Mean Inner Critics Vs. Mother Teresa

Friday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 1 Corinthians 4:1-5

Brothers and sisters:
Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God. 
Now it is of course required of stewards
that they be found trustworthy.
It does not concern me in the least
that I be judged by you or any human tribunal;
I do not even pass judgment on myself;
I am not conscious of anything against me,
but I do not thereby stand acquitted;
the one who judges me is the Lord.
Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time,
until the Lord comes,
for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness
and will manifest the motives of our hearts,
and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40

R. (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the LORD and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the LORD,
and he will grant you your heart’s requests.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Commit to the LORD your way;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will make justice dawn for you like the light;
bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
For the LORD loves what is right,
and forsakes not his faithful ones.
Criminals are destroyed 
and the posterity of the wicked is cut off.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the just is from the LORD;
he is their refuge in time of distress.
And the LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
R. The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

 

 

Alleluia John 8:12

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 5:33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
“The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers,
and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same;
but yours eat and drink.”
Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
then they will fast in those days.”
And he also told them a parable.
“No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one.
Otherwise, he will tear the new
and the piece from it will not match the old cloak.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins,
and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.
Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins.
And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new,
for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

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Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Mean Inner Critics Vs. Mother Teresa

September 5, 2026 // Saturday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time // Optional Memorial of Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Virgin

Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Psalm for the Optional Memorial: Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11

Reflect on the Word // 

Washing my hands, I glanced up and caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. I had lost thirty-ish pounds and people were starting to notice. I had always thought that losing weight would resolve my insecurities only to find out that it was, indeed, only a number. 

“It doesn’t matter. You’re still ugly.”

I can’t remember if I thought it or said it out loud. And it’s only in recounting this painful moment many years later that I realize how disembodied it was. I didn’t say I was still ugly; I parroted the lie the enemy had been leveling at me my whole life. 

Like many women, I subscribed to a cultural beauty standard that I couldn’t measure up to. Even when the Lord repeatedly, tenderly, told me that I was beautiful, I bemoaned that I might have a beautiful heart or soul or personality, but I wasn’t objectively beautiful. 

I was blind. Not only to myself but to real beauty. Thankfully, our beloved Saint of the day revealed the truth to me.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta is a paradox. At four feet eleven inches tall, her deeply lined face and modest sari are not features typically associated with fame or beauty, yet her radiant face graced dozens of magazine covers. The world was captivated by her presence and personhood. She was beautiful

It was Mother Teresa’s love of Jesus that transformed her, both interiorly and externally, embodying today’s Psalm: “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame” (Psalm 34:5). 

Though she didn’t resemble Him in a natural way, when you saw Mother Teresa you saw Jesus. And Jesus is beautiful. Unlike fillers or fads, true beauty blooms in us when we look at Him and radiates out to transform our whole person. We are in every way changed into love—and love makes us beautiful.

As I study photographs of this audacious Albanian nun I begin to understand: when Jesus says I’m beautiful, He’s not lying or exaggerating. I just didn’t know what beautiful was before. 

Relate to the Lord // Stand before a mirror today and ask Jesus to tell you how He sees you.

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Before You Go…

Here are a few more posts you might love:

The Motives of Our Hearts
The Wisdom of God
For this Purpose
All His Works
With Fear and Trembling
Witness to Truth
Practicing Praise as an Instrument of God