BELATED JULY POST: Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire

Please note: Shirley emailed me this post and I failed to get it posted before the end of July. So, it's posted in August but goes towards our JULY totals. - Jen

Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire: The encounter That Changed St. Teresa of Calcutta’s Life and How It Can Transform Your Own  by Joseph Langford, MC              Paperback Book: 313 pages    

On September 10, 1946, while riding on a bus to Darjeeling, India, this tiny little Loretto sister was given her true mission from God and the words she would ponder and seek refuge in, “I thirst.”   Then sister Teresa heard Jesus speak the words to her, she heard them clearly with her ears, but, felt them so deeply within her heart as well.  Jesus’ words from the cross, “I thirst,” not only fulfilled the prophesy in the book of Jeremiah but also described Jesus’ thirst for the love of the souls through time He came to redeem.   Sister Teresa’s epiphany opened her understanding to the heart of Jesus and the longing he has to love and be loved by everyone on the earth.    He spoke at length to her of how His people do not know Him so they do not love Him and that is when He asked her to go to the poorest of the poor, the lepers and destitute in the streets of Calcutta and find Him in the faces of those desperately needing care and to show love to those deemed the untouchables in the class system in India, the lowest of the low considered in the caste system in place in that country as lower than excrement, lower than the ooze of filth, lower than scum on the streets, this is who Jesus asked this young sister, barely 26 years of age to go out and witness to the spiritual needs of those beneath that society’s notice and breath love and life into these lost and overlooked  ones that Jesus thirsted for and sent Teresa to quench that thirst for these lost ones.    Sister Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1920 and was of Albanian descent.   By the age of 12 she knew she had to be a missionary and she felt strongly the call of God to spread the love of Christ, she had no idea then where that desire and her love and devotion to Jesus would take her only that it was overpowering and something she must do.    Jesus rewarded her with a special purpose for her life.     She expressed her encounter on the bus to her superiors and to the priest over her Order and shared with them that Jesus had called her to this special mission and that she was to go into the streets with only Him to accompany her in ministering to these needy who thirsted to be loved as Jesus thirsted for them.    Those words became Sister and later Mother Teresa’s mantra.     She studied and meditated upon the words constantly and everywhere she served the words, “I thirst” (John 19:28) were prominent under crosses placed upon the convent walls.    This is Mother Teresa’s secret fire that motivated her to do the work of the kingdom that she accomplished saying, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.”   Amen.     Good book, a good study into the personage and faith of Mother Teresa and an intimate portrait of the depth of her faith and her love for her savior.”