Give me all

 "Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart."

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

You are the soldiers of God, his army, the Militant Church. Be in consonance with your title, fight for God: diffuse His love, spread the example of good. Give abundantly what you have received and make the soul advance towards heaven. Oh, how great will be your reward if you contribute to the salvation of souls!

(Locution to Gabriela Bossis, God's Spiritual Direction (Messages from Heaven). Transl. Fr Adolf Faroni, SDB. Manila: Don Bosco Press, 2000, p 89)

(Dialogue between Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, as recounted by Mother Teresa herself.)

After Holy Father gave a big speech to the people, I said, "Holy Father, I want to see you five minutes." He sat there; I sat there at his feet. He had his arms crossed with his head in his arms like this looking down at me. He said, "You got problems."

I said, "Holy Father, I am finding it very difficult. I have so many Sisters, 342 at the Mother House now in India, they need me and I need them, and now this continual calling. It is your will, I know, whatever you say I will do, but what do you want me to do?"

He said, "Continue doing what you are doing. Do not refuse Jesus. You have never refused Him before, do not refuse Him now. I will pray for you and give you the answer the next time I see you."

Just like that, simply like a child. Holy Father's words to me, "Do not refuse Jesus."

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, pp 298-299)

Dear Co-worker of Christ,

You had said "Yes" to Jesus--and He has taken you at your word.--The Word of God became Man--Poor.--Your word to God--became Jesus--poor and so this terrible emptiness you experience. God cannot fill what is full.--He can fill only emptiness--deep poverty--and your "Yes" is the beginning of being or becoming empty. It is not how much we really "have" to give--but how empty we are--so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us.

In you today--He wants to relive His complete submission to His Father--allow Him to do so. Does not matter what you feel--as long as He feels alright in you. Take away your eyes from your self and rejoice that you have nothing--that you are nothing--that you can do nothing. Give Jesus a big smile--each time your nothingness frightens you.

This is the poverty of Jesus. You and I must let Him live in us and through us in the world.

Cling to Our Lady--for she too--before she could become full of grace--full of Jesus--had to go through that darkness. "How could this be done?--" But the moment she said "Yes," she had need to go in haste and give Jesus to John and his family..

Keep giving Jesus to your people not by words but by your example--by your being in love with Jesus--by radiating His holiness and spreading His fragrance of love everywhere you go.

Just keep the joy of Jesus as your strength.--Be happy and at peace.--Accept whatever He gives--and give whatever He takes with a big smile.--You belong to Him--tell Him I am Yours and if you cut me to pieces every single piece will be only all Yours.

Let Jesus be the victim and the priest in you.

I have started going round our houses in India--so I have beautiful time alone with Jesus in the train.

Pray for me as I do for you.

Yours in Jesus,

M. Teresa, MC

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Letter to a priest, Come Be My Light, pp 275-276)

I have loved Him blindly, totally, only.

I use every power in me--in spite of my feelings to make Him loved personally by the Sisters and people.

I will let Him have a free Hand with and in me.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 195)

Many a soul has been brought back to God. Many a dying person has been sent to God, many a child has been taught to love God, many a sick person has been comforted and taught to suffer for love of God, and above all the generous and self-sacrificing lives of our young Sisters must have given much reparation to the Sacred Heart.--And for all these, I beg you to thank God with me.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 154)

O Jesus, only love of my heart,
I wish to suffer what I suffer
and all Thou wilt have me suffer,
for Thy pure love
not because of the merits I may acquire,
nor for the rewards Thou hast promised me
but only to please Thee,
to praise Thee,
to bless Thee as well in sorrow as in joy.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light, p 124)

When I see someone sad, I always think, she is refusing something to Jesus.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")

[W]e can refuse Christ just as we refuse others: I will not give You my hands to work with, my eyes to see with, my feet to walk with, my mind to study with, my heart to love with. You knock at the door but I will not open. I will not give You the key of my heart.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")

Cheerfulness is a sign of a generous and mortified person who forgetting all things, even herself, tries to please her God in all she does for souls. Cheerfulness is often a cloak which hides a life of sacrifice, continual union with God, fervor and generosity. A person who has this gift of cheerfulness very often reaches a great height of perfection. For God loves a cheerful giver (cf II Cor 9:7) and He take close to His heart the religious he loves.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")

Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given Himself to us. If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less than Himself, shall we answer with just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God Himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul.

(Blessed Mother Teresa, The Private Writings of the "Saint of Calcutta")