UNDERGRADUATE

Mary desired faithfulness and Martha success. “God
does not require that we be successful only that we be
faithful.” 15 Mary peacefully listened and Martha anxiously
acted. Mary had her gaze turned toward the Lord and
Martha toward the worries of the world. Surely, Martha
was serving, but Mary “chose the better part” as the Lord
told Martha, “There is need of only one thing.” 16
What does our Lord mean when He says “there is need of
only one thing?” Let us refer to the “greatest commandment
in the Law.” 17 It is this: “Love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the
first and greatest commandment.” 18 Mary chose to love God
above all else, therefore, choosing “the better part.”
Though Martha had not gone completely amiss, for Jesus
continues: “And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself.’” 19 Martha was loving her neighbor through
her actions of serving them, but she forgot the most
important commandment.
Saint John the Apostle, who laid his head on the Breast
of Christ at the Last Supper, puts it well: “We love
because he first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’
but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does
not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God
whom he has not seen.” 20 There is no true love without
the love of God.
Christ institutes the New Covenant simply: Love God
and love your neighbor. Thus, we cannot love God
without loving our neighbor and we cannot love our
neighbor without loving God. The source of love is God
because God is Love. If we do not go to the source, our
‘love’ is in vain.
15 Mother Teresa.
16 Luke 10:42.
17 Matthew 22:36.
18 Matthew 22:37-38.
19 Matthew 22:39.
20 1 John 4:19-20.
Mother Teresa named her order “The Missionaries of
Charity.” The work she does is not to bring food to empty
stomachs but to bring love to empty souls. How is one to
bring love to souls most efficiently?
A quotation from Mother Teresa in the Motherhouse
reads: “The value of our actions corresponds exactly to
the value of the prayer we make.” Prayer is the only way
to love. In prayer we grow in love of God as He pours His
love into our hearts. Our actions are fruitless and selfish
without prayer.
The interior life is the foundation of The Missionary of
Charity’s work. The Sisters wake up at 4:45 every morning
to begin their prayers and start every day with the Holy
Mass. They do spiritual reading in the afternoons and end
the day with an hour of Adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist
and Rosary to the Virgin Mary.
Saint Paul says, “I can do all things through Him who
strengthens me.” 21 All fruitfulness comes from the love of
Christ. Christ lives in us by the means of prayer. The more
deeply we enter into prayer, the greater we are united to
His love. True prayer is the way to true love.
Mother Teresa speaks: “Unless we have Jesus, we cannot
give Him; that is why we need the Eucharist. Spend as
much time as possible in front of the Blessed Sacrament
and He will fill you with His strength and His power.” 22
The Missionaries of Charity receive their strength from
the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the secret to the fruitfulness of the MC’s
work. They receive and center their lives on the Word and
“bear fruits, thirty, sixty and a hundredfold.” 23 The MC’s
center their lives on Love in order to give this Love away.
In his book Soul of the Apostolate, Dom Jean-Baptiste
Chautard speaks of this interior apostolate:
21 Philippians 4:13.
22 MT Letter: St. Alexander Parish in Villa Park, Illinois, July 15, 1996.
23 Matthew 13:23.
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
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