Joy & Prayer

One day a novice in Rome came to me. She was crying. I asked her, "What is the matter?"

She had just come back from a family and said, "Mother, I have never seen such suffering. They had nothing in the house. There was this terrible sickness, the terrible cancer, and I could do nothing. Please allow me to do a little bit of extra penance. I want to share in that suffering."

She was a young sister, scarcely three years in our congregation, but it was painful for her to see the suffering of the others.

Joy is prayer, Joy is strength. Joy is love. Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls. God loves a cheerful giver. He gives most who gives with joy. The best way to show our gratitude to God and the people is to accept everything with joy. A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love. Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.

This I tell my sisters. This I tell you.

~ Mother Teresa