Prayer to Saint Teresa of Calcutta
(Prayed each day of the Novena)
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.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, Cause of Our Joy, pray for me.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta, pray for me.
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.”
"The devil may try to use hurts of life, and sometimes our own mistakes, to make you feel it is impossible that Jesus really loves you, is really cleaving to you. This is a danger for all of us. And so sad, because it is completely opposite of what Jesus is really wanting, waiting to tell you...He loves you always, even when you don't feel worthy."
“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’. The thirst of Jesus on the Cross is not imagination. It is a word: 'I thirst.' Let us hear Him saying it to me and saying it to you... It is realy a gift of God.”
"If you listen with your heart, you will hear, you will understand...Until you know deep inside that Jesus thirsts for you, you can't begin to know who He wants to be for you. Or who He wants you to be for Him."
“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.”
"Love Him trustfully without looking back, without fear. Give yourself fully to Jesus. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in His Love than in your weakness. Believe in HIm, trust in Him with blind and absolute confidence because He is Jesus."
“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. It is our emptiness and lowliness that God needs and not our plenitude.”
Ask for the grace to have an unshakeable trust in the God’s power and love for you and for all.
Recite the Prayer to Saint Teresa Of Calcutta
Sixth Day - True Love is Surrender
"Often you see small and big wires, new and old, cheap and expenseive, lined up. Unless and until the current passes through them there will be no light. The wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, and produce the Light of the World - Jesus; or refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread. Our Lady was the most wonderful wire. She allowed God to fill her to the brim, so by her surrender - 'Be it done to me according to your word' - she became full of grace; and naturally the moment she was filled by this current, the grace of God, she went in haste to Elizabeth's house to connect the wire, John, to the current, Jesus."
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:
“Joy is the sign of union with God, of God’s presence. Joy is love, the normal result of a heart burning with love.”
Ask for the grace to find joy in loving and to share this joy with all 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.”
"Our life must be woven with the Eucharist. From Jesus in the Eucharist we learn how much God thirsts to love us and how He thists for our love and for the love of souls in return. From Jesus in the Eucharist we receive the light and strength to quench His Thirst."
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 of a deep faith to 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