No Greater Love

by Mother Teresa

We need to help each other in our prayers. Let us free our minds. Let’s not pray long, drawn-out prayers, but let’s pray short ones full of love. Let us pray on behalf of those who do not pray. Let us remember, if we want to be able to love, we must be able to pray!

It is only by mental prayer and spiritual reading that we can cultivate the gift of prayer. Mental prayer is greatly fostered by simplicity — that is, forgetfulness of self by transcendence of the body and of our senses, and by frequent aspirations that feed our prayer. “In mental prayer,” says Saint John Vianney, “shut your eyes, shut your mouth, and open your heart.” In vocal prayer we speak to God; in mental prayer He speaks to us. It is then that God pours Himself into us.

mental PRAYER AND spiritual reading is necessary to cultivate a rich prayer life

Sincerity is humility, and you acquire

humility only by accepting humiliations.

humility. You learn humility only by accepting humiliations. And you will meet humiliation all through your life. The greatest humiliation is to know that you are nothing. This you come to know when you face God in prayer.

but we must help ourselves to pray. The first means to use is silence.

Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.

We too are called to withdraw at certain intervals into deeper silence and aloneness with God, together as a community as well as personally.

Our prayer life suffers so much because our hearts are not silent.

Sacrifice and prayer complement each other.

contemplation

What is contemplation? To live the life of Jesus. This is what I understand. To love Jesus, to live His life in us, to live our life in His life. That’s contemplation. We must have a clean heart to be able to see — no jealousy, anger, contention, and especially no uncharitableness.

Our life of contemplation simply put is to realize God’s constant presence and His tender love for us in the least little things of life.

To pray generously is not enough; we must pray devoutly, with fervor and piety. We must pray perseveringly and with great love. If we don’t pray, our presence will have no power, our words will have no power.

For knowledge of God produces love, and knowledge of the self produces humility.

Knowledge of the self is also a safeguard against pride, especially when you are tempted in life.

The temptations are allowed by God. The only thing we have to do is to refuse to give in.

I believe each time we say “Our Father,” God looks at His hands, where He has carved us. (“I have carved you on the palm of my hand.” See Isaiah 49:16.) He looks at His hands, and He sees us there. How wonderful the tenderness and love of God! If we pray the “Our Father,” and live it, we will be holy.

The more you pray, the better you will pray.

lovingly like children,

Words that do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness. 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.

Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.

lamps? They are the small things of daily life: faithfulness, small words of kindness, a thought for others, our way of being silent, of looking, of speaking, and of acting. Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; He is in you.

said, “As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me” (Matthew 25:40 RSV).

Scripture, “Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you on the palm of my hand” (see Isaiah 49:15–16).

True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love.

Holy souls sometimes undergo great inward trial, and they know

darkness. But if we want others to become aware of the presence of Jesus, we must be the first ones convinced of it.

It does not matter how much we give, but how much love we put into our giving.

That is the fulfillment of the law, to love one another. This is all Jesus came to teach us: that God loves us, and that He wants us to love one another as He loves us.

We have been created in order to love and to be loved.

Always be faithful in little things, for in them our strength lies. To God nothing is little. He cannot make anything small; they are infinite.

Do not pursue spectacular deeds. We must deliberately renounce all desires to see the fruit of our labor, doing all we can as best we can, leaving the rest in the hands of God.

If you are discouraged, it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in

your own powers.

The Lord has willed me here where I am. He will o...

Intense love does not measure — it just gives.

Joy is one of the best safeguards against temptation.

I also don’t want you to give me what you have left over. I want you to give from your want until you really feel it!

One thing will always secure heaven for us: the acts of charity and kindness with which we have filled our lives.

Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science, or eloquence. Holiness grows so fast where there is kindness. The world is lost for want of sweetness and kindness. Do not forget we need each other.

When our sisters were in Ceylon, a minister of state once told me something very surprising. He said, “You know, Mother, I love Christ but I hate Christians.” So I asked him how that could be. He answered, “Because Christians do not give us Christ; they do not live their Christian lives to the fullest.” Gandhi said something very similar: “If Christians were to live their Christian lives to the fullest, there would not be one Hindu left in India.” Isn’t it very true? This love of Christ should urge us to spend ourselves without ceasing.

Saint Francis said each one of us is what he is in the eyes of God — nothing more, nothing less. We are all called to be saints. There is nothing extraordinary about this call.

Don’t be afraid. There must be the cross, there must be suffering, a clear sign that Jesus has drawn you so close to His heart that He can share His suffering with you. Without God we can spread only pain and suffering around us.

Be strict with yourself, and then be very strict with what you are receiving from the outside.

The work of moral rearmament is carried out with discretion and love. The more discrete, the more penetrating it will be. You give it to others, and it is they who absorb it.

The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home. . . . Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world! — JESUS, JOHN 16:31–33 RSV

It is possible that I may not be able to keep my attention fully on God while I work, but God doesn’t demand that I do so. Yet I can fully desire and intend that my work be done with Jesus and for Jesus. This is beautiful and that is what God wants.

unless your work is interwoven with love, it is useless.

Were I to think about crowds, I would never begin anything. It is the person that matters. I believe in person-to-person encounters.