Mother Teresa, in My Own Words [Paperback]

"Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God."

"Holiness is not the luxury of a few. It is everyone's duty: yours and mine."

"In order to be saints, you have to seriously want to be one. Saint Thomas Aquinas assures us that holiness "is nothing else but a resolution made, the heroic act of a soul that surrenders to God." And he adds: "Spontaneously we love God, we run towards him, we get close to him, we possess him." Our willingness is important because it changes us into the image of God and likens us to him! The decision to be holy is a very dear one. Renunciation, temptations, struggles, persecutions, and all kinds of sacrifices are what surround the soul that has opted for holiness."

"Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself."

"Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were prayer."

"To love with a pure heart, to love everybody, especially to love the poor, is a twenty-four-hour prayer."

"My secret is a very simple one: I pray. To pray to Christ is to love him."

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts."

"Every day at communion time, I communicate two of my feelings to Jesus. One is gratefulness, because he has helped me to persevere until today. The other is a request: teach me to pray."

"Never forget, my children, that the poor are our masters. That is why we should love them and serve them, with utter respect, and do what they bid us."

"I ask you one thing: do not tire of giving, but do not give your leftovers. Give until it hurts, until you feel the pain."

"Let us ask God, when it comes time to ask him for something, to help us to be generous."

"The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than we give them."

"Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them."

"Do we share with the poor, just like Jesus shared with us?"

"Whoever the poorest of the poor are, they are Christ for us - Christ under the guise of human suffering."

"Our food, our dress: it all must be just like the poor. The poor are Christ himself."

"The less we have, the more we give. Seems absurd, but it's the logic of love."

"True love causes pain. Jesus, in order to give us the proof of his love, died on the cross. A mother, in order to give birth to her baby, has to suffer. If you really love one another, you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices."

"Someone once told me that not even for a million dollars would they touch a leper. I responded: "Neither would I. If it were a case of money, I would not even do it for two million. On the other hand, I do it gladly for love of God."

"I will never tire of repeating this: what the poor need the most is not pity but love. They need to feel respect for their human dignity, which is neither less nor different from the dignity of any other human being."

My elderly parents-in-law often talk about the time when they met Mother Teresa. This book is probably the closest we will get to sitting at her feet and listening to her words of wisdom.

Words of great wisdom

Her words are categorised into fifteen chapters some dealing specifically with her work among the poor and others being more general. Mother Teresa, was of course, a Roman Catholic nun and as a result much of her material centers on Christ and finding him among the poor. However, even if you are not Roman Catholic you will find the message endearing. It is one of love and concern for our fellow human beings.