Finding Calcutta

I just finished reading a book titled Finding Calcutta, written by Mary Poplin. She is an academic who went to Calcutta to work with the Missionaries of Charity for a summer while Mother Theresa was still living. It's one of the best books I've read in a while.

One of the prayers that the sisters recited every morning after Mass was Cardinal Newman's prayer. It goes like this:

"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 a light to others; the light O Jesus, will be all from you, none of it will 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 heart bears to you. Amen. "

Mother Theresa once wrote a letter to the sisters to encourage them to develop a deep and personal relationship with Jesus,

"Be careful of all that can block that personal contact with the living Jesus. The devil may try to use the hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you. This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely the opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you. Not only that He loves you, but even more--He longs for you. He misses you when you don't come close. He thirsts for you. he loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy. when not accepted by others, even by yourself sometimes--he is the one who always accepts you. My children, you don't have to be different for Jesus to love you. Only believe--you are precious to Him. Bring all your suffering to His feet--only open your heart to be loved by Him as you are. He will do the rest."