Mother Teresa on Loneliness

Editor’s note: Mother Teresa is probably the most famous caretaker of the poor the world has ever seen. She was known for being perpetually cheerful, kind, and embracing of the lonely, impoverished, and disenfranchised. Spread Love is a new inspiring devotional filled with her words of wisdom and Christ-focused exhortation. Enjoy this excerpt!

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Let us understand the tenderness of God’s love. For He speaks in the Scripture,

Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you on the palm of my hand. — Isaiah 49:15–16, paraphrased

When you feel lonely, when you feel unwanted, when you feel sick and forgotten, remember you are precious to Him.

He loves you. And show that love for one another, for this is all that Jesus came to teach us.

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I never forgot the opportunity I had in visiting a home where they had all these old parents of sons and daughters who had just put them in an institution and forgotten them. I went there, and I saw in that home they had everything, beautiful things, but everybody was looking toward the door. And I did not see a single one with a smile on their face. And I turned to the sister and I said, “How is that? How is it that these people who have everything here, why are they all looking toward the door? Why are they not smiling?” 

I am so used to seeing smiles on our people; even the dying ones smile. She said, “This happens nearly every day. They are expecting, they are hoping that a son or a daughter will come to visit them.” They are hurt because they are forgotten. And see — this is where love comes. That poverty comes right into our own home, we even neglect to love. Maybe in our own family we have somebody who is feeling lonely, who is feeling sick, who is feeling worried, and these are difficult days for everybody. Are we there? Are we there to receive them? 

Even in His Passion, our Lord said,

Thy will be done

— which means do with me what You want. 

And that was the hardest thing for our Lord in the last moment. That is why they say that the Passion in Gethsemane was much greater than even the crucifixion, because it was His heart, His soul that was being crucified, while on the cross it was His body that was crucified. That’s why on the cross He never said, “Thy will be done.” He accepted in silence, and He gave His mother, and He said “I thirst” and “It is finished.” But nowhere, not once did he say, “Thy will be done,” because He had already totally accepted the Father’s will during that terrible struggle of the desolation and the loneliness. And the only way that we know that that hour was so difficult for Him was when He told the apostles:

Could you not stay one hour with Me? 

• He needed consolation. 

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Loving trust is only the fruit of total surrender. You cannot have trust unless you are one with a person. Total surrender and loving trust are twins.

The greatest suffering of Christ was His loneliness — more suffering than the crucifixion. He said “My Father” — three times — “Take away the chalice.” Jesus could trust His Father like that because He knew Him. A sister cannot trust you and you [cannot] trust her unless you know each other, unless there is some communication, some kind of oneness.

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Suffering has to come because if you look at the cross, He has got His head bending down. He wants to kiss you, and He has both hands open wide. He wants to embrace you. He has His heart opened wide to receive you.

Then when you feel miserable inside, look at the cross and you will know what is happening.

Suffering, pain, sorrow, humiliation, feelings of loneliness are nothing but the kiss of Jesus, a sign that you have come so close that He can kiss you.

Excerpted with permission from Spread Love by Mother Teresa, copyright Mother Teresa Center.

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Your Turn

Loneliness comes to each and every one of us. Christ experienced profound loneliness. When we feel alone, He is with us, as close as a kiss. When we see others who are lonely, let’s reach out in love and let them know they’re not alone either. ~ Devotionals Daily