Learn how the simple words of Saint Mother Teresa became the life motto of one young woman and how they can shape your life too.

In Something Beautiful for God, the British Journalist Malcolm Muggeridge wrote about an exhilarating experience while filming a documentary on Mother Teresa in 1967. The film crew had arrived at the "Home for the Dying" but were disappointed to encounter a dimly-lit building with small windows. Despite the challenges, the pictures were processed. Muggeridge wrote that they were “bathed in beautiful soft light.” At the time, Muggeridge was a religious sceptic who possessed a corrosive wit for mocking precious beliefs. But the light that emanated from Mother was so real, so tangible, that it beckoned the prodigal within, convicting him to pick up the shards of a lost life, illuminating his way home. The Call to the Light Today, on the feast of Saint Mother Teresa, we are invited to awaken to this Voice that beckons us to “come be my light” just like it beckoned the petite Albanian nun whose heart burned with radical love for the unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. This light led her to the poorest corners of Calcutta and it shone on rotting bodies of the dying, those with seeping wounds, and those who were deliberately shunned by society. Mother Teresa’s witness teaches us that it is not enough to just receive light. We must become light. We must be so bathed in this luminous mystery that we don’t just expose invading darkness but overcome it with the brilliance of God’s grace. Saint of Darkness The Christian Faith is built on presence. We long to see signs of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We wait for the still small voice. We sing, we pray, we weep at His feet. Nothing is more devastating than Divine absence. Nothing is more overwhelming than the weight of unanswered prayers hitting a ceiling of brass and bouncing back. Nothing is more wounding than thinking God’s promises come to pass for everyone else… but us. In Come Be My Light, a collection of private letters to her spiritual advisers, Mother Teresa spoke of this absence of God even as she ministered to those missing from the radar of compassion and care. She was indeed a light, but experienced little of the illumination of God’s comforting presence. She spoke of "dryness," "darkness," and "torture.” She spoke of a night so dark, so long, that lasted 50 years. "If I ever become a Saint—I will surely be one of darkness, I will continually be absent from Heaven—to (light) the light of those in darkness on earth," she wrote. What do we make of this painful predicament? Her confessor, Father Neuner, explained that this spiritual desolation did not arise from sin or failure on Mother’s part nor could it be fixed by any human action. The dark night is an assurance that God is present still, even if hidden. It is a form of suffering exemplified by Christ Himself when He cried out on the Cross; it is a sure sign of a deep-seated longing for God, a thirst for at least a ray of His light. We cannot long for God unless God is present within our heart. A Study on the Works of Mercy Misericordia Walk with the saints, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and discover practical ways to live the Works of Mercy. Explore Misericordia → The Gift of the Dark Night Today, we are invited to think deeply about these spiritual realities. We live in a here-and-now world, driven by feelings, wired by sight. We look for quick fixes and we refuse to wait. We are lured by spotlights and we struggle to encounter Christ in the destitute and diseased because we are fixated on the glorified Lord, not the suffering Savior. Mother Teresa’s dark night is a comforting assurance for those who struggle in life’s deep trenches and have to overcome their darkness by crying out, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief." The dark night is a gift God lavishes to share in the redemptive and transforming work of the Cross. It is a tool God uses to identify more deeply with the hungry, the naked, the homeless, those unheard and unloved, and those who live without worth and dignity. Beneath the pain of Divine absence ran a deeper river of joy—Mother was in the center of God’s will as she served the poorest of the poor. If she didn't feel Christ's presence the way she would have hoped for, she encountered Him in those Jesus ardently sought for and loved. Friend, what about you? How can we offer our "dark night" in exchange for Christ’s gleaming grace? What if, instead of resisting the Holy Spirit, we released our grip and invited the Lord in in a way He deems fit? What if, in some paradoxical way, our dark night is a gift to the world, perhaps even to our own home?     Missionary to the Unwanted Prior to the pandemic, a friend from church invited me to join her to a shelter that housed run-away domestic helpers. These were women who’d been abused, stripped off their wages, and cheated of their labor contracts. Some were stuck without a passport for years, others had not seen their family, and still others were holding caterwauling infants in their bosoms, soothing them to sleep. The sight was staggering even as it was sanctifying. That evening I shared my conversion story. I testified of the hope I had found in Christ Who embodies our brokenness and I proclaimed the message of the Resurrection. There was silence at first, then tears, and then a burst of praise. We connected. We shared about our cultures, our countries, and our children. Our stories found common ground in the crucified Christ. Sharing in Another's Pain In Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life, Henri Nouwen says, “Simply being with someone is difficult because it asks of us that we share in the other’s vulnerability, enter with him or her into the experience of weakness and powerlessness, become part of uncertainty, and give up control and self-determination.” Our willingness to become “displaced,” is central to our experience of the Gospel and of our transformation within. When we do not intentionally "cross the street" toward someone who is different, hurting, or in need, our hearts become cold and closed and our empathy muscles atrophy. We are then reduced to a mere building, not the body of Christ that we are. Mother Teresa dressed the leper, carried the crippled, and picked up babies from bins, even amidst stark cynicism and criticism. She taught us compassion in action. She showed us that the biggest disease in our times today is not leprosy or AIDS but the feeling of being rejected. Today, she challenges us to refute the secular throwaway culture and step forward and “be the change” we want to see in this world. Do Something Beautiful Perhaps it’s become a cliché in our culture to say, “I’m no Mother Teresa!” in response to some extraordinary act of charity. Oddly enough, Saint Teresa of Calcutta would agree. She wouldn’t want people to be exactly like her, but to accomplish God’s unique will in their lives. She said, “What I can do, you cannot. What you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God.” Each of us, with our own unique gifts, our own stories, and our own history can touch people in ways others cannot. We can find "our own Calcutta" right where we are. We can do something beautiful for God. Sister, where in your life is God calling you to do something beautiful for someone? In God’s economy of grace, every contribution matters. Even in every detail of parenting or teaching, sewing, and scrubbing, baking, calculating, or studying, we participate in God’s illumination. Today, the light that bathed this great Saint is upon us invigorating our shadows, and sending us forth as luminous witnesses (see 1 Peter 2:9) to a world hungry for love and thirsting for Hope. Will you let the light of Christ lead you?   [bctt tweet="Saint Teresa of Calcutta // A Saint in the Darkness #BISblog //" via="no"]   This post contains affiliate links. Thanks so much for supporting the ministry of Blessed is She!

Mother Teresa's quotes are gold. She famously once said, "I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts there can be no more pain, and only love." I read this quote for the first time the evening I departed for Kolkata, India to serve with the Missionaries of Charity a little over a year ago. Together, that trip and this quote slowly ignited a spark in my soul: a yearning to discover how to truly love. And not just love like a Nicholas Sparks movie, but love like Mother Teresa in her burning desire to win souls and spread joy. Love Until It Hurts Recently, I read a similar quote from Mother Teresa, saying, “Give! Give the love we have all received to those around you. Give until it hurts, because real love hurts. That is why you must love until it hurts. You must love with your time, your hands, and your hearts.” Real love hurts. Even now, reading this aloud puts a bitter taste in my mouth. Many of us know from personal experience that love can lead to pain, whether it be breakups, let downs, or rejections. However, we attribute this pain to something other than love. We stop loving when we are giving more than we are receiving. We equate feelings of happiness with love, and feelings of hurt with hatred. However, according to Mother Teresa, all the pain, let downs, and rejections we’ve felt by others are actually our first invitation to truly love them. Choosing Love Mother Teresa equated all of her success to one thing: Love. She loved deeply, wholly, and unconditionally. She placed every ounce of her trust in God. She poured her love upon strangers. Many of us idolize Mother, as we wish we had the capacity to aimlessly and endlessly love. However, Mother Teresa is saintly not because she effortlessly loved everyone, but because she chose to love, even in times it caused her hurt. This conscious choice to unconditionally love and trust in God made an earth-shattering and unforgettable impact on this world. Love Is Sacrifice While not all of us are called to serve to poor on the streets of Kolkata, we are all called to love in this manner. We are all called to, “love until it hurts” because true love is dying for another. True love is giving heart, mind, and body so that another soul may use you as a stepping ladder to see God more fully. Love is looking at a person’s deepest most faults, instabilities, and, proclaiming that this person, if only but a stranger, is worth laying down your life for. Love is sacrifice, and love requires vulnerability. These are two of the hardest attributes a person can simultaneously attain; it is a recipe for pain. Because we are imperfect in nature, love assures hurt. But love is the only force of nature powerful enough to bring another soul to God, and that gift alone should be worth any amount of agony. Mother Teresa is extraordinary, simply because she chose to unreservedly love each and every person she encountered, regardless of the pain, sadness or despair she felt. Love More Mother Teresa got it right: Real love hurts. However, this pain is temporary, and the love that is left is everlasting. If you love and are hurt, love more. If you love more and are hurt more, love even more. Fill the world with your love. Love so deeply, so widely, and so purely, that there simply is no room in your heart for hurt. A Study on the Works of Mercy Misericordia Walk with the saints, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and discover practical ways to live the Works of Mercy. Explore Misericordia → Britt is in her final year as an undergrad student at Ave Maria University in sunny Southwest FL. She is a mother to Christopher 3. She is devoted to living intentionally and loving unconditionally.

Has a saint ever chased after you? Everywhere you turn, there there are, seemingly waiting for you. It’s like they’re trying to tell you something that you don’t want to hear, so you keep trying to avoid them. But you can’t. That was me and Mama T, or St. Teresa of Calcutta. Memorable Missions In the summer of 2014 my brother announced that he had been selected to go on a mission trip to Calcutta. Our whole family was so excited for him. What a blessing. What an opportunity. Cut to me. Drowning in babies. I had two boys, ages one and two, and a baby girl due in December. I was elated for my brother. And also a little “Catholic jealous” (oh, come on now, we know that’s a thing). I knew in my mind that my work as a mother was holy and important. However, the yearning in my heart to drop everything and serve the Lord in some far away country was present. There was no denying it. My brother returned from Calcutta with amazing stories of mercy and miracles (and also some heat sickness on his part). While baby girl did track starts off my bladder and two little boys begged for snacks, my brother recounted his journey. I was so proud of him in that moment. And at the same time, I had to distance myself from what he was saying. It almost hurt too much to hear him talk about touching the tomb of Mother Teresa and his newfound love for this Saint. A Study on the Works of Mercy Misericordia Walk with the saints, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and discover practical ways to live the Works of Mercy. Explore Misericordia → Memorable Motherhood? Two years later, my sister went on the same mission trip to Calcutta. Things played out in a similar matter. I listened to her stories and I looked at the pictures. But I felt disconnected from her experience. We now had four kids, and my prayer life consisted of simply saying/crying, “Help me, Lord!” throughout the day. It was at this time, though, that I began to feel St. Teresa of Calcutta tugging at my heart. I quickly ignored that prompting. How could I, who can't even make it to my local soup kitchen, possibly connect with this Saint who served the poor without any reservation? How could I connect with a Saint who trusted the Lord to provide, while I literally have three to-do lists going at all times? No, it simply wasn’t possible. Finally Found By St. Teresa of Calcutta Around that same time, my brother gave me a book called Mother Teresa of Calcutta, A Personal Portrait by Fr. Leo Maasburg. I thanked him and put the book on the shelf. I promised to give it a read once all the kids were in college and I actually had time again. Mama T was not buying that. Somehow, this book was always the one the kids pulled off the shelf. It was always showing up on the kitchen counter. No matter how often I’d put it away, it would simply just be out. We even moved! I packed it. Unpacked it. Only to have the whole process start again. Finally, in the summer of 2017 (after another move), I picked it up and opened it. While most books took me a year to read in their entirety, I finished this one in four days. St. Teresa of Calcutta finally found me, and she wasn’t going to let go. Mother Teresa Knew What It Was to Be a Mother Fr. Leo’s portrait of Mother Teresa showed me why she had been waiting for me. It showed me why I needed her so much. I saw that, right here in my life, I could live out what she was revealing to me. Though I wouldn’t be in the streets of Calcutta, I could show love and compassion to those around me and in my community. There is more hunger in the world for love and appreciation than for bread. She showed me that working hard and writing to-do lists is great. But at the end of the day, everything belongs to the Lord. Doesn’t our life belong entirely to God? ... We just have to let Him work. The only thing that we have to do is pray that we don’t spoil His work! It’s His work. Mother Teresa showed me that my prayer life need not be complicated but simply heart to heart with God. God speaks in the silence of our heart, and we listen. Then out of the fullness of our heart we speak and He listens. And this is prayer. Mama T whispered a reminder into my heart that my dreams and desires for my life are good. But it’s not worldly success that I must seek. It's a sweet and fruitful faithfulness. God didn’t call me to be successful. God called me to be faithful. Small Things, Great Love My devotion to Mother Teresa is still growing. She comes to me in the littlest moments of my day, when I am feeling small and defeated. I feel her pick me up and dust me off. She tells me to keep going. To keep running the race. To keep doing small things with great love. St. Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us! Do you have a devotion to St. Teresa of Calcutta? How has she influenced your life? Let's celebrate her feast day and swap stories in the comments below! [bctt tweet="Finding Calcutta #BISblog //" via="no"] Susana Starbuck is wife of a youth minister and mother to four littles five and under. She lives in Phoenix, AZ and enjoys reading a good book, posting her highlight reel on Instagram, and drinking wine. You can connect with her here. This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking through one of these links, Blessed is She will receive a small percentage of your purchase at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting this ministry by using our affiliate links!

Friendship, as has been said, consists in a full commitment of the will to another person with a view to that person's good. -Pope Saint John Paul II Friendships feed our souls in a very particular way. During these times of social distancing, fall out from a global pandemic, and the ensuring separation we've experienced from our friends and family, we have a special place to turn to for friendship. The holy women of our Catholic Faith: the Saints, the venerables, the servants of God. We have reason to believe through the Church's guidance that these multitude of unique, relatable, remarkable women are worshipping before the throne of God, taking our intentions before Him. They want us to join them in Heaven, after all. The Saints, Our Friends We've assembled a grouping of a dozen women who fit this description, lived in the last century or so, and span all walks of life from vocation to nearly every continent, to a plethora of challenges they faced. Eleven are lay women! The complete discussion of their lives and reflections on how they lived the Works of Mercy out is available in our Misericordia study. Let's get to know our heavenly friends better and allow a beautiful friendship (or friendships!) to blossom. A Study on the Works of Mercy Misericordia Walk with the saints, including Saint Teresa of Calcutta, and discover practical ways to live the Works of Mercy. Explore Misericordia → Saint Teresa of Calcutta Mother Teresa is a world-famous Saint. She was born in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1910. She responded to a “call within a call” when she asked permission to found a new order of sisters, leaving behind the Sisters of Loretto, and instead leading the Missionaries of Charity in 1948. Jesus revealed to her His great pain at the abandonment of the poorest and the sickest. She answered His call to “Come be My light” and after receiving permission, she opened the first house for her new order. Calcutta, India, was replete with people living on the streets—abandoned, sick, and dying. Each day she would walk out, rosary in hand, to serve the “unwanted, unloved, uncared for.” After her death, a stunning revelation came to light that for the majority of her life, she suffered from a “dark night of the soul” wherein she didn’t feel or experience communication from God, but rather separation and rejection. Nevertheless, she counseled the doubtful and served the poorest of the poor while herself feeling abandoned. She is such an example of being steadfast in our Faith regardless of the struggles and dryness we inevitably will face. [bctt tweet="Friends with Saints Series // Saint Teresa of Calcutta #BISblog //" via="no"]   Saint Teresa of Calcutta, pray for us! Enjoying this litany of new friends? We have them here on the perfect ceramic mug for you!