“Holy Hands: Uniting Prayer & Charity in a Cool Catholic Lifestyle” (1 of 2)
Mother Teresa is one of my great inspirations, a true
heroine of Christian virtue. I ask her intercessory help every day, especially
as I serve the homeless, drug-addicted, mentally ill and displaced persons who
come to our little outreach called Casa Juan Diego.
Look at Mother Teresa’s hands. What famous hands they are! Why are they so famous? Because they
touched Christ’s body every day.
But wait – Mother was not
a priest! What do I mean? How can I rightly say this?
Although Mother was not an ordained minister of the Holy Eucharist (i.e. a ministerial priest of
Jesus Christ), she indeed touched Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, in His
members. She became configured to Christ not only by the beautiful Sacraments
of Baptism, Confirmation & frequent Holy Communion, but also by imitating
Him in the way she lived each and every day.
Mother made of her whole life a “eucharist”: a loving
sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. We are called to do the same.
As a holy missionary priest has often related: “The more you
look at something, the more you get into it; the more you get into something,
the more you become like it.” This could be television, movies, internet, some
activity or hobby, nature, people, or Jesus!
Yes, we need to adore Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament
in order to become like Him; but we also need to love, serve, and feed His
broken body in our neighbors, especially the poor and needy. For we only know
ourselves before God when we recognize Christ present in the least among us;
and we only prove our love for God by loving our neighbors in a concrete, incarnational
and personal love that is not limited to the pew, the pulpit, or the ‘pay pal’.
+Br. Philip Maria Allen, CFR
We need your help!
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