When Women Prayনমুনা

Let Us Pray

In the quietness of a simple morning, a nun settles in once again to pray. The words come easily, as they should—she has spoken them every morning for more years than she can remember: 

“Dear Jesus, help us to spread Your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with Your Spirit and Life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of Yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our souls. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus!

“Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as You shine, so as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from You; none of it will be ours. It will be You shining on others through us.

“Let us thus praise You in the way You love best, by shining on those around us. Let us preach You without preaching, not by words but by example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear for You. Amen.”

Have you guessed the identity of this mystery woman? Her given name was Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, but the world knows her best by a different name.You know her best as Mother Teresa.

How do you start your day? When your feet hit the floor, what is the first thing you do? The day will be filled with many things to accomplish. How will they get done? Certainly, you want to be ready for the day’s opportunities. But first, create an opportunity to be filled with a moment of worship—time to listen before a day of speaking. Before serving, there has to be a giving of one’s self, and, before connecting with others, there must be a bonding with God.

The woman now revered as Saint Teresa of Calcutta is a testament to what can happen within a community and around the world “When Women Pray.” Let us resign to follow Mother Teresa’s example.