Saint Teresa of Calcutta's Daily Prayer
Saint Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa, 1910-1997) said this prayer each day. The prayer was written by Saint John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), and Mother Teresa changed the original singular to plural and said it with her Missionaries of Charity sisters:
Radiating Christ
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance
everywhere we go.
Flood our souls with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly
that our lives may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through us and be so in us
that every soul we come in contact with
may feel your presence in our soul.
Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus.
Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be light to others.
The light, O Jesus, will be all from you.
None of it will be ours.
It will be you shining on others through us.
Let us thus praise you in the way you love best
by shining on those around us.
Let us preach you without preaching,
not by words, but by our example;
by the catching force –
the sympathetic influence of what we do,
the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you.
Amen.
Mother Teresa’s Prayer to Mary
Mary, Mother of Jesus,
give me your Heart,
so beautiful, so pure,
so Immaculate,
so full of love and humility,
that I may be able to receive Jesus
in the Bread of Life,
love Him as You loved Him
and serve Him as you served Him,
in the distressing disguise of the
poorest of the poor.
Amen.
On a Wall in a Missionaries of Charity Children's Home in Calcutta
(Attributed to Mother Teresa)
People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centred; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies; succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you; be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight; create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous; be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten; do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough; give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.
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.
- Saint Teresa of Calcutta
This Webpage first posted on The Feast Day of St Teresa of Calcutta, 5 September 2021.
Immaculate Queen of Peace, pray for us.
Immaculata Regina Pacis, ora pro nobis.
