O God the Father of all,

you ask every one of us to spread

   love where the poor are humiliated,

   joy where the Church is brought low,

   and reconciliation where people are divided,

      father against son,

      mother against daughter,

      husband against wife,

      believers against those who cannot believe,

      Christians against their unloved fellow Christians.

You open this way for us,

   so that the wounded body of Jesus Christ, your Church

   may be leaven of communion

   for the poor of the earth

   and in the whole human family.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, 1910-1997

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We serve God whether people honor us or despise us, whether they slander us or praise us. We are honest, but they call us impostors. We are ignored, even though we are well known. We live close to death, but we are still alive. We have been beaten, but we have not been killed. Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.