That is not enough, my son! That is not enough, because love cannot be reduced to the indispensable minimum; love demands the maximum!
–Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Do you think that I could practice charity if I did not ask Jesus every day to fill my heart with His love? Do you think that I could go through the streets looking for the poor if Jesus did not communicate the fire of His charity to my heart?
Read the Gospel attentively, and you will see that Jesus sacrificed even charity for prayer. And do you know why? To teach us that, without God, we are too poor to help the poor!
Our Blessed Mother, in private revelation given to Venerable María de Ágreda:
My admonition to thee, whom in spite of thy weakness and poverty I have chosen with such generous kindness as my disciple and companion, is this: that thou strive with all thy powers to imitate me in an exercise, in which I persevered during my whole life from the very first moment of my birth, omitting it on not a single day, however full of cares and labors it might have been. This exercise was the following: every day at beginning of dawn, I prostrated myself in the presence of the Most High and gave Him thanks and praise for His immutable Being, His infinite perfections, and for having created me out of nothing; acknowledging myself as His creature and the work of His hands, I blessed Him and adored Him, giving Him honor, magnificence and Divinity, as the supreme Lord and Creator of myself and of all that exists. I raised up my spirit to place it into His hands, offering myself with profound humility and resignation to Him and asking Him to dispose of me according to His Will during that day and during all the days of my life, and to teach me to fulfill whatever would be to His greater pleasure. This I repeated many times during the external works of the day, and in the internal ones I first consulted His Majesty, asking His advice, permission, and benediction for all my actions….
And if in thy weakness thou shouldst fail, rouse thyself immediately, and in the presence of thy Lord and mine, acknowledge thy fault, confessing it in sorrow. Repeating these holy exercises over and again with solicitous care, thou shalt find forgiveness for imperfections and grow accustomed to strive after what is highest in all virtues and most pleasing to the Lord. Then, following the light which He gives and in pursuance of that which is most pleasing and agreeable to thy own tastes and mine, thou shalt not be denied the grace of employing thyself entirely in listening, attending to, and obeying in all things thy Spouse and Lord, Who seeks in thee only what is most pure, most holy and perfect, and a will prompt and eager to put the same into practice.
“Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the Will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophetic utterances. Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)
