Temperance and Mother Teresa

 
  “You guys…..I just want to be like Mother Teresa.  SHE’S SO COOL!!!  AHHHH!!!” 
My friends have heard me say this too many times.
    But this post is not about me raving about how cool Mother Teresa is (that could go on forever, believe me).  This is about temperance.
    There are multiple areas in our life to which we can apply temperance, (check out Megan’s post for more details!) but I am going to focus on time management and the importance of prayer with work, and how we can apply it to our lives here.  One story from Mother Teresa’s life I want to share with you is how temperance changed her mission and so changed the world.
    Mother Teresa was focused her whole life, this was not a characteristic she picked up in old age.  Mind you, this stubbornness was not a disobedience, it was more like when she knew something needed to be done, she got it done and few things could/would stand in her way.  When she was in her twenties and thirties- a young nun of the Sisters of Loreto- Mother Teresa worked at a furious pace.  She was teaching, visiting the sick, running schools, and attending to the poor.  Not surprisingly, she ran herself down and her health suffered.  Her superiors ordered her to spend at least three hours of every day resting in bed, but that did not seem to work.  Mother Teresa was then ordered to go on an extended retreat in Darjeeling.  It was on this quiet journey that she heard Jesus’ call for her to found the Missionaries of Charity.  Through silent prayer and reflection, she was able to better discern this call, and her heart was set aflame.  The world would never be the same again.
    Just think if temperance, balancing work with prayer, had not been a part of  Mother Teresa’s life, she might not have heard His call to be a Missionary of Charity.  In all the crazy busyness of her life, while she was doing things that were certainly good, she knew to take time away from the work she so desired to complete in order to pray.  As the Missionaries of Charity began to develop, Mother Teresa made sure that the structure of the day was set up to include work, rest, and most importantly, prayer.  The schedule stressed the importance of budgeting time so that they may take care of themselves to take care of others, both physically and spiritually. 
    It is so tempting (especially on this campus) to over-commit ourselves to different ministries or activities.  We tend to justify it by telling ourselves, “Yeah I’m really busy, BUT I’m doing  God’s work so it’s fine, the saints did all this stuff and I have to keep up”.  Well, while those ministries are certainly great, our primary vocation at this moment is to be a student.  Remember, Mother Teresa had given up her WHOLE life for this mission, so really it was not too crazy for her to be doing all the things she was doing with the Missionaries of Charity.  That was just her calling.  Just as God called Mother Teresa to be a Missionary of Charity, He is calling us to be a student, the best we can be.  Sometimes this means not being an active part of a ministry or giving up going on a bunch of mission trips.  It means not measuring our holiness by the busyness of our schedules or having a silent competition to see who can run the most ministries.  By being the student you are currently being called to be, it doesn’t mean you do not love God, and it doesn’t mean you are lazy.      
    During this special time when we are students, preparing to go out into the world to turn it upside down with our wisdom, it is important to take time for prayer and discernment and just BE with God.  There is certainly a time to glorify Him with your service, but you also glorify Him by standing still and listening to Him and basking in His smile.  Through this time with Him, He may call you to be a Missionary of Charity, or He may call you to a different vocation.  If you don’t take time to listen to Him, you won’t know how He wants you to live out the time you have left.  
    So instead of thinking, “I want to be like Mother Teresa- I want to serve EVERYBODY IN PERSON and save the world!!!  BREAK OUT THE COFFEE!!!”, I encourage you to think, “I want to be like Mother Teresa- I’m going to go study for my Philosophy test and then I’m going to take a short nap because I didn’t get much sleep last night, and then I’m going to meditate in the chapel for a half hour.  BRING ON THE DAY!!!”

I will leave you with this inscription on a sign on the wall of a children’s home of the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta that reads:
Take time to think
Take time to pray
Take time to laugh

It is the source of power
It is the greatest power on Earth
It is the music of the soul

Take time to play
Take time to love and be loved
Take time to give

It is the secret to perpetual youth
It is God’s given privilege
It is too short a day to be selfish

Take time to read
Take time to be friendly
Take time to work

It is the fountain of wisdom
It is the road to happiness
It is the price of success

Take time to do charity
It is the key to heaven.  

Your sister in Christ,
Jenny