Devotion to the Saints: Mother Teresa, the power of prayer

When Mary visited St. Elizabeth a strange thing happened: the unborn child jumped with joy in the mother's womb. It is truly strange that God used an unborn child to welcome his son as a man for the first time.

Now abortion reigns everywhere and the child made in the image of God is thrown into the garbage. Yet that child, in the mother's womb, was created for the same great purpose as all human beings: to love and be loved. Today that we are gathered here together we first of all thank our parents who wanted us, gave us this wonderful gift of life and with it the opportunity to love and be loved. For most of his public life Jesus continued to repeat the same thing: "Love one another as God loves you. As the Father loved me, I loved you. Love one another ».

Looking at the cross we know at what point God loved us. Looking at the tabernacle, we know at what point you continue to love us.

If we want to love and be loved, it is very important that we pray. We learn to pray. We teach our children to pray and pray with them, because the fruit of prayer is faith - "I believe" - ​​and the fruit of faith is love - "I love" -and the fruit of love is service - "I serve" - ​​and the fruit of service is peace. Where does this love begin? Where does this peace begin? In our family ...

Therefore, let us pray, let us pray continually, since prayer will give us a pure heart and a pure heart will be able to see the face of God even in an unborn child. Prayer is truly a gift from God, because it gives us the joy of loving, the joy of sharing, the joy of keeping our families together. Pray and have your children pray with you. I feel all the terrible things going on today. I always say that if a mother can get to kill her baby, then it's no wonder that men kill each other. God says: "If even a mother could forget her son, I will not forget you. I hid you in the palm of my hand, you are precious to my eyes. I love you".

It is God himself who speaks: "I love you."

If we could only understand what it means to "pray for work"! If we could only deepen our faith! Prayer is not a simple pastime and a utterance of words. If we had faith as much as a mustard seed, we could tell this thing to move and it would move ... If our heart is not pure we cannot see Jesus in others.

If we neglect the prayer and if the branch does not remain united to the vine, it will dry out. This union of the branch with the vine is prayer. If this connection exists, then there is love, and joy; then only will we be the irradiation of God's love, the hope of eternal happiness, the flame of ardent love. Because? Because we are one with Jesus. If you sincerely want to learn to pray observe silence.

Getting ready to treat lepers, start work with prayer and use particular kindness and compassion for the patient. This will help you remember that you are touching the Body of Christ. He is hungry for this contact. Would you like not to give it to him?

Our vows are nothing but worship of God. If you are sincere in your prayers then your vows make sense; otherwise they will mean nothing. Making vows is prayer, because it is part of the worship of God. Vows are promises between you and God alone. There are no intermediaries.

Everything takes place between Jesus and you.

Spend your time in prayer. If you pray you will have faith, and if you have faith you will naturally want to serve. Those who pray can only have faith and when there is faith you want to turn it into action.

Faith thus transformed becomes joy because it offers us the opportunity to translate our love for Christ into works.

That is, it means meeting Christ and serving him.

You need to pray in a particular way, because in our congregation work is only the fruit of prayer ... it is our love in action. If you are truly in love with Christ, no matter the insignificance of the job, you will do it the best you can, you will do it wholeheartedly. If your work is sloppy, your love for God is also of little consequence; your job must prove your love. Prayer is truly a life of union, it is being one with Christ ... Therefore prayer is necessary like air, like blood in the body, like anything that keeps us alive, that keeps us alive in the grace of God.