December 31

Instead of death and sorrow, let us bring peace and joy to the world. To do this we must beg God for His gift of peace and learn to accept each other as brothers and sisters, children of od. We know the best place for children to learn how to love and to pray is in the family, by seeing the love and prayer of their mother and father. When families are strongly united, children can see God's special love in the love of their father and mother and can grow to make their country a loving, prayerful place.

December 30

At the Silver Jubilee of the Congregation in Calcutta people prayed for us and with us. We went to pray with Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians, Jews, Anglicans, Protestants, in fact with people of all denominations and religions in eighteen different places. We concentrated on practical devotion. We could get the top people in firms and important members of society to see the poor, befriend them, come in contact with them, learn their condition; then they would serve them with their own hands. The poor were astonished and deeply moved when seeing such well-dressed people come down to serve them. Such an example goes a long way.

December 29

Today, more than ever, we need to pray for the light to know the will of God, for the love to accept the will of God, for the way to do the will of God.

December 28

The most important rule of a well-regulated family, of a family founded on love and unity, is that the children show an unbounded trust in and obedience to their parents. Jesus practiced this for thirty years in Nazareth for we hear nothing of Him but that "he was subject to them," that is, He did what He was told.

December 27

I repeat that the poor, the sufferers from leprosy, the rejected, the alcoholics, whom we serve, are beautiful people. Many of them have wonderful personalities. The experience which we have by serving them, we must pass on to people who have not had that wonderful experience.

December 26

The children in our homes in Calcutta were given an early Christmas treat one year by an international airline which gave them a free one-hour ride. I wish you could have seen the excitement of these 150 children, looking so neat in matching shirts and caps that had been donated for the occasion. How wonderful that our handicapped and malnourished and abandoned children, who would otherwise never have experienced the joy of flying, were given the chance.

December 25

At Christmas, we see Jesus as a little babe - helpless and poor. And He came to love and be loved. How can we love Jesus in the world today? By loving Him in my husband, my wife, my children, my brothers and sisters, my parents, my neighbours and the poor. Let us gather around the poor crib in Bethlehem and make a strong resolution that we will love Jesus in all those we meet every day.

December 24

The poor people are great people. They can teach us so many beautiful things. The other day one of the poor people came to thank us and said: "You people who have evolved chastity, you are the best people to teach us family planning because it is nothing more than self-control out of love for each other."

December 23

Our vocation is to belong to Jesus, not to work for the poor. The work for the poor is our love for God in action. It is your vocation to have a family, to love one another and the service you do is your love for God in action.

December 22

God has blessed our society with many vocations. We have many, many young people who have consecrated their lives to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor - to give their all to him - and it has been a wonderful gift of God to the whole world that through this work, the rich and the poor have come to know each other, to love each other and to share the joy of living by putting their love, their understanding love, into living action.

December 21

I don't know what God is doing. He knows. We do not understand, but one thing I'm sure. He doesn't make a mistake.

December 20

In the Scriptures it is written: "What will profit, if a man says he has faith, but does not have works?" Can faith alone save him? If a brother or a sister is naked and in want of daily food and one of you says to them: "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what does it profit? So faith unless it has works is dead in itself.

December 19

I did not know that our work would grow so fast or go so far. I never doubted that it would live but I did not think it would be like this. Doubt I never had because I had this conviction that if God blesses it, it will prosper. Because none of us have got the experience. None of us have got the things the world looks for. This is the miracle of all these little Sisters all around the world. God is using them; as long as any of us have this conviction, we are all right. The work will prosper.

December 18

Be faithful in little things, for in them our strength lies. We may not be able to give much but we can always give the joy that springs in a heart that is in love with God.

December 17

A Hindu woman married to a Parsi, came to ask for my blessings for her three-year-old son who could not speak. I asked the woman: "Is there anything to which you are very attached, something dear to you? The child's mother replied: "Yes, chewing betel. With me it has become a compulsory habit." Give it up. Offer it to God as a sacrifice and pray for your son's cure, I said. She did and three months later he son started to speak and slowly became normal.

December 16

Am I convinced of God's love for me and mine for Him? This conviction is like a sunlight which makes the sap of life rise and the buds of sanctity bloom. This conviction is the rock on which sanctity is built.

December 15

"Lord, make me an instrument of peace" is our motto. The most important part is that we keep the work as His work and that we do not spoil it by any claims. It is impossible, humanly speaking, for our young and inexperienced Sisters to do what they do but for the fact that we are just instruments to do God's work. Our task is to allow Jesus to use us. It is He who is doing the work with us, through us and in us.

December 14

A smile must always be on our lips for any child to whom we offer help, for any to whom we give companionship or medicine. It would be very wrong to offer only our cures; we must offer to all our hearts.

December 13

The poor people whom we gather each day are those whom society rejects and abandons. People do not think that the poor can be treated as people like you or I. We try to give human dignity back to them. One day a young boy, 15 or 16 years old, came crying and begged me to give him some soap. I knew the family of that boy was rich and had become poor. He said to me: "My sister goes to high school and every day she is sent back because her sari is not washed and we do not have soap to wash it. Please give me some soap so that she can wash her sari and she can go to school and finish her education." Now we see the humiliation the family had to suffer because they were poor.

December 12

If you have a sick or lonely person at home, be there. Maybe just to hold a hand, maybe just to give a smile, that is the greatest, the most beautiful work.

December 11

Do I need to pray? Do I want to pray? Remember wherever you may be - Mother Teresa's prayer, love and blessing will always be with you. God bless you.

December 10

Some people came to Calcutta, and before leaving, they begged me: "Tell us something that will help us to live our lives better. And I said: Smile at each other; smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other - it doesn't matter who it is and that will help you to grow in greater love for each other. And one of them asked me: "Are you married?" I said: Yes, and sometimes I find it very difficult to smile at my spouse, Jesus, because he can be very demanding. This is really something true. And that is where love comes in - when it is demanding, and yet we can give it with joy.

December 9

Today, more and ever, we need to pray for the light to know the will of God, for the love to accept the will of God, for the way to do the will of God.

December 8

These are the few ways we can practice humility: To speak as little as possible of one's self. To mind one's own business. Not to want to manage other people's affairs. To avoid curiosity. To accept contradictions and correction cheerfully. To pass over the mistakes of others. To accept insults and injuries. To accept being slighted, forgotten and disliked. To be kind and gentle even under provocation. Never to stand on one's dignity. To choose always the hardest.

December 7

Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried. Are we there? Let us know the poor in our own families first. We have old people: they are put in institutions and they are never visited; with less and less time even to smile at each other, with less and less time to be together. Love begins at home, if we can only make our own homes temples of love.

December 6

Sometime ago, two young people came to our house and they gave me a large sum of money to feed the poor. I asked them: "Where did you get so much money?" And they said: "Two days ago we got married and we decided that we were not going to buy a wedding clothes, we were not going to have a wedding feast, we would give you the money to feed the poor." And I asked them again: "But why did you do that? They said: "We love each other so much that we wanted to begin our life together by sharing the joy of loving with the people you serve by making a sacrifice." This love is sanctity and the more we grown in this love, the closer we come to God.

December 5

We need to find God and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is a friend of silence. The more we engage in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us and what He says through us.

December 4

If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that.

December 3

At the home for the Dying in Kalighat, a visitor wondered at the peace that pervaded everywhere. I told him: "God is here. Casts and creeds mean nothing. It does not matter that they are not of my faith."

December 2

We do not need guns and bombs to bring peace, we need love and compassion. Let us radiate the peace of God and so light His light and extinguish all hatred and love of power in the world and in the hearts of all men.

December 1

Let us pray for peace, joy and love. We are reminded that Jesus came to bring the good news: "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you." He came not to give the peace of the world which is only that we do not harm each other. He came to give the peace of heart which comes from loving - from doing good to others.

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.

October 31

Humility is the mother of all virtues; purity, charity and obedience. It is in being humble that our love becomes real, devoted and ardent. If you are humble nothing will touch you, neither praise nor disgrace, because you know what you are. If you are blamed you will not be discouraged. If they call you a saint you will not put yourself on a pedestal.

October 30

Let me tell you something: If you feel the weight of your sins, do not be afraid! He is a loving Father; God's mercy is much greater than we can imagine.

October 29

We picked up a young man from the streets of Calcutta. He was very highly educated and had many degrees. He had fallen into bad hands and his passport had been stolen. After sometime, I asked him why he had left home. He said his father did not want him. "From childhood he never looked me in the eye. He became jealous of me, so I left home." After much praying, the Sisters helped him to return home to forgive his father and this helped both of them. This is a case of very great poverty.

October 28

Each one of us is here today because we have been loved by God who created us and our parents who accepted and cared enough to give us life. Life is the most beautiful gift of God. That is why it is so painful to see what is happening today in so many places around the world; life being deliberately destroyed by war, by violence, by abortion.

October 27

To love and be loved, we must know our brothers and our sisters, for knowledge always leads to love, and love in action is service. Our work is only the expression of the love we have for God.

October 26

When I choose evil, I sin. That's where my will comes in. When I seek something for myself at the cost of everything else, I deliberately choose sin. For example, I am tempted to tell a like and then I accept to tell the lie. I have put an obstacle between me and God. That lie has won. I preferred to lie to God.

October 25

Deep confidence and trust will come through self-knowledge. Then you will turn to Jesus to support your weakness, whereas if you think you are strong, you will not need our Lord. Do your very best to reduce self-will. Don't do anything just for yourself; concentrate on the whole, in which you are included. Then you will be able to receive God's grace.

October 24

To young people who say: "I could never do that - I'm no Mother Teresa," I would tell them that they need a clean heart and we get a clean heart by praying. That's the beginning of great love. They will be able with a clean heart to see Jesus in the poor and do everything that Christ wants them to do: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless. Because it is only for love. And the young people today don't want to listen so much as they want to see, to see love in action to see faith in action.

October 23

This is what is so beautiful for you, young people. Open your hearts to the love of God which He will give you. He loves you with tenderness. And He will give you not to keep but to share. And the less you have, the more you can give and the more you have, the less you can give. And so when we are praying, ask - ask for courage to give until it hurts.

October 22

I find it great, great poverty that a child must die because we are afraid to feed one more child, to educate one more child. The fear of feeding one more old person in the family means that that person must be put away, and yet one day we too have to meet the master. What will we answer to him about that little child, that old father and mother, because they are His creation, they are children of God.

October 21

To Rotarians, Lions and Knights: You are men with influence; you have power; you have money; use them well for the good of society, especially for the benefit of the poor.

October 20

To doctors: You cannot love the patients and the suffering if you have no love for your own at home. That is why, not only must you try to love, you must love. That is why, before you touch a patient, before you listen to the patient - pray. Because you need a clean heart to love that patient. And you need clean hands to touch that patient. I will pray for you that, through this work of your hands and heart you may grow in holiness. Let us promise our Lord that through your medical work, you are going to become holy.

October 19

It strikes me how God is humble. He humbled Himself; He who possessed the fullness of the Godhead took the form of a servant. Even today God shows His humility by making use of instruments as weak and imperfect as we are. He deigns to work through us. Then there must be joy in the heart. That is not incompatible with humility.

October 18

It is better to make mistakes in kindness than to work miracles with unkindness. It is very important to be kind to ourselves and control ourselves by keeping our balance. If we want to live in peace and harmony with each other we must pay attention to our tongue. Especially when we deal with the poor we must be very careful in talking to them.

October 17

Silence is the root of our union with God and with one another. In silence we are filled with the energy of God Himself that makes us do all things in joy. The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life.

October 16

Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is yet to come. We have only today. If we help our children to be what they should be today, they will have the necessary courage to face life with greater love.

October 15

I find the work much easier and I can smile more sincerely when I think of each one of my suffering brothers and sisters. Jesus needs you to keep pouring into the lamp of your life the oil of your love and sacrifice. You are really reliving the passion of Christ. Bruised, divided, full of pain and wounds as you are, accept Jesus as He comes into your life.

October 14

Young people, open your hearts to the love of God. He loves you with tenderness, and He will give you not just to give but to share. And the less you have, the more you can give; and the more you have, the less you can give. And so, when you are praying ask, ask for courage, and give and give until it hurts. This kind of giving is love in action.

October 13

Someone asked me: What will you do when you are not Mother General any more? I replied: I am first-class at cleaning toilets and drains. It is not what we do, but how much love we put into the doing. If I belong to Christ and at that moment He wants me to be cleaning the toilets, or taking care of the sufferers from leprosy, or talking to the President of the United States, it is all the same; because I am being what God wants me to be, and doing what He wants me to do. I belong to Him.

October 12

To doctors: Yours is a consecrated life, because touching the sick, in healing the sick, Jesus said: "You did it to me." How full of love your heart must be, because the sick, the lonely, the disabled come to you with hope and that is why they must be able to receive from you that tender love, that compassion.

October 11

We are not channels, we are instruments. Channels give nothing of their own, they just let water run through them. In our action, we are instruments in God's hand and He writes beautifully.

October 10

Holiness is not the luxury reserved for a few favorite persons. All are invited to be holy. I think only holiness will be able to overcome evil and all the sufferings and miseries of the people, and of our own lives. Because we too have to suffer, and suffering is a gift of God if we use it in the right way. The cross must be there, so let us thank God for this.

October 9

Whenever you feel that you have not done something, do not be afraid. He is a loving Father. God's mercy is much greater that we can imagine. The Sisters also need your prayers to be able to do their work; the poor need your help, your understanding, your love. We all have much to give, to share, to contribute, wherever we find ourselves.

October 8

How much love do we put in our presents? That's why people who have not got the capacity to give and to receive love, even if they are very rich, are the poorest of the poor.

October 7

Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love. God loves a cheerful giver. The best way we can show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy.

October 6

And this is something that is so beautiful to see, that shining happiness in the face of that mother, who had the love to share. I had not the courage to ask her how long her family hadn't eaten, but I am sure it must have been a long time, and yet she knew - in her suffering, in her sorrow, in her terrible bodily suffering she knew that next door they were hungry also.
Do we know that our neighbor needs love? Do we know that our neighbor needs care? As the example of this family shows, God will never forget us and there is something you and I can always do.

October 5

I will never forget the night an old gentleman came to our house and said that there was a family with eight children an they had not eaten, and would we do something for them. So I took some rice and went there. The mother took the rice from my hands, then she divided it into two and went out. I could see the faces of the children shining with hunger. When she came back I asked her where she had gone. She gave me a very simple answer: "They are hungry also." And "they" were the family next door and she knew that they were hungry. I was not surprised that she gave, but I was surprised that she knew.

October 4

Riches and money do not make us rich - what makes us rich is our attachment to them. God gives us things to share, God doesn't give us things to hold, and so the more we learn to share the more we come to know each other, we will love one another, and if we love one another we will be able to share the joy of what we have.

October 3

Today we see more and more that all the suffering in the world has started from the home. Today we have no time even to look at each other, to talk to each other, to enjoy each other, and still less to be what our children expect from us, what the husband expects from the wife, what the wife expects from the husband. And so more and more we are out of our homes and less and less in touch with each other.

October 2

God doesn't ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithful. However beautiful our work may be, let us not become attached to it. Always remain prepared to give it up, without losing your peace.

October 1

Love is a fruit, in season at all times and within the reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through meditation, the spirit of prayer and sacrifice.

September 30

We do more harm than good to young healthy people when we give them things. It encourages them to beg. Always see that they do not depend on what you give them. We must teach them something - needlework, typing, dressmaking. We must also teach them the love of the home - to make beautiful the little they have.

September 29

The fruit of prayer is a clean heart and a clean heart is free to love. The fruit of love is Peace - Unity - Joy.

September 28

Pray for the family with me: Heavenly Father, you have given us a model of life in the Holy Family of Nazareth. Help us, O Loving Father, to make our family another Nazareth where love, peace and joy reign, may it be deeply contemplative, intensely Eucharistic and vibrant with joy. Help us to stay together in joy and sorrow through family prayer. Teach us to see Jesus in the members of our family especially in their distressing disguise.

September 27

Children long for somebody to accept them, to love them, to praise them, to be proud of them. Let us bring the child back to the center of our care and concern. This is the only way the world can survive because our children are the only hope for the future. As older people are called to God, only their children can take their place.

September 26

Cardinal Cooke made me an offer of five hundred dollars a month for each Sister working in Harlem and I said to him: Do you think that God is going to be bankrupt in New York? He provides the means. So why do we worry?

September 25

Love to be true has to begin with God in prayer. If we pray we will be able to love and if we love, we will be able to serve and therefore let us all promise that we will give our hearts to love them for they too have been created for greater things.

September 24

God has created us to love and to be loved, and this is the beginning of prayer - to know that he loves me, that I have been created for greater things.

September 23

The greatest poverty in the world is not the want of food but the want of love. You have the poverty of people who are dissatisfied with what they have, who do not know how to suffer, who give in to despair. The poverty of the heart is often more difficult to relieve and to defeat.

September 22

The Minister of the Imperial Court in Addis Ababa asked me a few searching questions: "What do you want from the Government? Nothing. I have come only to offer my Sisters to work among the poor suffering people. "What will your Sisters do?" "We give wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor." "What qualifications to they have?" "We try to bring tender love and compassion to the unwanted, to the unloved." "Do you preach to the people trying to convert them?" "Our works of love reveal to the suffering poor the love of God for them."

September 21

Every religion believes in eternity - another life. This life on earth is not the end. People who believe it is the end, fear death. If it was properly explained that death was nothing but going home to God, then there would be no fear of death.

September 20

To Him, each one of us is very special, each one a unique creation. We are one world. We are all sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ. We must work for all those who suffer and hear Our Lord say: "I was a refugee and you gave me a home."

September 19

The tide of human suffering grows ever greater. This is especially so of those who are refugees. Theirs is a special kind of suffering. Not only are they forced to suffer famine, persecution, war and natural disaster, but also the horrific plight of being forced to keep on the move. The have nowhere which they can call home and often no one is prepared to listen to their cry for help.

September 18

If you have not the experience, ask. There is no shame in asking, but do not pretend you know when you don't.

September 17

One night in London I went out visiting people with the Sisters. We saw a young boy with long hair, sitting in the street with others. I spoke to him and I said: "You shouldn't be here, you should be with your mother and father, this is not the place for you. The young boy said: "My mother does not want me. Each time I go home, she pushes me out, because she can't bear my long hair." We passed on. When I came back, he was lying flat on the ground. He had overdosed himself. We had to take him to hospital. I could not help but reflect: Here was a child hungry for home, and his mother had no time for him. This is great poverty. This is where you and I must make this world a better world.

September 16

To my helpers and volunteers: Discover the other through direct contact. Go to Kalighat, the Home for the Dying, and learn your lessons, not out of a book, but in the rough and tumble of life, among real people, in a setting you will never forget.

September 15

To know the problem of poverty intellectually is not to understand it. It is not by reading, taking a walk in the slums, admiring and regretting that we come to understand it and to discover what it has of had and good. We have to dive into it, live it, share it.

September 14

The care of the poor and needy is not the responsibility of the State only. It is the responsibility of everyone. Every person must be concerned with his brothers' and sisters' needs.

September 13

Many people are deeply concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today - abortion, which brings people to such blindness.

September 12

One day while I was working, a sister came in and said: "A tourist wants to see you; he is the person who came the other day." I said: Tell him to go and work in Kalighat. The Sister replied that he said he had gone there yesterday. Yes, I said, he can go again today; the poor are still there.

September 11

Our expanding knowledge does not dim our faith, it only shows the size of God's creation. Often we cannot understand. There is a beautiful example in the life of St.Augustine who was struggling to understand God, to understand the Trinity, to understand the magnitude of God's creation. His human mind could not grasp it. Then he came upon a small boy who was trying to fill water in a hole in the ground. St.Augustine asked him what he was doing and the boy said: "I am trying to fill this hole with water." St.Augustine said that it was impossible. Then the child who, in truth, was an angel, said: "It is still easier to put the ocean into this hole than for you to understand the mystery of God."

September 10

I was travelling by train to Darjeeling when I heard the voice of God. I was sure it was God's voice. I was certain He was calling me. The message was clear. I must leave the convent to help the poor by living among them. This was a command, something to be done, something definite. The call was something between God and me. What matters is that God calls each of us in a different way. In those difficult, dramatic days I was certain that this was God's doing and not mine and I am still certain. And it was the work of God. I knew that the world would benefit from it.

September 9

What made me start my work, what inspired me and kept me going during so many years? Jesus. We do it for Jesus. I take Jesus at His word and He never lets me down. He said: "Ask and you will receive." So I ask. If it is for His glory He will grant it, if not, let us forget about it. God knows what is good for us.

September 8

To my co-workers: Keep giving Jesus to your people, not by words but by your example, by being in love with Jesus, by radiating His holiness and spreading His fragrance of love everywhere you go. Just keep the joy of Jesus as your strength. Be happy and at peace. You belong to him. Tell him: "I am yours - and if you cut me to pieces, every single piece will be only yours."

September 7

Where is God? We believe He is everywhere - He is the creator, He is everything. But where is He to my human eyes? To make it possible for me to see the face of God with my human eyes, He has made Himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the lonely one and He says: "Whatsoever you do to the least of my brethren you do it to me." Gandhiji has said: "He who serves the poor serves God."

September 6

A rich man came to me and said he wanted to give up something in his life - his house, his car. I suggested: when you go to the store to buy a new suit or some clothes, instead of buying the best, buy on that is a little less expensive and use that extra money to buy something for someone else, or better still for the poor. When I finished saying this he looked really amazed and exclaimed: "Oh! Is that the way, Mother? I never thought of it." When he left, he looked so happy and full of joy a the thought of helping others.

September 5

We must be able to make a distinction between self-knowledge and sin. Self-knowledge will help one to rise up, whereas sin is a weakness that leads to repeated sin and despondency. Deep confidence and trust will come through self-knowledge. Then you will turn to Jesus to support you in your weakness whereas if you think you are strong, you will not need our Lord.

September 4

To students: The wise observation by Pope Pius XII that the direction that society will take tomorrow depends mainly on the minds and hearts of today's university students, is an invitation to you to be aware of the privilege and the responsibility that so many of you have today, as young people in an institute of learning. The university offers you a whole array of excellent means for completing your formation. You must not, however, think of yourself alone. You are called to build up human society. As university students you have at your disposal abundant means that you must learn to know and appreciate fully.

September 3

The presence of the nuclear bomb in the world has created fear and distrust among nations as it is one more weapon to destroy human life, which is God's beautiful presence in the world. How can peace be established? Only if we love each other. The greedy who are fighting for power and money do not know love and love alone can help establish peace in the family, society and in the world.

September 2

Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be a living expression of God's kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. To children, to the poor, to all who suffer and are lonely, give always a happy smile. Give them not only your care, but also your heart.

September 1

The other day I received 15 dollars from　a man who has been on his back for twenty years and the only part that he can move is his right hand. And the only companion that he enjoys is smoking. And he said to me:"I do not smoke for one week, and I send you this money." It must have been a terrible sacrifice for him but see how beautiful, how he shared. And with that money I brought bread and I gave to those who are hungry with a joy on both sides. He was giving and the poor were receiving

August 31

People all over the world are hungry for God's love. Your way of doing it is by spreading peace and love and our way is by putting that love into action in the service of the sick, they dying and the unwanted. Let us pray for each other and help each other by honesty and we shall conquer the world and bring to the world the message that God is love and God loves each one of us as we love one another.

August 30

To parents: It is very important that children learn from their fathers and mothers how to love one another - not in the school, not from the teacher, but from you. It is very important that you share with your children the joy of that smile. There will be misunderstandings; every family has its cross, its suffering. Always be the first to forgive with a smile. Be cheerful, be happy.

August 29

Clothe the naked Christ - by your charity in words and protecting the good name of others. Give a home for the homeless Christ - by your making your own home a home of peace and joy and love, through your thoughtfulness for all and everyone in your family and your next-door neighbor.

August 28

One of the most demanding things for me is travelling with all the publicity everywhere I go. I have said to Jesus if I don't go to heaven for anything else, I will be going to heaven for all the travelling and publicity, because it has purified me and sacrificed me and made me truly ready for heaven.

August 27

A little boy in Calcutta was celebrating his birthday. His parents always gave him lots of presents and a big party. One year he asked them to give all the money they would spend on him to Mother Teresa. So on the morning of the birthday, they brought him down in a car and handed me an envelope with the money in it. The child taught his parents so much. That is love in action.

August 26

We cannot share unless our lives are filled with the love of God; unless our hearts are pure. Jesus said: "Blessed are the clean of heart for they shall see God." If we do not see God in each other, it is very difficult to love. And as love begins at home, we must have that love for each other at home.

August 25

I find that when I'm writing, writing and writing, I use up the pens so quickly. When the ink begins to look very faint, the Sister puts a new pen in my hand, but I always give it back to her, because I wont't take anything without asking permission. Use these words: "May I have."

August 24

To my sisters: To sit back with a stick in hand and command is not our work. Our children come on empty stomachs - so do not waste their time. They must learn something. Make them happy. They have much to suffer already and we cannot treat them as we would children going to a regular school. How many of our children have their first meal at 3pm so as to be able to cut out dinner because their parents cannot afford it? We thoughtlessly say hurtful things to little ones, ignorant as we are of the circumstances, and they stop coming. Even the little consolation they hope to find in school is denied them.

August 23

The other day, a group of school children came from very far. All the first and second prize winners in the school had asked the headmistress to give money instead of prizes. So she put all the money in an envelope and gave it to them. Then they all said: "Take us to Mother Teresa, we want to give this money to her poor people." Now see, how wonderful it was that they did not use the money for themselves.

August 22

Every child has been created for greater things, to love and be loved, in the image of God. That's why people must decide from beforehand if they really want to have a child. Once a child is conceived, there is life, God's life. That child has a right to live and be cared for. Abortion destroys two lives, the life of the child and the conscience of the mother. It is a child of God, no? Created for greater things, just like you and me.

August 21

If I had just passed by when I saw and smelt that woman who was eaten up by rats - her face, her legs, I could not have been a Missionary of Charity today. But I returned, picked her up and took her to a local hospital. If I had not, the Society would have died. Feelings of repugnance are human but if I see the face of Jesus in His distressing disguise, I will be holy.

August 20

We all speak of the terrible hunger that has been in Ethiopia, that has been in other places, where people in hundreds and thousands are facing death just for a piece of bread, for a glass of water. People have died in my hands. And yet we forget, why they and not we?

August 19

It is not how much we really "have" to give but how empty we are - so that we can receive fully in our life. Take away your eyes from yourself and rejoice that you have nothing - that you are nothing - that you can do nothing. Give Jesus a big smile each time your nothingness frightens you.

August 18

For all kinds of diseases there are medicines and cures. But for the disease of being unwanted, except where there are willing hands to serve and there is a loving heart to love, I don't think this terrible disease can ever be cured.

August 17

You are a rich nation but on your streets I saw a man lying drunk and no one picked him up, no one seemed to bother about him, no one tried to restore to him the human dignity, to bring back to him the sense that he is a brother, a child of God.

August 16

Let us raise funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace and again let us begin in the place where we are with the people with whom we are the closest, and then spread out. So let us protect this work, this mission, from anything that will make people think we are raising money except out of sacrifice.

August 15

To business people, Lions, Rotarians, Knights and others who come with generous cheques: I hope that what you give me comes not from your surplus but it is the fruit of a sacrifice made for the love of God. You must give what costs you, go without something you like, then you will truly be brothers to the poor who are deprived of even the things they need.

August 14

To be able to see the face of God you need a heart that is completely pure, clean and free. As long as we in our own hearts are not able to hear that voice, the voice of God when He speaks in the silence of our hearts, we will not be able to pray, we will not be able to express our love in action.

August 13

Prayer by J.H.Newman: "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 thine; none of it will be mine; it will be you, shining on others through me. Let me thus praise you in 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, the sympathetic influence of what I do; the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to you. Amen.

August 12

This is the prayer by Newman that I once gave to the President of India and which he said gave him consolation in times of stress and difficulty: "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 all 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."

August 11

When once a chairman of a multinational company came to see me, to offer me a property in Bombay, he first asked: "Mother, how do you manage your budget? I asked him who had sent him here. He replied: "I felt an urge inside me." I said: Other people like you came to seem e and say the same. It was clear God sent you, Mr.A, as He sends Mr.X, Mrs Y, and they provide the material means we need for our work. The grace of God is what moved you. You are my budget. God sees to our needs, as Jesus promised. I accepted the property he gave and named it Asha Dan (Gift of Hope).

August 10

I always say I am a little pencil in God's hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more. Be a little instrument in His hands so that He can use you any time, anywhere. We have only to say "yes" to God.

August 10

What are these drops of oil in our lamps? They are the little things of everyday life: fidelity, little words of kindness, just a little thought for others, those little acts of silence, of look and thought, of word and deed.

August 8

Do not imagine that love to be true must be extraordinary. No, what we need in our love is the continuity to love the One we love. See how a lamp burns, by the continual consumption of little drops of oil. If there are no more of these drops in the lamp, there will be no light.

August 7

Silence is the beautiful fruit of prayer. We must learn not only the silence of the mouth but also the silence of the heart, of the eyes, of the ears and of the mind, which I call the five silences. Say it and memorize it on our five fingers.

August 6

Once I picked up a child and took him to our Children's Home, gave him a bath, clean clothes, everything. After a day the child ran away. He was found by somebody else but again he ran away. Then I said to the Sisters: Please follow when he runs away. And the child ran away the third time. There under a tree was the mother. She had put a small earthenware vessel on two stones and was cooking something she had picked out of the dustbin. The Sisters asked the child: "Why did you run away from the Home?" And the child said: "This is my home because this is where my mother is." Mother was there. That was home.

August 5

I was surprised to see so many young boys and girls given to drugs. And I tried to find out why. And the answer was: Because in the family there is no one to receive them. Our children depend on us for everything - their health, their mission, their nutrition, their security, their coming to know and love God. For all of this, they look to us with trust, hope and expectation. We are talking of love of the child, which is where love and peace begin.

August 4

If there is not that obedience and surrender of the father and mother to each other, there can be very little courage in the parents to ask that obedience of their children. And if today we are having all the troubles with family life, I think it begins. here.

August 3

The most natural thing is the family life. What keeps the family together, what nourishes the life of the family together, is that surrender to each other; is that obedience; is that accepting of each other.

August 2

A little child has no difficulty in loving, has no obstacles to love. And that is why Jesus said: "Unless you become like little children you cannot enter the kingdom of God."

August 1

God is joy, joy is prayer. Joy is a sign of generosity. When you are full of joy, you move faster and you want to go about doing good to everyone. Joy is a sign of union with God - of God's presence.

July 31

I think of you and your families and pray for each one of you: Lord, keep them faithful to each other in Your love. Let nothing, nobody separate them from Your love and love for each other. Let the child, the gift of Yourself to every family, be the bond of love, unity, joy and peace. Amen

July 30

A young girl came from a university in Paris and she had told her parents: "Before I sit for my final examination I want to go to Mother Teresa and work with her." She came to Calcutta and I looked at her. She looked very tired, her eyes were not smiling. I suggested that she come for the Adoration that we have every day and that she keep up regular visits to the Home for the Dying. Then one day, after ten or twelve visits, she suddenly came and threw her arms around me and said: "Mother Teresa, I have found Jesus." I asked: Where did you find Jesus? "In the Home for the Dying," she replied. She was full of joy and smiles.

July 29

Why do people come to India? Because they believe that in India we have a lot of spirituality and this they want to find. Among them are many who come to our house and work with us, in the Home for the Dying. Many of them are completely lost; it is very important that they are guided, that they are led. Why are people going round in circles, just to see the scenery? There is not much point in that - but there is something more; people are really hungry for God. Travel is one way of showing their hunger.

July 28

It is easy to be proud and harsh and selfish - so easy. But we have been created for better things. Each of us has plenty of good as well as plenty of bad in us. Let none glory in his or her success but refer all to God.

July 27

The greatest injustice we have done to our poor people is that we think they are good for nothing; we have forgotten to treat them with respect, with dignity as a child of God. People have forgotten what the human touch is, what it is to smile, for somebody to smile at them, somebody to recognize them, somebody to wish them well. The terrible thing is to be unwanted.

July 26

The future is not in our hands. We have no power over it. We can act only Today. We have a sentence in our Constitution that says: "We will allow the good God to make plans for the future - for yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come and we have only today to make Him known, loved and served." So we do not worry about it.

July 25

My sisters and I always greet the Lord and one another each morning at 4:30am with the words: "Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God."
Let us always greet each other with a smile - for a smile is the beginning of love.

July 24

Where man has failed, God will find a way - if we ask Him.

July 23

If peace and love are not allowed to take their rightful place at the table of negotiation, then hatred and anger will produce a conflict that will continue for many years to come. It will solve nothing and thousands of innocent lives will be lost. I ask you all to pray for peace which is such an urgent priority.

July 22

On the "old Yugoslavia" situation:
Our mission is not one of politics but of love, and the truth is that bitterness solves nothing. Our message is one of peace and reconciliation because the alternative is a conflict which produces hunger, suffering, anger and hate for all.

July 21

The suffering in the refugee camps is great. It all looks like one big Calvary where Christ is crucified once more. Help is needed but unless there is forgiveness, there will be no peace.

July 20

Love to pray. Feel often during the day the need for prayer and take trouble to pray. God is always speaking to us. Listen to Him. He wants from us deep love, compassion and forgiveness.

July 19

I am often asked, after Mother Teresa, who?
That will be no trouble. God will find a more humble person, more obedient to Him, more faithful, someone smaller with a deeper faith, and He will do still greater things through her.
Let the Missionaries of Charity and the co-workers, in every country wherever they are, meet God with a smile - everywhere they go, in everyone.

July 18

At a children's party at the Tollygunge Club in Calcutta, when we were celebrating the Silver Jubilee of our Congregation, the children were patting the luscious, thick, green grass of the beautiful lawns with their hands, and they asked me what made the blades grow so strong. They had never seen such grass.
I saw many children who did not eat more than one sweet out of the packet distributed to them, in which there were cakes, buns, sweets, fruits, and I asked them why. They answered me that they had brothers and sisters at home, and they would share with them.

July 17

I love my people very much, more than myself, and so naturally I wish to give them the joy of possessing the treasure that is my religion, but it is not mine to give, nor can I force it on anyone. So also no man, no law, no government has the right to prevent or force me, or anyone, if I choose to embrace the religion that gives me peace, joy and love.

July 16

Religion is not something that you or I can touch. Religion is the worship of God - therefore a matter of conscience. I alone must decide for myself and you for yourself, what we choose. For me the religion I live and use to worship God is the Catholic religion. For me this is my very life, my joy and the greatest gift of God in His love for me. He could have given me no greater gift.

July 15

Let us bring that love, that compassion and share that with our people who need it. They do not need pity and sympathy but they will enrich you. My sisters and I have been enriched with the love that we have received from our people and to us there is not difference who they are, what they are. They are all brothers and sisters and as such they are the ones to whom we belong and who belong to us because we are the children of God, created by the same loving hand of God.

July 31

I think of you and your families and pray for each one of you: Lord, keep them faithful to each other in Your love. Let nothing, nobody separate them from Your love and love for each other. Let the child, the gift of Yourself to every family, be the bond of love, unity, joy and peace. Amen

July 14

Once the longing for money comes, the longing also comes for what money can give - superfluous things. Our needs will increase, for one thing leads to another and the result will be endless dissatisfaction.
It is not a sin to be rich.
When it provokes avarice, it becomes a sin. Richness is given by God and it is our duty to divide it with those less favoured.

July 13

Sometime ago, a man came to Mother House with a prescription.
His only child was dying.He asked me to help him get to the medicine.
Right at that moment, a man came with a basket full of used medicines which he had collected. Right on top was the medicine the man needed.
If it had been inside, I wouldn't have seen it.
There are millions of children in the world - see God's concern to get the medicine for that child in the slums of Calcutta.
That is God's tenderness and love.
That is loving trust - Divine Providence.

July 12

Joy is prayer, joy is strength, joy is love.
Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
She gives most who gives with joy.
The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy.