Do not look for Jesus away from yourselves. He is not out there; He is in you. ~Mother Teresa
Love is learned best in the places we would rather not be.
Nobody has proven that truth better than Mother Teresa. Her book, No Greater Love, was one book that found me and refused to let go.
In her ministry to the destitute and dying, Mother Teresa gifted the world with a living illustration of the greatest commandments: Love God with all you are, love your neighbor as yourself.
By being obedient to the extent few of us attempt, by responding to the call of Jesus to “come be my light” among the “unwanted, the unloved, the uncared for” in the streets of Calcutta, Mother Teresa left a hard-hearted world astonished. And wistful for something she had.
“By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the heart of Jesus.”
Was Mother Teresa the exception?
Let’s be honest. Mother Teresa seems impossible to imitate. We have trouble loving the person in the room with us, let alone loving impoverished strangers a world away.
- By blood, we care for our own.
- By citizenship, we are a nation self-absorbed.
- By faith, we divide and point fingers at one another.
- As to our calling, we have stopped listening for God’s heartbeat.
- As to our hearts, we are owned by a thousand demanding idols.
But some of us long, when the clamor grows quiet, for the tangible, touchable presence of Jesus–we just don’t know where to find him.
In her book, Mother Teresa shares her secret. Prayer. Every day was begun with prayer and Communion. Every evening the nuns would gather for “an unbroken hour of adoration.” Greater intimacy with Jesus led to greater understanding for each other, led to greater compassion for those they served.
And in the eyes of the least, as she embraced their wounds as her own, Mother Teresa found the presence of Jesus despite his “distressing disguise.”
Where would you rather not go? Who would you rather not love? What if you knew that by going and loving you would find Jesus?
photo credit: Ludie Cochrane via photo pin cc
