Excerpts from "The Joy in Loving" by Bl. Teresa of Calcutta

'Keep the joy of loving God in your heart and share this joy with all your meet especially your family. Be holy - let us pray'

Lord give me this seeing faith, then my work will never be monotonous. I will find joy in humouring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of all poor sufferers. O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you.

It is not enough to say: 'I love GOd' I also have to love my neighbour. In the Scriptures, St John says that you are a liar if you say you love God but do not love your neighbour. How can you love God whom you do not see, if you do not love your neighbour whom you see, whom you touch, with whom you live? And he uses a very big word. 'You are a liar.' It is one of those words that is frightening to read, and yet it is really true.

It is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace to those around me.

Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered. Do not wait for tommorow. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today.

Sometime ago a woman came with her child to me and said: 'Mother, I went to two or three places to beg for food, for we have not eaten for three days but they told me that I was young and I should work and earn my living. No one gave me anything.' I went to get some food for her and by the time I returned, the baby in her arms has died of hunger.

Everything starts form prayer. Without asking God for love, we cannot possess love and still less are we able to give it to others. Just as people today are speaking so much about the poor but they do not know or talk to the poor, we too cannot talk so much about prayer and yet not know how to pray.

How do we learn to pray? When Jesus was asked by His disciples how to pray, He did not teach them any methods or techniques. He said that we should speak to God as to our Father, a loving Father. Let us say this prayer and live it: Our Father who are in heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

It is simple yet so beautiful. Is this prayer fitting me? Can i say this prayer with an open heart, with a clean heart? Everything is there: God, myself, my neighbour. If I forgive them I can pray. There are no complications and yet we complicate our lives so much, by so many additions.

To students: I pray that all those young people who have graduated, do not carry just a piece of paper with them but that they carry with them love, peace and joy. That they become the sunshine of God's love to our people, the hope of eternal happiness and the burning flame of love wherever they go. That they become carriers of God's love. That they be able to give what they have received. For they have received not to keep but to share.

Have a deep compassion for people. To be able to have a heart full of compassion we need to pray. Especially be kind, be loving to the poor. We think we do so much for the poor, but it is they who make us rich. We are in debt to them. Do you want to do something beautiful for God? This is a person who needs you. This is your chance.

Try to put in the hearts of your children a love for the home. Make them long to be with their families. So much sin could be avoided if our people really loved their homes.

I believe God loved the world through us - through you and through me. We use Mother Teresa'a name; it is only a name, but we are real co-workers and carriers of His love. Today God loves the world through us. Especially in times like these when people are trying to make God 'was', it is you and I, by our love, by the purity of our lives, by out compassion, who prove to the world that God 'is'.