July 11

A woman brought a ten-week-old baby to me. The child had Down's Syndrome. Tears streamed down the mother's face as she begged me to pray that her child survive the heart operation she was about to undergo. I told her: God has given you this great gift of life. If He wants you to give the gift back to Him, give it willingly with love.

July 10

I want you to find the poor here, right in your own home first. Be that good news to your own people first. Very often we are all smiles outside, but we are all sad inside and when we come home we have no time to smile.

July 9

When I was crossing into Gaza, I was asked at the checkpost whether I was carrying any weapons. I replied: Oh yes, my prayer books.

July 8

I think we should teach our children to love one another at home. They an learn this only from their father and mother, when they see the parents' love for each other.

July 7

Maybe there is a rich person who has not one to visit him; he has plenty of other things, he is nearly drowned in them, but there s not that touch and needs your touch. I was walking down the street and a man walked up to me and said: "Are you Mother Teresa?" And I said: Yes. "Please send one of your Sisters to our house. I'm half blind and my wife is nearly mental and we are simply longing to hear a human voice." When I sent the Sisters there they found it was true. They had everything but no one to call their own. Their sons and daughters were very far from them. They were unwanted now, unusable, so to say, unprofitable and so they were dying of sheer loneliness.

July 6

We must never think any one of us is indispensable. God has His ways and means. God may allow everything to go upside down in the hands of a very talented and capable person. Unless the work is interwoven with love, it is useless. God will not ask that person how many books he has read but God will as him if he has done his best for the love of Him.

July 5

Give love in action. Our works of love are nothing but works of peace. Let us do them with greater love and efficiency: each in his or her own work, in daily life, at home and with one's neighbor. Be happy and at peace. Accept whatever He gives and give whatever He takes with a big smile.

July 4

I remember my mother, my father and the rest of us praying together each evening. It is God's greatest gift to the family. It maintains family unity. So go back to family prayer and teach your children to pray and pray with them. Through prayer you will find out what God wants you to do.

July 3

My aim is to bring people closer to God through the work of charity. The soul alone faces God's gift of faith. It is for the soul to accept or refuse the gift. The act of acceptance or refusal causes conversion. Therefore, conversion is the work of God in the soul - and not mine to give.

July 2

Even if you write a letter for a blind man, or you just sit and listen to someone, or you take the mail for him, or you visit somebody or bring a flower to somebody, or wash clothes for somebody or clean the house - small things, but God sees everything great.

July 1

Make every effort to walk in the presence of God. To see God in everyone you must live your morning meditation throughout the day. Smile at one another. It is not always easy. Sometimes we find it hard to smile at somebody, then we pray.