Saturday, January 31, 2009

Words from Mother Teresa

"It is not a sin to be rich. There must be a reason why some people can afford to live well. They must have worked for it. But I tell you this provokes avarice, and there comes sin. Richness is given by God and it is our duty to divide it with those less favoured.

Some time ago, a Hindu gentleman was asked: 'What is a Christian?' And he gave a very simple and very strange answer: 'A Christian is giving.' And right from the beginning we find that it is really just giving. God loved the world so much that he gave his Son -- the first great giving. Being rich he became poor for you and me. He gave himself totally. But that was not enough. He wanted to give something more -- to give us the chance to give to him. So he made himself the hungry one, the naked one so that we could give to him.

Let us not be satisfied with just giving money; money is not enough for money one can get. The poor need our hands to serve them, they need our hearts to love them. Let us give, not from our abundance but until it hurts. Let us make ourselves poor for him."

(Taken from "Life in the Spirit" 53)

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