The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - What Mother Teresa Said to College Students

Episode Date: January 28, 2022

In 1982, Mother Teresa of Calcutta delivered a powerful commencement address at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Today, I share with you her simple yet profound words to those young people. No matter what you're going through in life right now, Mother Teresa's timeless words will surely move your heart and remind you that you are beloved. Snippet from the Show "Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to love. Even when suffering comes, humiliation comes, pain comes, success comes, joy comes. Remember, you are precious to Him. He loves you."- St. Teresa of Calcutta Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is Show 255, what Mother Teresa said to college students. Thanks for joining me again this week. Wow, I've got a show for you. I am going to be doing something very good. different this week. And I'm going to go back into history and I'm going to share a speech with you that Mother Teresa gave to St. Thomas Aquinas College way back in, what was it, 1982. And there are some things that she said there that I think are so pertinent today and so powerful that I want to share them with you. Before we do that today, if you are interested in the show notes, which I will have a link to Mother Teresa's speech, both video and the written speech.

I'll put that in the show notes. And if you want the show notes, all you've got to do, you know, you know the drill. Text my name, Jeff Kavens, in one word, and text it to the number 33777. If you've done that before and for some reason the link was lost, do it again and we'll get you back on board. Another big announcement, maybe you heard about it. Maybe you've already signed up February 18 through 20. a conference Bible in a year virtual conference with Father Mike Schmitz and myself. It's going to take place February 18, 19, and 20. That's Friday night and all day Saturday and ending Sunday afternoon

on the 20th. And we're going to have a number of different sessions with Father Mike and myself, questions and answers, he's going to talk, I'm going to talk, we're going to talk together. You're going to be meeting a lot of other people that are going to share with you about Lexio DeVine. and it's really going to be an amazing, an amazing conference. And it's getting filled, so I'm giving you the inside track here. All you've got to do is go to ascensionpress.com and sign up for that conference. It's a Bible in a Year conference. And also, if you are interested in pilgrimages, I'm going to invite you.

I've never mentioned it before on the show, but Emily and I are going to be taking a special pilgrimage called In the Steps of St. Paul. And it's going to be in October 11th through 23 of 2022. We're going to be going to Greece and Turkey, three nights in Athens and seven nights on a ship. And you can go with us in the footsteps of St. Paul. That's October 11 through 23. Go to my website, jeffcavens.com, forward slash pilgrimage. Or just go there and click pilgrimage.

Love to have you. It'll be a lot of fun. So, I'm going to be doing something different here, as I mentioned. And I listened to this speech of Mother Teresa back in 1982 as she gave the commencement address at St. Thomas Aquinas. And so she's speaking to young people. And I found what she said to be so poignant, so powerful that I was just struck by the simplicity of her message. And I think there is something to learn from her simplicity. You know, she does, she does not busy herself with what I would call deep theological statements,

you know, outwardly at least. But what she says is, in fact, I think, very deep. And so she has a way of giving you deep insight, but in such a beautiful, simple, powerful, accessible way. Now, you don't even have to introduce Mother Teresa. I mean, everybody knows who Mother Teresa. She was an Albanian sister, and she wanted to do something beautiful for God. And so she did. She went to Calcutta, India, and she was even told by her superior that she just didn't have

what it really takes to lead an order, physical strength or organizational skill, whatever it is. But she knew she wanted to do something beautiful for God. And she went to Calcutta with a few rupees, a couple sari. her outfit, a Bible and a rosary, and what did she do? Well, she won herself a Nobel Peace Prize. She gave a commencement address at Harvard, the United Nations. She became a point of light in the world where people recognize that this woman is changing the world. She's changing the world. And, you know, I had on my bucket list before I came back to the Catholic Church that I wanted to meet her,

and I wanted to meet John Paul II. Well, I met him, but I didn't get to meet Mother Teresa. And for that, oh, I wish I could go back and change that. She's a hero of mine, and she's part of my posse. I have five saints that I walk with every day in my posse. She's one of them. And so every day I'm asking her to pray for me, to give me boldness, and so forth. So let's take a look at this message.

We'll go through as much as we possibly can here. But I want to share some of these beautiful things with you. Now, she's going to be talking about letting the light shine in your life and loving Jesus and loving other people, but the way she puts it is so inviting and very heartwarming that you really want to do it. And so I want to share it with you. She starts off in her speech, and she says that we read in the scriptures that God love the world so much that he gave his son as proof of his love. And Jesus coming to Mary the most beautiful of creatures so pure, so holy, she, in accepting him in her life, get this, immediately she went in haste to give him to others. Isn't that beautiful? That one little thought right there in her talk, she says that this most beautiful of creatures, the Blessed Virgin Mary, so pure, so holy, she, in accepting Jesus in her life, immediately went in haste to give him to others. And so she says, and now you go out. You also go in haste to give the joy of loving, the joy of sharing, for you have received not to keep, but to share. And then she talks about sharing the joy of Christ's

presence to these young people and says, and what is there to share? What did our lady do? When she came into Elizabeth's house, that little unborn child, he was already six months in his mother's womb. That little, innocent, small, helpless child was the first one to recognize the presence of Christ. Isn't that beautiful? The first one to recognize the presence of Christ was the child, six-month-old child, in her cousin, Elizabeth. And he leaped with joy. That's John the Baptist doing the spiritual Watusi. He is really excited. And she says that even St. Joseph did not know that Mary had received Jesus. But this little one, so small, so innocent, so helpless, God used that little one to proclaim the greatness of his son, the presence of his son. And then she spoke of the need to have a pure heart. And when it comes to evangelization, and she

sharing the love of God, she said, and this, the joy of the presence of Jesus, you must be able to give wherever you go. But you cannot give what you don't have. And that's why you need a pure heart, a pure heart that you will receive as a fruit of your prayer, as a fruit of your openness with Christ. And a pure heart can see God. And if you see God immediately, immediately, You begin to love one another. That's all Jesus came on this earth to give us. That good news. Love as I have loved you.

Love one another as I have loved you. And then she makes the point that you are not just a number. I don't know what you've been going through lately in your life, but if you've been going through a tough time and you feel like you're just a number, you're not a person, you're not being treated with dignity, you're not taken seriously. Listen to what Mother Teresa said here. She said, how wonderful it is to think that we all, all, have been created for that purpose, for that purpose of sharing Jesus' love. We have not come into this world just to be a number. They say that we have many numbers

in India. We are not numbers. We are children of God. We have been created for a purpose for greater things to love and to be loved. And then she goes into the tenderness of God's love. She says, and therefore that good news, Jesus came to give us, and that good news you must carry out. You must bring into the world where you are going to move in now. Remember the graduates. And she said, what good news? That God loves you and that you want to love others as he loves you. tenderly, lovingly. Can't you just hear? Can't you just hear her saying this? Such authenticity, such weight, gravitas? She goes on and says, and how do we know that God loves us? There is a very beautiful word in the scriptures in Isaiah where he says, and here she strings together a couple of

sections of Isaiah. I had to look them up because she's stringing them together. She says, Isaiah 43, I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flames shall not consume you. Can a woman forget her sucking child? That she should have no compassion on the son of her womb. Even these may forget. Yet, God says, I will not forget you. Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me. So she says, how wonderful it is, the tenderness of God's love for us. And it is this that you have to carry out in the world. And then she goes into a period here where she speaks about

your parents' expectations of you. So listen to this as if you were a graduate. and think about your parents sending you to school. Or maybe this would be something that you would think about your kids who are currently in school. And maybe they're going to be graduating soon. She said, speaking about the joy of loving, she said, this expectation, your parents, your relations, your friends,

even the whole world is expecting that you be that light. The light that Jesus said, I am the light that you must love. I am the truth you must speak. I am the joy that you must share. I am the life that you must lead. I am the love that you must love. Go with that, the joy of loving.

You must experience the joy of loving, and how do you experience that freedom? You need to be free to love. That means have a clean heart. Now, she draws a very interesting correlation here between the freedom to love others in the world is tied to you having a clean heart. In other words, if you have a clean heart, it's going to be far easier for you to love other people with the love of Jesus than to have an unclean heart, a burdened heart, a shackled heart.

Because when you are weighted down by the sins of this world, one of the last things you're going to do is to love with Jesus' love. And so she says, if you want to have that freedom to love as Christ's love, then you need to have a clean heart. And then listen to this desire of hers. Listen to this. She says, and this is my prayer for you that you become real carriers of God's love in tenderness and love. Oh, man, I love that statement. Especially in light of living in an era of pandemics or carriers. right people are talking about COVID and everything else so she says my prayer for you is that you

become a real carrier of God's love oh that is so good a carrier of God's love in tenderness and love now she she tells us that if we're going to do that you can't be afraid you cannot be afraid she confronts the fact that there is a fear to loving these days and you might know that. You know, you think, well, if I love, maybe I'm going to get canceled. She says, and I quote, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to love. Even when suffering comes, humiliation comes, pain comes, success comes, joy comes. Remember, you are precious to him. He loves you. And this is something that today we are brought together to proclaim the joy of being loved and the joy of loving. Isn't that? That is beautiful. So, so simple. That's incredible to proclaim the joy of being loved.

Let me ask you for a moment, do you feel loved by God? Have you experienced the tenderness of God in your life? How much he cares for you and died for you? Can you hold that in your heart? she said she said we hear so many terrible things happening but never lose heart we always thank God can smile are you proclaiming the joy of being loved by God think about it when was the last time that you proclaimed the joy of being loved by God just to say to your friends or your children there's a joy in my heart knowing I'm loved by God that's powerful that's part of the corigma, the proclamation of the gospel. And she even says, look, you know, we hear of so many terrible things happening in the world right now. But don't lose heart, she says. We always thank

God. She says, we always thank God. I can smile. You see, a smile is very, very powerful. And listen to this. She says, I can smile. And then she says, at least you can smile if nothing else. Isn't that beautiful. At least you can smile if nothing else. I'm going to continue on the other side of the break and talk about the kiss of Jesus. She talks about the kiss of Jesus and how to understand the depth of suffering when it comes to evangelization and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. Thanks for joining me today. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Am I saved? How do I develop a better prayer life? How do I trust in God?

The Curious Catholic is a new series of by-size books from Ascension that answer these questions and more. The Curious Catholic features small books from various authors that provide busy Catholics ways to go deeper into spiritual questions. The first three titles in the series are from Father Mike Schmitz, host of the Bible in a Year podcast. Father Mike's books explore the topics of salvation, prayer, and trusting in God. To learn more about the Curious Catholic series, go to Ascension Press, com slash curious catholic that's ascensionpress.com slash curious catholic thank you for coming back and spending a few more minutes with me

what are we doing we are going through right now a speech that mother teresa gave in 1982 to the it was a commencement address to st thomas college st thomas equinus and it's such a simple powerful message that when i read it be honest with you, when I read it, I was reading it to my wife, and I just started tearing up some of these parts coming up where I just said, oh my gosh, this is so beautiful. This is so beautiful. So she continues on in her message talking about the kiss of Jesus, and this is related to her understanding of the depth of suffering and how it is joined, our suffering is joined to the cross of Christ. She said, and I quote, I never forget one day I met a lady who was dying of

cancer and I could see the way she was struggling with that terrible pain. And I said to her, I said, you know this is but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close to him on the cross that he can kiss you. And she joined her hands together and said, Mother Teresa, please tell Jesus to stop kissing me. Kind of a sense of humor there. She says, this is the joy of suffering, the kiss of Jesus. Do not be afraid to share in that joy of suffering. with him because he will never give us more suffering than we are able to bear. I have seen that again and again with our poor people. We deal with thousands of people, people who die of hunger, of disease, people who die of loneliness and being unwanted, unloved, and I have never yet heard one of them

complain or curse. Once I picked up a man, she said, from the street, from an open drain, and I took him into our home. He did not shout. He did not blame anybody. He just said, quote, I have lived like an animal in the street, but I am going to die like an angel loved and cared for. She says two or three hours after he died with a big smile in his face. That was tenderness, she said. That was tenderness and love that came to him through the hands of those young sisters. Now, in our congregations, she said, we have about 70 young American sisters who have joined and who are completely so totally dedicated, and through that taking care of lepers, of the dying, of the crippled, of the unwanted, of the shut-ins, and so on. And there is so much that sharing and joy. Because Jesus wants us to be happy.

He wants us to give that joy, that my joy. that my joy may be with you. And then she makes the point that we really don't have an excuse to be unhappy. We really don't have an excuse to be unhappy. In fact, what she says is, and we have no reason to be unhappy, because we are loved by God himself, even in suffering. It is not a punishment. It is a gift of God.

And then she spoke to the students about the need to learn to pray, keeping all of this in mind. We've got to learn to pray because we're on this mission to share the love of God with the world. It's a gift. It's even in suffering. It's the kiss of Christ. She said, I hope you have learned to pray. And if you have learned to pray, that is your strength. That is your joy.

And through this life of prayer, make sure the fruit of prayer, is always the deepening of faith. And the fruit of faith is always love. And the fruit of love is action. We must put our love for Jesus in the living action. Isn't that true? It's so true, isn't it? You know, I'm reminded of what James says that faith without works is dead. It's dead. We must put our love for Jesus into action. It's not something just to study or discuss. We put it into action. And she did this in spades. Even when she was struggling with her own desert and dark night of the soul. She did it. What a saint. She went on and said, and also the condition in our last day when we come face to face with God, we are going to be judged by what we have been to him. And he says,

I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you did it to me. Wow. Now one of the reasons that she was so successful was her love for the Eucharist. Mother Teresa every day received the Eucharist and every day had a holy hour. And from that encounter with Christ and that nourishment from the Eucharist, she went out into tough streets to do the work of Jesus, a work that I'll be on. honest, frankly, most of us would not want to do, but she did it. And she did it really, really well. She talks about the Eucharist when she says, and to be able to do this, we need the Eucharist. We need Jesus in the Holy Communion. We need the bread of life. And that is why Jesus made

himself bread of life to satisfy our hunger for his love. And then she tells a little story about a man who distinguished between what Mother Teresa did and what he did. A few months ago, she said, I had to go to Delhi, and one of the ministers was the top man in social works in the country. And he said, Mother Teresa, you and me, you and we are doing the same social work. But there is a great difference between you and us. We do it for something. You do it to somebody. And she said, this is for you young people. Remember, do it to somebody. that man, that woman, my brother, my sister, somebody, Jesus in distressing disguise. That is one of the greatest quotes ever.

Jesus in distressing disguise. Isn't that amazing? That's amazing to me. And then she goes back home a little bit with these young people, and she wants to remind them about how this all goes back to your home, in your home in the future. future. She says, how do we, how do we have to do that? Where does it begin? This loving, ministering to Jesus, distressed in disguise. She said, where does it begin this love? At home. And how does this love begin? The family. The family that prays together, stays together. And if you stay together,

you will love one another as God loves each one of you. As Jesus wants us to love one another, not in sadness, but in joy. And listen to this incredible statement now, she said, to think that I can love God in my brother, in my sister. It is a wonderful thing. And that's so simple yet so powerful. She emphasizes the need to know the poor in our area. She said, only we must come to know. Do we know the poor of? this beautiful country? Maybe the poor in our own family. Maybe we have somebody sick, somebody old, somebody feeling very restless, somebody feeling very lonely. Do we know that? Do we know that? She goes on and says that nakedness is not only for a piece of cloth.

Nakedness is also the loss of that dignity, human dignity, the loss for what is beautiful, what is pure, what is chaste, what is virgin, loss. Homelessness is not only for a house made of brick. Homelessness is being the people who are completely forgotten, rejected, left alone, as if they are nobody to nobody. I never forget, she said, one day I was walking down the streets of London, and there I saw a man. The way he was sitting, the way he was looking,

he looked the most rejected man that I've ever seen. So I went right near him, and I took his hand and shook his hand. And my hands are very warm. And then she talks about the simplicity of that love and touch. She said, but I shook his hands. And then he said, oh, after so long a time, I feel the warmth of a human hand. And his face was quite different. there was a joy. There was a sunshine in his eyes. I can't tell you the change that came on that man's

life just with the simple shaking of the hand, the warmth of my hand. This is what he felt. And then she gets into her real tough topic of the real poverty. She says to me the greatest poverty is that of abortion, the fear of the child. The child must die. The child must be killed so that we don't have to feed one more child. We don't have to educate one more child. Terrible. Terrible. Mother could murder her own child. Terrible.

It is the sign of great poverty. And so open your eyes to come to know. One evening, she said, a man came to our house and said there is a family with eight children that have not eaten for a long time. Do something for them. and I took some rice, and the mother took, she took it. And I could see from the eyes of the children, God knows how long they have not eaten.

Their eyes were simply shining with hunger and big black lines under their eyes. And the mother went out with the rice. And when she came back, I asked her, where did you go? And what did you do? And she said, they were hungry. She gave the food away. She gave the food away. It's so powerful.

She gets ready to kind of conclude her remarks by talking about, I saw, but I did not look, about seeing in our culture, but not really seeing. She said, so they come, especially Americans come over and they want to work in the home for the dying in India. And they come with us, and they always say the same thing. At home, I saw, but I didn't look. You have taught me to see and to look. Now I go home and I am sure I will find the same. I must find people who need my tender love and care, all of them. A girl, a university girl who was in her final examination for a Ph.D. in Paris University

said that she came also and before examination she wanted to spend one month working with Mother Teresa in the home for the dying. She was always very occupied and so on. But then one week, before one day, she came to our house and she came to our house and she was, She put her hands around me and she said, I found Jesus. I said, yes, where did you find him? And she said, I found him in the home for the dying. And I said to her, what did you do with Jesus when you found him? And she said, I went to confession and holy communion after 15 years.

Then I said, what else did you do with Jesus when you found him? And she said, I sent a telegram to my parents and told them I found Jesus. So beautiful. So beautiful. And then she masterfully comes full circle from the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth. She says, see, see, she came, she saw, she looked, and she did. This is what you go out with, that determination. Mary came into the room with Elizabeth, the little one, leaped in with joy.

Your presence should bring that in your own family first. The joy of that presence of Christ, the joy of purity, the joy of that real, real sharing. your presence should light a new life in the lives of others. When our sisters went to Yemen, a Muslim country, completely Muslim, there is no church, no nothing there, the governor of that place wrote and said, The presence of the sisters has lit a new light in the lives of our people. My friend, I'm sharing this with you today because I think that Mother Teresa's words are so, so, so powerful. She closed off that entire talk by saying,

okay, please know that I'm praying for you and I would ask you to pray for me. We have a lot to live for and a lot to do. With Jesus, everything is different now and it's time to turn our hearts to his amazing plan of sheer goodness. All right, be blessed. Oh, I was about knocked out at that point.

My friend, I want you to just listen to this maybe again and I'm going to give you the reading and I'm going to give you the link to the video and just watch it, listen, read, and ask God what he's calling you to do. Father, I thank you for my friend, and ask you to bless them and open their eyes, open our hearts to your real work. And may we listen to the example of Mother Teresa in Jesus' name. Amen. I love you, my friend. Let that light shine. God bless. Thank you.