Today, September 5, is the Memorial of St. Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa).

Here is a lovely reflection from 2010 by then-Fr. Robert Barron (now Bishop Robert Barron) on his experience visiting the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and finding joy in the midst of the poverty, squalor and desperation of the city.

Fr. Barron’s take-away from his visit and from the witness of the Missionaries of Charity: “You’re made happy by turning your own life into a gift.” It is not in money, power, pleasure, esteem, or what have you in which happiness is found. Happiness is found in giving of yourself as a gift to others. This, in Fr. Barron’s mind, was the message of St. Teresa and is the on-going mission of her Sisters.

St. Teresa said, “I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

Proper Collect for the Commemoration of St. Teresa of Calcutta:

God, who called blessed Teresa, virgin, to respond to the love of your Son thirsting on the cross with outstanding charity to the poorest of the poor, grant us, we beseech you, by her intercession, to minister to Christ in his suffering brothers. Through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.