus in the living action.

How do we do that? If we do it with Jesus, if we do it for Jesus, and if we do it to Jesus, then we know that we are with Him because He has said so.

This is not an act of faith, to believe that I am doing it to Jesus. Jesus has said, "Whatever you do to the least of My brethren, you do to Me." And also the condition — in our last day when we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged by what we have been to Him, and He says, "I was hungry; and you gave Me to eat; I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was homeless, and you did it to Me." There is no imagination, no maybe.

Just as we believe that two and two make four — we don’t need to believe that; we know it is like that — so [it is the same] when Jesus has said, "You did it to me," that presence. And to be able to do that, we need the Eucharist, we need Jesus in the Holy Communion, we need the Bread of Life. That is why Jesus made Himself Bread of Life to satisfy our hunger for His love. And then He makes Himself the Hungry One so that we can satisfy His hunger for our love…

And how do we have to do that? Where does it begin, this love? At home. And how does this love begin? [The] family that prays together, stays together. And if you stay together, you will love one another as God loves each one of you, as Jesus wants us to love one another — not in sadness, but in joy. To think that I can love God in my brother, in my sister — it is a wonderful thing.”

Let us pray for that spirit of love that Mother Teresa had for others.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand