Prayers

“Prayer is the best gift of love you can give anyone you love.” (Mother Teresa)

Mother Teresa's favorite prayers

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Novena to Mother Teresa

Introduction

Jesus is my All in All

Mother Teresa once assured her followers, “Mother is here to help you, guide you, lead you to Jesus. Time is coming closer when Mother also has to go to God. Then Mother will be able to help each one of you more, guide you more, and obtain more graces for you.” Mother Teresa’s mission to guide us to Jesus’s light and to help each of us “be His light” still continues. What she wrote years ago is realized even more effectively today as she intercedes for us from Heaven: “I pray that each one of you be holy, and so spread His love everywhere you go. Light His Light of truth in every person’s life, so that God can continue loving the world through you and me.”

How to pray this novena more fruitfully

“God speaks in silence.” (Mother Teresa)

Before beginning, seek a silent place that will help you to pray, preferably in a church or chapel in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Create silence within yourself, for God is the friend of silence. He is always waiting for us in silence — to speak to us and to listen to us. “In the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love; with our silence, we allow Jesus to love us” (Mother Teresa).

Read some or all of the quotes provided for the day and allow them to penetrate your heart. Stay with Mother Teresa’s words for a while and let one of the thoughts grow in your heart and accompany you throughout the day. Unite yourself with all your brothers and sisters throughout the world who are suffering in darkness and pain, then prayerfully recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa. You may also make some concrete act of charity toward someone in your own family, community or neighborhood as a way of living more profoundly the spirit and message of Mother Teresa during the Novena.

First Day:

Know the Living Jesus

“Do you really know the living Jesus — not from books but from being with Him in your heart?”

“Am I convinced of Christ’s love for me and mine for Him? This conviction is the rock on which sanctity is built. What must we do to get this conviction? We must know Jesus, love Jesus, serve Jesus. Knowledge will make you strong as death. We know Jesus through faith: by meditating on His Word in the Scriptures, by listening to Him speak through His Church, and through the intimate union of prayer.”

“Seek Him in the tabernacle. Fix your eyes on Him who is the Light. Bring your hearts close to His Divine Heart and ask Him to grant you the grace of knowing Him.”

Thought for the day

“Don’t search for Jesus in far lands; He is not there. He is close to you; He is in you.”

Ask for the grace of an intimate knowledge of Jesus.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Second Day:

Jesus Loves You

“Am I convinced of Christ’s love for me, and mine for Him? This conviction is like the sunlight which makes the sap of life rise and the buds of sanctity bloom. This conviction is the rock on which sanctity is built.”

“Jesus loves you tenderly, you are precious to Him. Turn to Jesus with great trust and allow yourself to be loved by Him. The past belongs to His mercy, the future to His providence, and the present to His love.”

Thought for the day

“Do not be afraid — you are precious to Jesus. He loves you.”

Ask for the grace to be convinced of Jesus’ unconditional and personal love for you..

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Third Day:

Hear Him Say to You: "I Thirst"

“In His agony, in His pain, in His loneliness, He said very clearly, ‘Why have You forsaken Me?’ He was so terribly lonely and forsaken and suffering on the Cross.…At this most difficult time He proclaimed: ‘I thirst.’…And the people thought He was thirsty in an ordinary way and they gave Him vinegar straight-away; but it was not that He thirsted for—it was for our love, our affection, that intimate attachment to Him, and that sharing of His passion. And it is strange that He used such a word. He used ‘I thirst’ instead of ‘Give Me your love’.”

“Follow His footsteps in search of souls. Carry Him and His light into the homes of the poor, especially to the souls most in need. Spread the charity of His Heart wherever you go and so satiate His thirst for souls.”

Thought for the day

"Just think! God is thirsting for you and me to come forward to satiate His thirst."

Ask for the grace to understand Jesus cry of thirst

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Fourth Day:

Our Lady Will Help You

“How much we need Mary to teach us what it means to satiate God’s Thirsting Love for us, which Jesus came to reveal to us. She did it so beautifully. Yes, Mary allowed God to take possession of her life by her purity, her humility, and her faithful love.…Let us seek to grow, under the guidance of our Heavenly Mother, in these three important interior attitudes of soul that delight the Heart of God and enable Him to unite Himself to us, in and through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in doing so that, like Mary our Mother, we will allow God to take full possession of our whole being—and through us God will be able to reach out His Thirsting Love to all we come in contact with, especially the poor.”

“If we stand with Our Lady, she will give us her spirit of loving trust, total surrender, and cheerfulness.”

Thought for the day

“How close we must keep to Our Lady who understood what depth of Divine Love was being revealed as she stood at the foot of the Cross and heard Jesus cry out: “I thirst.”

Ask for the grace to learn from Our Lady to quench Jesus thirst as she did.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Fifth Day:

Trust Jesus Blindly

“Trust in the good God, who loves us, who cares for us, who sees all, knows all, can do all things for my good and the good of souls.”

“Christ accepted to die because He trusted His Father. He knew that from that apparent failure God will work out His plan of salvation. For us, too, we must have that deep faith and trust that if we are doing God’s will, He will work out His plan of salvation in us and through us in spite of any failure we may meet.”

“Jesus never changes.…Trust Him lovingly, trust Him with a big smile, always believing He is the Way to the Father, He is the light in this world of darkness.”

“Do not be afraid to love Jesus tenderly. When you trust Him, He will do great things for you.”

Thought for the day

“Confidence in God can do all things.”

Ask for the grace to have an unshakable trust in God’s power and love for you and for all.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Sixth Day:

True Love Is Surrender

“ ‘I thirst’ has no meaning unless through total surrender I give all to Jesus.”

“Today I will do whatever Jesus wants. And you will see that oneness. That surrender to God, to use you without consulting you. That accepting is a great sign of union with God. Holiness is that total surrender to God. Totus tuus. Completely yours. Totus tuus. Completely surrendered. Very clear! Complete. That accepting whatever He gives. That giving whatever He takes. You need much love to be able to see the hand of God.”

“I only want to do what God wants. Let us have the courage to do what God wants, even if it is difficult.”

Thought for the day

"Allow God to use you without consulting you."

Ask for the grace to surrender your whole life to God.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Seventh Day:

God Loves a Cheerful Giver

“Joy, to be fruitful, has to be shared.”

“By this joy I mean that inner depth of joy in you, in your eyes, look, face, movements, actions, swiftness, etc. ‘That My joy may be in you,’ says Jesus. What is this joy of Jesus? It is the result of His continual union with God, doing the Will of the Father. ‘I have come that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.’ This joy is the fruit of union with God, of being in the presence of God. Living in the presence of God fills us with joy. Godis Joy.”

“Joy shines in the eyes, comes out in the speech and walk…when people see the habitual happiness in your eyes, it will make them realize they are the loved children of God.”

Thought for the day

“We may not be able to give much, but we can always give the joy that springs from a heart that is in love with God.”

Ask for the grace to find joy in loving and to share this joy with everyone you meet.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Eighth Day:

Jesus Made Himself the Bread of Life and the Hungry One

“He proved His love to us by giving His own life, His own being. ‘He being rich became poor’ for you and for me. He gave Himself totally. He died on the Cross. But before He died, He made Himself the Bread of Life to satisfy our hunger for love, for Him. He said, ‘Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, you cannot have life eternal.’

And the greatness of that love of His made Him the hungry one, and He said, ‘I was hungry and you fed Me, and unless you feed Me, you cannot enter eternal life.’ That is the giving of Christ. And today God keeps on loving the world. He keeps on sending you and me to prove that He loves the world, that He still has that compassion for the world. It is we who have to be His love, His compassion in the world of today.”

Thought for the day

“Believe that He, Jesus, is in the appearance of Bread and that He, Jesus, is in the hungry, naked, sick,lonely, unloved, homeless, helpless, and hopeless.”

Ask for the grace see Jesus in the Bread of Life and to serve Him in the distressing disguise of the poor.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Ninth Day:

Holiness Is Jesus Living and Acting in Me

“Our works of charity are nothing but the overflow of our love of God from within. Therefore, the one who is most united to Him loves her neighbor most.”

“We must become holy not because we want to feel holy, but because Christ must be able to live His life fully in us.”

“Let us spend ourselves with Him and for Him. Let Him see with your eyes, speak with your tongue, work with your hands, walk with your feet, think with your head, and love with your heart. Is this not perfect union, a continual loving prayer? God is our loving Father. Let your light of love so shine before man that seeing your good works (the washing, sweeping, cooking, loving your husband and the children), they may glorify the Father.”

“Be holy. Holiness is the easiest way to satiate Jesus’s Thirst, His for you and yours for Him.”

Thought for the day

“Charity for each other is the surest way to great holiness.”

Ask for the grace to become a saint.

Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Novena prayer

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, you allowed the thirsting love of Jesus on the Cross to become a living flame within you, and so became the light of His love to all. Obtain from the Heart of Jesus ...(here make your request).

Teach me to allow Jesus to penetrate and possess my whole being so completely that my life,too, may radiate His light and love to others. Amen.

Prayers to Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Saint Teresa of Calcutta, 
Jesus called you 
to bring the light of His love
to those who live in darkness. 
By tender, loving care 
for the poorest and the neediest, 
you became the sign of God's presence, 
His love and compassion 
in the midst of suffering and pain. 
Following your example, 
help us to recognize the face of Jesus 
in our suffering brothers and sisters 
and to serve Him with humility and joy. 
Teach us to be carriers 
of God's tender love and mercy 
and so bear witness that 
God still loves the world 
through each one of us. 
Amen.

Saint Teresa of Calcutta,
‍You showed us 
the beauty of a life
lived in and for love
and you never stop
reminding us that we are all
“created for greater things,
to love and to be loved.
”Help us to live a life of love
that is worthy of our calling
as children of God.
Amen.

Prayer Requests

Please send us your petition(s) and we will include them in our daily prayers. Your petition(s) will also be placed on the tomb of Mother Teresa. A special Mass is offered for the intention(s) we receive every Friday in the Motherhouse of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta.

Submit your prayer requests at the following email:
‍prayer@motherteresa.org

Praying with Mother Teresa

“My secret is very simple, I pray,” Mother Teresa would answer to those who asked whatthe secret of her life was. Her relationship with God through prayer was indeed the source of herinspiration, strength and love that she shared with all she met. Her words, “What blood is to thebody, prayer is to the soul,” confirm her conviction of the vital importance of prayer. In spite ofher busy schedule Mother Teresa spent about four hours a day in prayer, an indication of howessential prayer was for her. The primacy she gave to prayer was an example and inspiration notonly to the members of her own religious family but also to all those who came in contact withher.

No matter how busy our life may be, contact with God in prayer must have the mostprominent place. As we pray with the words Mother Teresa used in addressing God, we unitewith her and ask her to intercede for us.

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