The Missionaries of Charity Brothers

“God is in love with us and keeps using you and me to light the light of love in the world.”

“Do not think that love in order to be genuine has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired. Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” (Mother)

Mother Teresa did not simply decide to help the poor, she received from God a call to be His love and compassion to the poorest of the poor.

She founded the Missionaries of Charity to put into action the Bible passage:

I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was sick and you visited me,
I was in prison and you came to see me …
truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brothers or sisters,
YOU DID IT TO ME.
(Matthew 25: 36-40)

"We are not social workers, but contemplatives, our lives are founded on prayer."

Prayer

Make us worthy, Lord,
To serve our fellow men and women, throughout the world,
Who live and die in poverty and hunger.

Give them through our hands this day their daily bread,
And by our understanding love, give peace and joy.

Amen

(Paul VI)

It was the fruit of Mother’s great love for God and for prayer that made it possible for her to hear the call of God in her heart and say, “yes,” to His call. All she did was founded in prayer.

“In the silence of our hearts, God speaks of His love; with our silence, we allow Jesus to love us.”
(Mother)

Mother believed that Jesus was in each person she met, especially the poorest of the poor. For her, Jesus on the Cross and Jesus in the poorest were the same.

Who are the least of my brothers? The poorest of the poor are, in Mother’s words:

The naked and lonely – not only for food, but also for the Word of God. The thirsty and ignorant – not only for water, but also for knowledge, peace, truth, justice and love.
The naked and unloved – not only for clothes but for human dignity. The unwanted, the unborn child, the racially discriminated against, the homeless and abandoned – not only for a shelter made of bricks, but for a heart that understands, that covers, that loves. The sick, the dying destitute and the captives – not only in body but also in mind and spirit. All those who have lost hope and faith in life, the alcoholics and drug addicts. All those who have lost God – who feel “God was,” and have lost all hope in the power of the Spirit.

It was the conviction of Br Andrew (co-founder of the Brothers) that we too are poor, yet, “Our secret is … the miracle of God’s love working through our weakness.” “He proclaimed: ‘I thirst’ … and the people thought He was thirsty in an ordinary way and they gave Him vinegar straight away: but it was not that He thirsted for – it was our love, our affection, that intimate attachment to Him, and that sharing of His passion. And it is strange that He used such a word. He used ‘I thirst’ instead of ‘Give me your love’.”