Known throughout the world simply as Mother Teresa, St. Teresa of Calcutta was born in Skopje, Macedonia, in 1910. As a Catholic nun, she founded the Missionaries of Charity, whose mission is to care for the poorest of the poor around the world. Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for her humanitarian work in 1979 and was given the title “Blessed” in 2003. She was canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. Her feast day is September 5.
Prayer for Our Family
Heavenly Father,
you have given us a model of life
in the Holy Family of Nazareth.
Help us, O Loving Father,
to make our family another Nazareth
where love, peace, and joy reign.
May it be deeply contemplative,
intensely eucharistic, and vibrant with joy.
Help us to stay together
in joy and sorrow through family prayer.
Teach us to see Jesus
in the members of our family,
especially in their distressing disguise.
May the eucharistic heart of Jesus
make our hearts meek and humble like his
and help us to carry out our family duties
in a holy way.
May we love one another
as God loves each one of us,
more and more each day,
and forgive each other’s faults
as you forgive our sins.
Help us, O loving Father,
to take whatever you give
and give whatever you take with a big smile.
Immaculate Heart of Mary,
cause of our joy, pray for us.
St. Joseph, pray for us.
Holy Guardian Angels,
be always with us;
guide and protect us. Amen.
Radiating Christ
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 all 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 to be a light to others.
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.
This is an adaptation by Mother Teresa of a prayer written by Blessed John Henry Newman.
This excerpt from Joined by Grace: A Catholic Prayer Book for Engaged and Newly Married Couples is reprinted with permission of Ave Maria Press.
