Too Short for a Blog Post, Too Long for a Tweet 273

 

Here are a few excerpts from a book I recently read, "Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta," by Brian Kolodiejchuk.

 

Mother Teresa's understanding and practice of making vows was also greatly influenced by her cultural background.  Having been raised in a family that was strongly rooted in its Albanian traditions, she was acquainted with the highly revered and treasured practice of besa (as it is known in her native language) or "word of honor."  Because besa demands absolute fidelity to one's given word, it has an almost sacred character as an oath or vow; it cannot be broken, even at the cost of one's life.  Mother Teresa would later explain: "They [Albanians] have a word, besa, which means even if you have killed my father and the police are after you, if I have given you my word, then even if the police kill me, still I will not disclose your name."  In light of her upbringing, Mother Teresa's private vow took on added gravity: She was determined to be faithful to her word given to God, even at the price of her life.

Please pray for me, that it may please God to lift this darkness from my soul for only a few days. For sometimes the agony of desolation is so great and at the same time the longing for the Absent One so deep, that the only prayer which I can still say is---Sacred Heart of Jesus I trust in Thee---I will satiate Thy thirst for souls.

It is only when we realize our nothingness, our emptiness, that God can fill us with Himself. When we become full of God then we can give God to others, for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.