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As we move into February, the month of love, I could think of no one who better embodied the definition of love than Mother Theresa. One of my favorite quotes of hers is:
Most of us know of her sacrificial service in Calcutta. Here, I will not try to give you her history, but rather I long for you to see her heart. She said of herself:
I am nothing. He is all.
I do nothing of my own. He does it.
I am God's pencil.
A tiny bit of pencil with which He writes what He likes.
God writes through us,
and however imperfect instruments we may be,
He writes beautifully.
So, this month's Powerful Prayer is the prayer that she prayed daily. When you read…pause, ask God to slow your thoughts, and allow yourself to move beyond a mental reading of the words. Let your heart absorb the prayer…
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DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance
everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly
that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me and be so in me that every soul
I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus.
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine,
so to shine as to be a light to others.
Listen To Mother Theresa pray her daily prayer: Download Prayer
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Monty’s Rumination
Mother Theresa's love for God, and for those people who had been discarded by the world, is found in what she called her “Simple Path.” The Simple Path consisted of 6 things: Silence; Prayer; Faith; Love; Service; Peace.
She articulated this path in such a way that each practice led to the next resulting in peace. She articulated it like this:
The Fruit of Silence is Prayer
The Fruit of Prayer is faith
The Fruit of Faith is Love
The Fruit of Love is Service
The Fruit of Service is Peace
This path is so evident in our Powerful Prayer this month. The centrifugal force of Mother Theresa’s life was her love for Jesus. Her goal was not simply to do good, but to do good in such a way that the lover of her soul, Jesus, was the fragrance of the flower of her life and work
She longed for people to feel the Christ of her soul when they met so that they saw him in her love and service, and not her.
When she prays, “Stay with me then I shall begin to shine as you shine…” you can sense her longing to be united with God in such a way that only comes from a knowingness that one has experienced and knows that there is no religious substitute that will ever come close.
For me, the power that is infused into this prayer comes from the elimination of ego. Ego is that human state that causes people to compete with each other, hurt each other, demand from each other, and walk over others in order to satisfy self.
This prayer strips the ego of its allies of self indulgence; self centeredness; and self promotion. This prayer of Theresa’s knows that true peace and joy that survives the harshest of realities never comes from the pursuit of happiness, but rather from the pursuit of God. I leave you with a note written in her own hand about prayer.
This month may you experience the freedom that comes from a life that finds it center in the One who loves you, created you, and longs to fulfill your deepest need.
Dei Gratia
Monty
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