While I was a student at Franciscan University I went on a mission trip to the Bronx, New York. As I was preparing for the trip I came across the prayer that the Missionaries of Charity pray daily and that was a favorite of St. Mother Teresa:
Dear Jesus,
Help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.
Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.
Joy & Radical Love
While on my mission trip I was able to meet and pray with some of the Missionaries of Charity sisters and walk in the same place that Mother Teresa herself had walked in. The sisters we met radiated joy and welcomed us in. What stood out to me was that these sisters daily choose to love in a radical way. That’s what St. Mother Teresa herself did as she said,
“Love has no other message but its own. Every day we try to live out Christ’s love in a very tangible way, in every one of our deeds.”
Members of my missionary trip and I being shown a Rosary of Mother Teresa’s.
The mission trip was an opportunity to focus on loving as Christ loves, loving not only the elderly I served at the nursing homes or the people experiencing poverty who I helped feed but loving those whom I served with and the strangers I walked by on the streets. The trip was marked by a peace I had never known before because our ministry was so rooted in Christ, every day we spent time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and this time in contemplation and reading scriptures helped me rely on Christ’s strength and to let Christ love through me.
I Thirst
In the Missionaries of Charity Convent by the crucifix were the words in bold print, “I Thirst.” How do we quench the love of Christ on the Cross? Spend time in contemplation on Christ’s words and if you haven’t already, read 33 days to Morning Glory, which includes a whole section on Bl. Mother Teresa and her mission to quench Christ’s thirst.
“May there be less of me and more of You. May there be less of me my God -Tori Harris
How has Mother Teresa inspired you?
How can you practice the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy?
How can you spread the fragrance of Christ’s love?