Something Beautiful for God - Piura

An Invitation to Serve and Share your Faith

Please visit the MISSIONARIES page to find how you can come serve and share your faith in Piura, Peru with us. 

 

Bld.  Mother Teresa of Calcutta               Nobel Peace Prize  1979

"The poor give us much more than we give them. They’re such strong people, living day to day with no food. And they never curse, never complain. We don’t have to give them pity or sympathy. We have so much to learn from them.

 And so it is very important for us to realize that love, to be true, has to hurt. I must be willing to give whatever it takes not to harm other people and, in fact, to do good to them. This requires that I be willing to give until it hurts. Otherwise, there is no true love in me and I bring injustice, not peace, to those around me.

 "It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving."

 "It hurt Jesus to love us. We have been created in His Image for greater things, to love and to be loved. We just 'put on Christ' as Scripture tells us. And so, we have been created to love as He loves us. Jesus makes Himself the hungry one, the naked one, the homeless one, the unwanted one, and He says, "You did it unto Me." On the last day He will say to those on His right, 'Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to Me', and He will also say to those on His left, 'Whatever you neglected to do for the least of these, you neglected to do it for Me'.

 "When He was dying on the Cross, Jesus said, 'I thirst'. Jesus is thirsting for our love, and this is the thirst of everyone, poor or rich alike. We all thirst for the love of others, that they will go out of their way to avoid harming us and to do good to us. This is the meaning of truest love, to give until it hurts.

 "There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them. Put your love for them in living action. For in loving them, you are loving God Himself."

 "I can never forget the experience I had in visiting a home where they kept all these old parents of sons and daughters who had just put them into an institution and forgotten them - maybe. I saw that in that home these old people had everything - good food, comfortable place, television, everything, but everyone was looking toward the door. And I did not see a single one with a smile on the face. I turned to Sister and I asked: 'Why do these people, who have every comfort here, why are they all looking toward the door? Why are they not smiling?'  "I am so used to seeing the smiles on our people, even the dying ones smile. And Sister said: 'This is the way it is nearly every day. They are expecting, they are hoping that a son or daughter will come to visit them. They are hurt because they are forgotten.' And see, this neglect to love brings spiritual poverty.

"You have to be holy in your position as you are, and I have to be holy in the position that God has put me. So it is nothing extraordinary to be holy. Holiness is not the luxury of the few. Holiness is a simple duty for you and for me. We have been created for that."   EWTN.com

 "When we touch the sick and needy, we touch the suffering body of Christ." "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.'" "Do you know that right where you live, there are many people in the streets? Hundreds come every day to our places, just for a little food, a little human warmth, a smile, a handshake-nothing more. Do you know that?" "Since we cannot see Christ, we cannot express our love to Him. But we do see our neighbor, and we can do for him what we would do for Christ if He were visible. Let us be open to God, so that He can use us. Let us put love into action. Let us begin with our family, with our closest neighbors. It is difficult, but that is where our work begins. We are collaborators with Christ."

 "At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.'"