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Mother Teresa: In My Own Words

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If you are looking for a concise collection of Mother Teresa quotes, this is a great choice. It is well organized with some of her best wisdom. If you are looking for more than a collection of quotes, then I recommend (as I have in other reviews of Mother Teresa books) that you start with "No Greater Love". That book remains my favorite book of her wisdom.

This collection of Mother Teresa's own words was compiled by a journalist who knew her personally. The quotes are practical and spiritual, like the saint herself. They're arranged within several categories, including Holiness, Generosity, and Life And Death. One of my favorite Mother Teresa quotes from the book: "Some remind me of what a magazine once said about me; it described me as a "living saint." If someone sees God in me, I am happy. I see God in everyone, and especially in those who suffer." Be sure to read the Introduction for a brief account of her remarkable life. Each chapter begins with a photo of Mother Teresa in her work. Whatever your religion or faith, race or color, you will draw both inspiration and hope from this holy woman's heartfelt words.

-- Graciela Sholander, http://dreamitdoit.net

This book is made up entirely of Mother Teresa's anecdotes and sayings. The author tells us little about this saintly woman except that Mother Teresa was very clear in her goals: to love and serve the poor and to see Jesus in everyone. She always left the ways and means to do this in God's hands. These are a few of the passages that inspired me.

"Holiness does not consist in doing extraordinary things. It consists in accepting, with a smile, what Jesus sends us. It consists in accepting and following the will of God."

"Holiness is not the luxury of a few. It is everyone's duty: yours and mine."

"In order to be saints, you have to seriously want to be one. Saint Thomas Aquinas assures us that holiness "is nothing else but a resolution made, the heroic act of a soul that surrenders to God." And he adds: "Spontaneously we love God, we run towards him, we get close to him, we possess him." Our willingness is important because it changes us into the image of God and likens us to him! The decision to be holy is a very dear one. Renunciation, temptations, struggles, persecutions, and all kinds of sacrifices are what surround the soul that has opted for holiness."

"Prayer makes your heart bigger, until it is capable of containing the gift of God himself."

"Prayer does not demand that we interrupt our work, but that we continue working as if it were prayer."

"To love with a pure heart, to love everybody, especially to love the poor, is a twenty-four-hour prayer."

"My secret is a very simple one: I pray. To pray to Christ is to love him."

"Prayer is not asking. Prayer is putting oneself in the hands of God, at his disposition, and listening to his voice in the depths of our hearts."

"Every day at communion time, I communicate two of my feelings to Jesus. One is gratefulness, because he has helped me to persevere until today. The other is a request: teach me to pray."

"Never forget, my children, that the poor are our masters. That is why we should love them and serve them, with utter respect, and do what they bid us."

"I ask you one thing: do not tire of giving, but do not give your leftovers. Give until it hurts, until you feel the pain."

"Let us ask God, when it comes time to ask him for something, to help us to be generous."

"The poor are great! The poor are wonderful! The poor are very generous! They give us much more than we give them."

"Today it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately, it is not fashionable to talk with them."

"Do we share with the poor, just like Jesus shared with us?"

"Whoever the poorest of the poor are, they are Christ for us - Christ under the guise of human suffering."

"Our food, our dress: it all must be just like the poor. The poor are Christ himself."

"The less we have, the more we give. Seems absurd, but it's the logic of love."

"True love causes pain. Jesus, in order to give us the proof of his love, died on the cross. A mother, in order to give birth to her baby, has to suffer. If you really love one another, you will not be able to avoid making sacrifices."

"Someone once told me that not even for a million dollars would they touch a leper. I responded: "Neither would I. If it were a case of money, I would not even do it for two million. On the other hand, I do it gladly for love of God."

"I will never tire of repeating this: what the poor need the most is not pity but love. They need to feel respect for their human dignity, which is neither less nor different from the dignity of any other human being."

My elderly parents-in-law often talk about the time when they met Mother Teresa. This book is probably the closest we will get to sitting at her feet and listening to her words of wisdom.

Words of great wisdom

This is not the book to read if you are seeking great literature. All that you will find here is simple, honest spirituality.

Read this little book only if you can endure being shamed. Read it only if you are strong enough to face the truth that none of us is whom God intended us to be. None of us is whom we were meant to be: whom we can be.

Read this little book if you wish to be inspired by the saint's musings to become more than you already are.

This book is indeed a great book about a saintly woman, who rubbed shoulders with the "rich and powerful" in the world, and still her heart was always with the "poor & sick" of this world. She toiled day and night to take care the "poor and sick" rotting in the streets of Calcutta. No wonder one billion Hindus in India treated her like a "Holy Mother" and gave her a royal funeral fit for a queen, when she died. Generations to come, will hardly believe such a person like Mother Theresa, once walked in flesh and blood upon this earth. I always wonder what make this world so great and so loving. It is because of people like Mother Theresa.

Want to know what is missing? Want to know where to find it? The model of Mother Teresa is not one to make us feel inadequate but it challenges us to reach for who we were really created to be. Each one in their own way...in their own place... can find a way to make their part of the world ... a sweeter place to be. Enjoy....be inspired...

This slight volume of Mother's sayings and writings perfectly captures the laser-focused love she had for the poor. The single-heartedness of her vision is hard to understand. She never wavered from her conviction that in the poor, she served Christ. For those of us who live in affluent lands, she has a message of hope as well. Love those who are lonely, even in the midst of their riches.

As she says, we will be judged, Christian and non-Christian alike, on the degree to which we acted toward the poor.

This is book was so beautifully written. I gained a greater respect for Blessed Mother Teresa.

No matter what religion you are, whether you believe or not, this is such an inspirational book.

A person, among many, who gave up so much, but never showed any dismay. "A Cheerful Giver".

As always, Mother's words were simple and short, yet compeling and convincing. This is my favorite of Mother's books, because of it's simplicity in layout. It is easy to reference her thoughts and quotes on a variety of subjects by chapter. A book to keep with you all day...to find moments of reflection and inspiration in her passages of spirituality and love.

This simple read contains the thoughts and prayers of a saintly women. It is inspirational simply because it is saintly. She talks of forgiveness, lonliness, poverty, suffering, money, holiness, smiles....and much much more. Read the words of one who truly loves God, and truly loves each and every one of us.