Mother Teresa of Calcutta: Act the Charity of Christ

“My sisters and myself desire to bring Christ into the unhappy holes of the slums of Calcutta poor and later on to other places…by going amongst the people, nursing the sick in their homes, helping the dying to make peace with God, having little free schools in the slums for the little children, visiting the poor in the hospitals, and helping the beggars of the streets to lead respectful lives. In a word, act the charity of Christ among the poorest and so make them know Him and want Him in their unhappy lives.”

Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) in a letter to Archbishop Périer, Feast of Corpus Christi dated 5 June 1947, in Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the “Saint of Calcutta” edited with commentary by Brian Kolodiejchuk (New York: Doubleday, 2007) 74.

As we find ourselves in the second half of Lent and begin to look to life beyond Easter, Mother Teresa would urge us to adopt a lifestyle of going amongst the destitute and filling “the unhappy holes” of their lives with Jesus Christ in word and deed. Consider doing this in your neighborhood, a section of the inner city, or wherever it makes sense based on where God has planted you.

Few things cause our light to shine more brightly than acts of charity. That’s the view of the prophet Isaiah. Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. Isaiah 58:10. Want to learn from some of our friends who have dedicated their lives to offering this kind of care to the poor in Guatemala?

Come to our home and meet Edgar and Gladys Güitz of Potter’s House. They serve the Treasures, the poor who scavenge to survive in the garbage dump in Guatemala City. Edgar and Gladys are coming to visit us in Littleton, Colorado, so we are having an open house on Sunday, 19 April 2015, from 1:00pm-3:00pm. Reply to this meditation if you want to attend, and we will email you our townhouse address.

“The life of a monk ought to be a continuous Lent. Since few, however, have the strength for this, we urge the entire community during these days of Lent to keep its manner of life most pure and to wash away in this holy season the negligences of other times. This we can do in a fitting manner by refusing to indulge evil habits and by devoting ourselves to prayer with tears, to reading, to compunction of heart, and self-denial.

During these days, therefore, we will add to the usual measure of our service something by way of private prayer and abstinence from food or drink so that each of us will have something above the assigned measure to offer God of his own will with the joy of the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:6). In other words, let each one deny himself some food, drink, sleep, needless talking and idle jesting, and look forward to holy Easter with joy and spiritual longing.”

Benedict of Nursia (480-543) in The Rule of St. Benedict in English 49.1-7 (Collegeville: Liturgical) RB 1980, 71.

We are about halfway though Lent. Today, Benedict reminds us that this season teaches us self-denial. Many Christians don’t like to talk about self-denial. They think (wrongly!) that it views God’s gifts as bad and not to be enjoyed. Nothing could be further from the truth! The aim of the Benedict’s community of Christ-followers was enjoyment with self-denial so that indulgence is precluded and sharing is possible.

My prayer for readers on this feast day is that this journey leads you to a lifestyle of “continuous Lent.” Don’t do this because I say so. Do it because it is the pathway Jesus marked for us. Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” Luke 9:23. Self-denial is “Spring Training” for disciples of Jesus who desire to follow Him through the seasons of life!

“When I see people very anxious to know what sort of prayer they practice, covering their faces and afraid to move or think lest they should lose any slight tenderness and devotion they feel, I know how little they understand how to attain union with God since they think it consists in such things as these. No, sisters, no; our Lord expects works from us. If you see a sick sister whom you can relieve, never fear losing your devotion; compassionate her; if she is in pain, feel for it as if it were your own and, when there is need, fast so that she may eat.”

Teresa of Ávila (1515-1582) in Interior Castle 3.11 (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 83.

In reading Interior Castle, this expression, “compassionate her,” struck me. Our Lord Jesus Christ saw people in need and had compassion on them (cf. Mark 6:35). Do we? All too often I sense I am tempted to follow the cultural norms and ignore or judge people rather than have compassion on them and sacrifice for them.

As we are focused on prayer, fasting, and almsgiving this Lent, we must remember that the aim of this inward and upward journey of union with God is to prepare us for the outward journey of compassionate service. By taking this route, God becomes the One who gives us the grace to sacrifice for others as He did for us.

“Fasting is calculated to bring a note of urgency and importunity into our praying, and to give force to our pleading in the court of heaven. The man who prays with fasting is giving heaven notice that he is truly in earnest…Not only so, but he is expressing his earnestness in a divinely-appointed way. He is using a means that God has chosen to make his voice to be heard on high.”

Arthur Wallis (1922-1988) in God’s Chosen Fast (Ft. Washington: Christian Literature Crusade, 1968) 42.

Why pray in earnest by adding fasting during Lent? Wallis says it best: it is “the divinely-appointed way” to send a message to the Father. Thankfully Jesus gives us instructions on how to do it. He says, “When you pray…When you fast…” (cf. Matthew 6:5-17). Do we? Rewards await those who pray and fast. The best news is that we don’t have to stop this practice when Lent ends but can continue on “the divinely-appointed way” the rest of our lives.

“Our Lord showed me a spiritual sight…I saw that He is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us: He is our clothing that for love wrappeth us, claspeth us, and all encloseth us for tender love, that He may never leave us; being to us all-thing that is good, as to mine understanding…

He showed me a little thing, the size of an hazelnut, in the palm of my hand; and it was as round as a ball. I looked thereupon with eye of my understanding, and thought: What may this be? And it was answered generally thus: It is all that is made. I marvelled how it might last, for methought it might suddenly have fallen to naught for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasteth, and ever shall for that God loveth it. And so all things hath being by the love of God.

In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loveth it, the third, that God keepeth it. But what is to me verily the Maker, the Lover, and the Keeper…Also our Lord God showed that it is full great pleasance to Him that a helpless soul come to Him simply and plainly and homely. For this is the natural yearnings of the soul, by the touching of the Holy Ghost (as by the understanding that I have in this showing):

God, of Thy goodness, give me Thyself: for Thou art enough to me, and I may nothing ask that is less that may be full worship to Thee; and if I ask anything that is less, ever me wanteth, but only in Thee I have all.

For His goodness comprehendeth all His creatures and all His blessed works, and overpasseth without end. For He is the endlessness, and He hath made us only to Himself, and restored us by His blessed passion, and keepeth us in His blessed love; and all this of His goodness.”

Julian of Norwich (1342-1416) in Showings, also known as, Revelations of Divine Love (CSD edition) excerpt from the First Revelation.

Yesterday we determined that sometimes prayer is a quiet time when we don’t hear much from God. Other times, like this one recounted for us in ancient English, we have revelations, showings, or in modern terms, “a-ha moments,” where the lights come on and things become clear. Why include “a spiritual sight” from Julian today?

The reason we practice the discipline of prayer, often in silence and solitude, is so that, should God reveal Himself, we are in a posture of receiving and sharing His gifts. Personally, I think most people are so busy and their lives are filled with so much noise that they allot no time for prayer or solitude and could not hear God’s voice if he shouted to them with a megaphone.

For David, the Psalmist, the “showings” only happen in the stillness and out of the stillness emerges the gift of “knowing.” Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10. That means all people (“nations”) and all creation, (“the earth”), including hazelnuts, shout the wonder of our Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer.

Think on these things in silence for five minutes today with our Maker, Lover, and Keeper as the celebration of “His blessed passion” draws ever nearer.

“I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Like all good things, prayer requires some discipline. Yet I believe that life with God should seem more like a friendship than duty. Prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. In other words, prayer has features in common with all relationships that matter.

If prayer stands as the place where God and human beings meet, then I must learn about prayer. Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those two themes converge.”

Philip Yancey in Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 17.

Yancey simply and powerfully summarizes the range of experiences associated with prayer. As we approach this discipline, don’t expect the heavens to open daily, a ray of light to magically fill the room at a specified time, or angels to appear with a message in response to our petitions. Most of the time it may be pretty quiet.

Think of Daniel, fasting and praying for twenty-one days, twenty-one long days, before having a angel visit him (cf. Daniel 10). Consider Anna, the eighty-four year old prophetess, who fasted and prayed every day in the temple, waiting for the redemption of Israel (cf. Luke 2:36-38). Both eventually experienced God. Eventually.

Whether Daniel or Anna, you or me, each of us has moments or even days of dullness and not much ecstasy. So why pray? Don’t do it out of duty, do it because it’s a gift. What is so profound about this gift, in short, is that the themes that converge in prayer are His strength and our weakness.

“How happy does our Lord make me, and how sweet and easy is His service on this earth! He has always given me what I desired, or rather He has made me desire what He wishes to give…When the Divine Master tells me to give to whoever asks of me, and to let what is mine be taken without asking it again, it seems to me that He speaks not only of the goods of earth, but also of the goods of Heaven. Besides, neither one nor the other are really mine.”

Thérèse de Lisieux (1873-1897) in The Story of a Soul, X, “The New Commandment” as recounted in Lent and Easter Wisdom from Thérèse de Lisieux, comp. John Cleary (Liguori: Liguori, 2015) 41.

Today’s reading illustrates the transformations that happen within us as we practice the disciplines of prayer and giving. Linked to prayer, how often do we we desire Him and a list of other things, and in our seeking, find that He is all we need, and then from His abundance we receive even more.

Then regarding giving, once we find ourselves with far more than we need, which has all come to us from His hand, rather than enjoying and sharing these material and spiritual provisions we often clutch them too closely. Along these lines, the Apostle Peter might offer this reminder:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3.

When we live according to this reality, how happy we are! But it does not stop there. “His divine power” propels to action. Will it have that impact on us? Now that we realize we have “everything we need,” will we share from our goods of earth and from the goods of Heaven that all belong to the Master anyway?

“Our prayer must not be self-centered. It must arise not only because we feel our own need as a burden we must lay upon God, but also because we are so bound up in love for our fellow men that we feel their needs as acutely as our own. To make intercession for men is the most powerful and practical way in which we can express our love for them.”

John Calvin (1509-1564) is widely attributed as the source of this statement on prayer.

As we focus on the discipline of prayer this Lent, let us do so with others in view, not just ourselves. Making intercession for others is, in the words of Calvin, both “powerful and practical,” and it’s likely the most generous gift we can give someone else. How is intercession for others a part of your daily rhythm of life?

Try this exercise. Make a list of people to pray for this Lent. Not sure how to intercede? Try praying Ephesians 1:15-23 or 3:14-21 over them. Keep it in the place where you physically go to pray or in your Bible for daily reference. The Apostle Paul would likely this say is the “first” thing each of us should do every day (cf. 1 Timothy 2:1).

“Learn, then, the lesson of becoming a little one, of becoming nothing. A man who fasts–leaving off all those things his appetite improperly craves–does a good thing. But the Christian who is fasting from his own desires and his own will, and who feeds upon God’s will alone, does far better. This is what Paul calls the circumcision of the heart.”

Jeanne Guyon (1648-1717) in Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ (Sargent: CBPH, 1975) 141.

Today marks the third feast day of Lent. Let us feast on God’s will as revealed to us through His Word. It not only washes us. When we leave off those things our appetites improperly crave and feast on God’s Word, according to the Apostle Paul, the Spirit circumcises our hearts (cf. Romans 2:29).

Why become a little one? Why become nothing? Jesus made Himself nothing and the Father’s will was accomplish through Him, the greatest work in human history, the cross, which we will celebrate in five weeks, and we are exhorted to have the same mindset (cf. Philippians 2:1-11).

What’s all this have to do with Lent, fasting, feasting, and generosity? That same text from Paul gives us the answer. When we get out of the way God does His best work through us. We shine like stars in the world (cf. Philippians 2:12-18). Feast on that today, and shine on!

“What if I could freely receive and freely give? When Jesus says, “Seek the Kingdom,” I think he is saying, “Learn to receive.” Here’s what I think. To the extent we can receive from God, our lives will be a gift to others. Doesn’t Jesus say as much?

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Luke 12:32-34

The fundamental brokenness of the human race, the essence of the brokenness that we call sin, is the inability to freely receive. Isn’t that the story of Eden; we preferred to “take” (i.e. steal) rather than receive. Fear and anxiety lead to “taking.” Faith and love lead to receiving.

I’m beginning to think the secret to being a generous person is the ability to freely receive. What if my ability to give is only limited by my ability to receive?

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.”

J.D. Walt is Chief Sower at www.seedbed.com and today’s Meditation comes from his 6 March 2015 daily text entitled “Learn to Receive”.

During Lent many people think that growing in generosity is learning to “freely give” for a season when in reality, it is the time when we must learn to “freely receive” for life in the kingdom (cf. Matthew 10:8). When we think of generosity as flowing from our finite capacities, it will paltry at best. When it wells up from God’s abundance that we have freely received, we become joyful distributors of material and spiritual blessings.

This means that when Lent is over, we get to keep living this way!

And it is precisely how Jesus’ generosity is described by Luke in Acts. He received God’s anointing, then went about doing good. He freely received and freely gave. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38.

Will we learn to freely receive this Lent so that we can freely give in life? That’s my prayer for every man and woman reading this. Teach us to receive, Father! Anoint our lives with your Holy Spirit and power so that people who see us don’t celebrate our generosity but proclaim: “God is with him!” and “God is with her!”