St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Thirst

“Our Lady’s role is to bring you face to face with the love in the Heart of Jesus crucified.” St. Teresa of Calcutta

We all come to this world with a mission from God. Some of us find out our mission at a very young age; others never do. On this third week of our Marian Consecration, Father Michael Gaitley in his book “33 Days to Morning Glory,” introduces us to St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta. He tells us that Mother Teresa found out what her mission would be at the young age of five when she received Jesus for the first time in the Eucharist. Since then, she experienced Jesus’ thirst. And that would be her main mission for the rest of her life, to satiate the thirst of Jesus’ sacred heart. It’s fitting that her home parish in her native Macedonia was called “Sacred Heart.”

Her thirst grew, and by the age of twelve, she knew that God was calling her to go into missionary work. At eighteen, she joined the Loreto sisters and applied to go to their missions in India. After a year as a novitiate, she was assigned to the Loreto community in Calcutta. She served for more than fifteen years at St. Mary’s Bengali Medium School for girls.

While serving in Calcutta, she made an extraordinary vow: to refuse Jesus nothing that He asked of her. On September 10, 1946, Jesus came to collect. Mother Teresa experienced what she later described as “a call within a call.” Jesus asked her to start a new religious order, which she founded in 1950 with the name “The Missionaries of Charity.”

Immediately after founding the order, Mother Teresa began to feel terrible darkness and loneliness in her soul. It took her eleven years to realize that what she was experiencing was a share in the thirst of Jesus. This gave her strength, and she told everyone that “suffering is a gift from God.” “Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness,” she said, “are nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that he can kiss you.”

Even though interiorly Mother Teresa was suffering, exteriorly she radiated joy. Every time I see a picture of Mother Teresa, I see joy and peace in her face. One would never know that she felt darkness and loneliness in her soul. And that is what God wants from us. He wants us to carry our crosses with joy.  He wants us to smile. He wants us to concentrate on our blessings. Mother Teresa lived amongst the poorest of the poor, but she never complained because she didn’t have hot water or a bed to sleep in. And yet, we get upset at the slightest inconvenience.

In order to develop this attitude of gratitude, we have to learn two main secrets from Mother Teresa. First, she followed the example of Mary who, like Mother Teresa, also lived in poverty, but praised and thanked God in all things. Second, Mother Teresa followed the example of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s examination of conscience. St. Ignatius directs people to reflect on the blessings of the day. This helps us to recognize the good things God is doing in our lives so we can thank Him for them.

Once we recognize the blessings that God has bestowed on us, we will be ready to carry out the mission that God has for us. In Mother Teresa’s case, her mission was to serve the poorest of the poor through the religious order she founded, “The Missionaries of Charity.” Our mission is probably not as complex. God, more than likely, is not asking us to sell everything and move to India to care for the poor. But He may be asking us to “be the one” who brings food to the homeless in our town. Or He may be asking us to “be the one” to go visit the sick at a nearby hospital. Or He may be asking us to “be the one” to teach a Bible class at our parish. Or He may be asking us to “be the one” to invite someone to go to Mass on Sunday. Whatever our mission is, we will know it because we will experience Jesus’ thirst. The big decision we have to make is: will we “be the one” to satiate His thirst like Mother Teresa did?

Copyright © 2025 Christy Romero. All rights reserved. If you thought of someone while reading this, bless them by sharing it with them.