Charity

One of Blessed Mother Teresa’s favourite prayers which she recited every day after Holy Mass and the sisters of her founded order, Missionaries of Charity, continue to do is Radiating Christ.

Here is the prayer:

Dear Jesus,

help me to spread your fragrance

everywhere I go.

Flood my soul with Your Spirit and life.

Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly

that my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me and be so in me that every soul

I come in contact with may feel Your presence in my soul.

Let them look up, and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I will begin to shine as Your shine,

so to shine as to be a light to others.

The light, O Jesus, will be all from You;

none of it will be mine.

It will be You, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You in the way You love best,

by shining on those around me.

Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but

by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic

influence of what I do, the evident fullness of the love my

heart bears for You.

Amen.

Along this path of seeking to grow in God’s love and by His grace, this journey of discernment for the vocation He has planned for this life He’s blessed me with, I was presented this prayer.

One of my past CFC-Youth couple coordinators was truly a beautiful and strong instrument, for it was her who gave me the contact info. to get in touch with the Mother Superior of this order in hopes to speak with her in 2013. After 3 months, I finally accepted the invitation from God, was blessed with the chance to meet her, and spent a good amount of time during that summer at their convent. It was there that the sister offered a few copies of this prayer and I recognized it was the one they faithfully prayed each day after Holy Mass.

It was one of the beginning and active steps our Blessed Mother Mary helped me to take in this walk with and towards our Lord Jesus Christ in discerning His will; and I cherish every teaching, prayer, grace, their openness, experience, the time of sheer simplicity and quietness amidst uncertainties I shared with them. I have been grateful to dive into seeking, learning, and desiring His virtue of charity.

This is a longing in my heart and a prayer I try to revisit constantly, indeed, after Holy Mass, for our loving Father to purify my intentions. May they see You Lord, not me. May we radiate You and shine Your light as Your Word made flesh tells us. Then, wholly trust in every act, deed, service, and word that follows is led by Your Holy Spirit in hopes that we may truly live charity, and love charitably our neighbours.

– Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus had said, “Above all I have learned that charity must not remain shut up in the depths of our hearts . . .”

Last Sunday, our Church celebrated the tremendous Feast of His Divine Mercy. Mercy . . . Jesus’ beloved daughter, Saint Faustina, who obediently spread the Lord’s message of Divine Mercy had shared to us His instructions.

He tells us, “I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it . . . Even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.”

– – –

May we all open up our hearts, allow His Holy Spirit to penetrate and flood our souls with His graces, grow in virtue, and thus, show mercy, love, and charity to all we encounter. May we all encounter Christ.

Amen.