Thanksgiving with Mother Teresa

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers!  I hope you will take a few minutes to read this beautiful story from Mother Teresa, and this prayer from St. Francis of Assisi. As we celebrate our blessings today, let us remember those who are hungry, lonely, and afraid, and let us commit ourselves to doing everything we can to help.

From Mother Teresa:

“One night, a man came to our house to tell me that a Hindu family, a family of eight children, had not eaten anything for days.

They had nothing to eat.

I took enough rice for a meal and went to their house. I could see the hungry faces, the children with their bulging eyes. The sight could not have been more dramatic!

The mother took the rice from my hands, divided it in half and went out.

When she came back a little later, I asked her: ‘Where did you go? What did you do?’

She answered, ‘They also are hungry.’

‘They’ were the people next door, a Muslim family with the same number of children to feed and who did not have any food either. 

That mother was aware of the situation.

She had the courage and the love to share her meager portion of rice with others. In spite of her circumstances, I think she felt very happy to share with her neighbors the little I had taken her.

In order not to take away her happiness, I did not take her anymore rice that night. I took her some more the following day.”

From “Mother Teresa: In My Own Words,” compiled by Jose’ Luis Gonzalez-Balado, 1996

From Francis of Assisi:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
where there is hatred let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Lord, may I not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
Because it is in giving that we receive,
in pardoning that we are pardoned."

Feel free to add your own favorite prayers and quotations in the comment section! Happy Thanksgiving!