April 7, 2011 Thursday: 4th Week of Lent (A)
from Mother Teresa's A Simple Path
The Fruit of Faith is Love
The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty--it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.
It is impossible to respond to this need unless you have God's grace to help you. First Sister Dolores and then Sister Kateri explain this further:
"We must be loved by God first, and only then can we give to others. For us to want to give love to others we must be full of love to give. God acts in this way. It is He who moves us all to do what we are doing, and if we feel His love for us then this love emanates from us. His love has no boundaries." - Sister Dolores
"There is only one love and this is the love of God. Once we love God deeply enough we will love our neighbor to the same extent because we grow in our love for God, we grow to respect all that He has created and to recognize and appreciate all the gifts He has given us. Then naturally we want to take care of all of them.
God made the world for the delight of human beings--if only we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us--you just can't resist Him. I believe there's no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His." -Sister Kateri
When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.
-Mother Teresa
The Fruit of Faith is Love
The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty--it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love, as there is a hunger for God.
It is impossible to respond to this need unless you have God's grace to help you. First Sister Dolores and then Sister Kateri explain this further:
"We must be loved by God first, and only then can we give to others. For us to want to give love to others we must be full of love to give. God acts in this way. It is He who moves us all to do what we are doing, and if we feel His love for us then this love emanates from us. His love has no boundaries." - Sister Dolores
"There is only one love and this is the love of God. Once we love God deeply enough we will love our neighbor to the same extent because we grow in our love for God, we grow to respect all that He has created and to recognize and appreciate all the gifts He has given us. Then naturally we want to take care of all of them.
God made the world for the delight of human beings--if only we could see His goodness everywhere, His concern for us, His awareness of our needs: the phone call we've waited for, the ride we are offered, the letter in the mail, just the little things He does for us throughout the day. As we remember and notice His love for us, we just begin to fall in love with Him because He is so busy with us--you just can't resist Him. I believe there's no such thing as luck in life, it's God's love, it's His." -Sister Kateri
When you know how much God is in love with you then you can only live your life radiating that love.
-Mother Teresa
