Mother Teresa on Love

"The poor must know that we love them, that they are wanted. They themselves have nothing to give but love. We are concerned with how to get this message of love and compassion across. We are trying to bring peace to the world through our work. But the work is the gift of God, eh?"

"People today are hungry for love, for understanding love which is much greater and which is the only answer to loneliness and great poverty. That is why we are able to go to countries like England and America and Australia where there is no hunger for bread. But there, people are suffering from terrible loneliness, terrible despair, terrible hatred, feeling unwanted, feeling helpless, feeling hopeless. They have forgotten how to smile, they have forgotten the beauty of human touch. They are forgetting what is human love. They need someone who will understand and respect them."

"The poor are not respected. People do not think that the poor can be treated as people who are lovable, as people like you and I."

"You know, the young are beginning to understand. They want to serve with their hands, and to love with their hearts. To the full, not superficially."

"Love can be misused for selfish motives. I love you, but at the same time I want to take as much as I can, even the things that are not for me to take. Then there is no true love anymore. True love hurts. It always has to hurt. It must be painful to love someone, painful to leave them, you might have to die for them. When people marry they have to give up everything to love each other. The mother who gives birth to her child suffers much. It is the same for us in religious life. To belong fully to God we have to give up everything. Only then can we truly love. The word 'love' is so misunderstood and so misused."

"A young American couple told me once, "You know a lot about love; you must be married." And I said, "Yes, but sometimes I find it difficult to smile at Him.""

Source:
Mother Teresa: Her People and Her Work
by Desmond Doig
Harper & Row, Publishers, San Fransisco, 1976
ISBN 0-06-061941-4
(pp. 159)