Filled with the “New Wine” of the Love of Jesus

The following is a reflection for St. Teresa of Calcutta, founder of the Missionaries of Charity, Nobel Peace Prize Winner, advocate for the poor, and the unborn.

I have asked but one grace for you—that you may understand the words of Jesus: Love one another as I have loved you. Can you tell me how he loved you? Ask yourself and then see, do you really love your sisters as he loves you? More and more I understand [that] unless and until this love is among us, we can kill ourselves with work, it will be only work, but not love. Work without love is slavery. We have so much to thank God for….

We cannot truly love and serve the poor unless we have that love of God in our hearts. We will only have that if we are empty of all selfishness and insincerity. This love must start at home. Ask Jesus to give you his heart to love with.

Jesus gave his life to love us and tells us that we also have to give whatever it takes to do good to one another…. Jesus died on the cross because that is what it took for him to do good to us; to save us from our selfishness and sin. He gave up everything to do the Father’s will, to show us that we too must be willing to give up everything to do God’s ways, to love one another as he loves each one of us. That is why we, too, must give to each other until it hurts. It is not enough for us to say I love God, but I also have to love my neighbor.