November 30

If anyone wants to help me, let them begin at home. There is help needed on your doorstep, in your place of work, in your office and in your factory. Once I went with the head of a big company to his factory in Bombay where over 3,000 people were working. He had started a scheme among them, where they all gave something to fee the people in Asha Dan, our home. I had gone there to thank them and to my surprise I found that many of his employees were disabled. I was also struck that he knew nearly all of the workers by name and as we went through the factory, he had some greeting or word to say to everyone. Thoughtfulness comes when there is true love. Never be so busy as not to think of others.

November 29

I was in Beirut and was taken to a bombed hospital where we found fifty-five children of whom some were severely handicapped. I said that I would take the children. We left for the convent with them, though we were lacking everything, even the necessities to care for them. Some children and young people (Muslims, Christians, Druses etc.) came to help us and the smallest went home to bring their clothes to give these children. Some were chewing gum and in a burst of love, took the gum that they were chewing and gave it to them!

November 28

Dearest Lord, may I see You today and every day in the person of Your sick, and, whilst nursing them, minister unto You. Though You hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, many I still recognize You, and say: "Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you."

November 27

In Melbourne, I visited an old man nobody seemed to know existed. I saw his room; it was in a terrible state. I wanted to clean it, but he kept on saying: "I'm all right." I didn't say a word, yet in the end he allowed me to clean his room. There was in that room a beautiful lamp, covered for many years with dust. I asked him: Why do you not light the lamp? "For whom?" he said. "No one comes to me." I said: Will you light the lamp if a Sister comes to see you? He said: "Yes, if I hear a human voice, I will do it." The other day, he sent me word: "Tell my friend that the light she has lighted in my life is still burning." See what a little act can do?

November 26

Charity for the poor is like a living flame; the drier the fuel, the brighter it burns. In your service to the poor do not give only your hands but also your hearts. Charity to be fruitful must cost us.

November 25

Wheter one is a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian, how you live your life is proof that you are or not fully His. We cannot condemn or judge or pass words that will hurt people. We don't know in what way God is appearing to that soul and what God is drawing that soul to; therefore, who are we to condemn anybody?

November 24

There should be less talk; a preaching point is not always a meeting point. What do you do then? Take a broom and clean someone's house. That says enough. All of us are but His instruments who do our little bit and pass by.

November 23

If we have difficulties in our family life, if we have so much struggle in our family life, it is because life in the family is broken, and it is broken by our own hands. And the destruction is coming from within. If it came from outside, it would be easy to push it our; but when it's coming from inside, then it is very difficult. And that's why I think we need to pray.

November 22

I was asked why I did not give a rod with which to fish, in the hands of the poor, rather than give the fish itself as this makes them remain poor. So I told them: The people whom we pick up are not able to stand with a rod. SO today I will give them fish and when they are able to stand, then I shall send them to you and you can give them the rod. That is your job. Let me do my work today.

November 21

Faith is a gift of God. Without it there would be no life. And our work, to be fruitful and beautiful, has to be built on faith. Love and faith go together. They complete each other.

November 20

There is no great difference in reality between one country and another, because it is always people you meet everywhere. They may look different or be dressed differently or may have a different education or position; but they are all the same. They are all people to be loved, they are all hungry for love.

November 19

Am I ever angry or frustrated? I only feel angry sometimes when I see waste, when things that we waste are what people need, things that would save them from dying. Frustrated? No, never.

November 18

When you believe you love, when you love, you want to give your service, to give yourself. God gave us an example: He gives us everything freely; we must also give what we have, give ourselves. Let there be no pride or vanity in the work. Whatever we give them, make sure we have it to give.

November 17

Nobody in the Home for the Dying in Kalighat has died depressed, in despair, unwanted, unfed or unloved. That is why I think this is the treasure house of Calcutta. WE try and give them whatever they want - according to what is written in the book, be it Hindu, or Muslim, or Buddhist or Catholic or Protestant, or any other Society. The religious societies collect their own dead and provide them cremation or burial according to their religious rites. Some ask for Ganges water, some for holy water, for a word or a prayer. Some just ask for an apple or a pomegranate or a cigarette. Others want somebody to sit by them.

November 16

Be sincere in your prayer. Do you know how to pray? Do you pray your prayers? Do you love to pray? When we come face to face with God we cannot but be sincere and know ourselves - that we are nothing. It is only when we realize our nothingness, our emptiness, that God can fill us with himself. When we become full of God we will do all our work well.

November 15

To my Sisters: Our children may be only slum children but for that very reason just anything will not do. Each Sister must find a way to attract and capture the children. Do not think that you need not prepare yourself because you know more than they. They must have the best, and their good must be uppermost in your mind. Do not stale in your method, like stagnant water - Keep on improving but you must also know how to impart it. Never put off preparation as something trivial. The happiness of the children should be our main concern - and at the same time learn the most necessary things.

November 14

A Brazilian gentleman who held a high position, wrote to me that he had lost total faith in God and in man, and he had given up everything, and only wanted to commit suicide. One day, passing by a shop, his eyes had suddenly fallen on the TV and there was a scene from the Home for the Dying in Kalighat - the Sisters looking after the sick and the dying. He wrote to me after seeing that scene that for the first time after many years he knelt down and prayed. Now he has decided to turn back to God and have faith in humanity because he saw that God still loves the world and he saw this on TV. My TV is the tabernacle.

November 13

A mission of love can come only from union with God. From that union, love for the family, love for neighbor, love for the poor is natural fruit.

November 12

To my co-workers: I would like you to concentrate more in giving wholehearted free service to the poor in your own area. Each one of you try to find out the lonely, the unwanted, the handicapped. Maybe just a smile, a small visit, just to light the fire for someone, read for somebody. Small, yes, very small. But that will be your love of God in action. This spirit must radiate from your own heart to your family, neighbor, town, country, the world.

November 11

Our purpose is to take God and His love to the poorest of the poor, irrespective of their ethnic origin or the faith they profess. Our discernment of aid is not the belief but the necessity. In our work we bear witness to the love of God's presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists or agnostics become for this reason better men - simply better - we will be satisfied. Growing up in God's love they will be nearer to God and will find Him in His goodness.

November 10

Let us all pray especially that people shall be brothers and sisters in the world and will understand this prayer. We can each think about it separately and examine our conscience. And each of us before we pass the prayer on to somebody else, let us put this prayer into life: Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth; Lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust; Lead me from hate to love, from war to peace; Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.

November 9

In Beirut when I wanted to go across the lines and fetch the children, I was reminded that I would have to cross the fighting lines and ma be shot at. I insisted: No, tomorrow there will be a truce - the fighting will stop. The Sisters have prayed that there will be a ceasefire and truce tomorrow. And so it was. we took charge of the orphaned and crippled children and brought them safely home.

November 8

We are able to go through the most terrible places fearlessly, because Jesus in us will never deceive us; Jesus in us is our love, our strength, our joy and our compassion.

November 7

You, today, as young people - some are studying, some are working, some are preparing for the future - have that conviction, have that tender love for Christ, and with Him and through Him you will be able to do great things. But to be able to do that, we need to pray, and the fruit of prayer is deepening of faith, and the fruit of faith is love, and the fruit of love is service.

November 6

How do we love? Not in big things but in small things with great love. There is so much love in us all. We must not be afraid to show our love.

November 5

By abortion, the mother kills even her own child to solve her problems. And by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion leads to abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love but to use violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.

November 4

Jesus has said that we are much more important to His Father than the grass, the birds, the flowers of the earth: and so if He takes such care of these things, how much more would He take care of His life in us. He cannot deceive us; because life is God's greatest gift to human being; for since the unborn child is created in the image of God it belongs to Him; and we have no right to destroy it.

November 3

Love can be misused for selfish motives. I love you but at the same time I want to take from you as much as I can, even the things that are not for me to take. Then there is no true love anymore.

November 2

When a foundation was started in Venezuela, some of the young Sisters felt thrilled but nervous and asked: "How shall we manage in a new country of which we know neither the language nor the customs?" I told them: "Fear not, little ones, you speak a language all men understand, the language of charity. To the question: "What are you taking?" I replied: "Our hearts and our hands."

November 1

In God we live and move and have our being. It is God who gives life to all, who gives power and being to all that exists. But for His sustaining presence, all things would cease to be and fall back into nothingness. Consider that you are in God, surrounded and encompassed by God, swimming in God.