Joy & Woe

In a slender volume of photos, prayers, and interviews titled Something Beautiful for God, journalist Malcolm Muggeridge explores the motivations of Mother Teresa's faithful life: "I do not agree with the big way of doing things," Mother Teresa tells Muggeridge. "To us, what matters is an individual."

And because it is difficult to "love Jesus Christ" when Christ is intangible to us, she explains, our next best step is to love those around us as if they were Christ -- and to spread joy in all that we do: "We must be able to radiate the joy of Christ, express it in our actions. If our actions are just useful actions that give no joy to the people, our poor people would never be able to rise up to the call which we want them to hear, the call to come closer to God."

When Muggeridge asks Mother Teresa about the goods she delivered to those in need over her lifetime, she responds that mere supplies have never been the focus of her work: "It is not very often things they need," she said. "I have come more and more to realize that it is being unwanted that is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience. ... We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But if that drop was not in the ocean, I think the ocean will be less because of that missing drop."

Later in the book, Muggeridge recalls mish-mashed lines from William Blake's "Auguries of Innocence" as he marvels at the complexity of Mother Teresa's selfless life:

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine,
Under every grief and pine,
Runs a joy with silken twine.
It is right it should be so,
We were made for joy and woe,
And when this we rightly know,
Through the world we safely go.

Mother Teresa challenged Muggeridge in a letter once, "Now let us do something beautiful for God." As we each ponder the ways that joy and woe are woven through our own lives -- as well as the multitude of opportunities we have to love others well -- what will our response be? What beautiful things will we do for God today?

Blessings on your week, 

Jennie