Jan. 16, 2011: 2nd Sunday Ordinary (A)

Excerpt from
Where There Is Love, There Is God: A Path to Closer Union with God and Greater Love for Others by Mother Teresa


Jesus
Mother Teresa was once asked to comment on the fact that many people today find it difficult to fully accept the presence of Christ. Her response to the interviewer was simple and frank: "It's because you don't know Him." This was definitely not the case with her.

Jesus was undeniably the center of her life, as anyone who knew her well can testify. The Incarnate Son of God was not a concept or a remote Being or an image on the wall, but a living reality, a Person she knew and with whom she had a deep and intimate friendship. She loved Jesus with "all the powers of a woman's heart," so much so that she desired to "love Him as He has never been loved before." The intimacy and the totality of this relationship is best described in her own words: "To me, Jesus is my God. Jesus is my Spouse. Jesus is my Life. Jesus is my only Love. Jesus is my All in All. Jesus is my Everything." He had primacy of place in her life and "nothing and nobody" could separate her from Him.

Mother Teresa endeavored to understand, appreciate, and imitate the different characteristics of Jesus' life on earth. Thus, the hidden and simple life that the Son of God chose for Himself on becoming man never ceased to inspire her. Living in Nazareth, an obscure place, working as a humble carpenter and doing the ordinary things of everyday life for thirty years in obedience to His Father's will and in submission to His own creatures, revealed God's closeness to us and the value of the ordinary. This life of humility and simplicity, of silent and dedicated service in obedience to God's will was what she strove to imitate.

Of all the mysteries of the life of Jesus, though, it was His Passion that most profoundly impressed itself on Mother Teresa's soul. She was awed by the depth and the breadth of God's love shown in Jesus' final hours on earth, from His agony in the garden to the crucifixion. The Cross was the ultimate proof of His love: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13). Mother Teresa often pondered the events of Jesus' Passion, spoke about them and, most important, based her response to suffering, an inevitable part of every human life, on Jesus' own example. Desiring to be one with her Beloved who loved to the end, suffering all out of love for us, she embraced her many suffering in union with Him as a means to show "greater love" for God and to obtain grace for souls.

To make her life a true sacrifice of love, she united herself to Jesus' sacrifice in the celebration of the Eucharist, and offered herself with Him to be broken and given to the poorest of the poor. There at Mass, she received the graces necessary to accomplish what God desired of her that day. When opportunities to "make up in her own flesh what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ" presented themselves, she accepted them as a living out of the Mass.

Daily Eucharistic adoration was an added opportunity to sit at the Lord's feet and listen to Him. It was a time to love Him and let herself be loved by Him; to tell Him of her love and of her desire to quench His thirst. She was there to console Him and in turn she was consoled by Him, not in feelings but in the reality of faith. Though silent, His presence filled her with peace, strength, and zeal to radiate His love to others, especially the poorest of the poor whom He called her to serve.