Last night I saw the movie, The Letters, The Untold Story of Mother Teresa. I was moved by her story, very much. Such a strong, determined, courageous woman. At her ceremony to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, she recited the Peace Prayer. Here I have made some additions to it, to personalize it so I feel best attuned to it for my own path.
May I be a channel of peace,
Where there is hatred, may I bring love,
Where there is wrong, may I bring the spirit of forgiveness,
Where there is discord, may I bring harmony,
Where there is error, may I bring truth,
Where there is doubt, may I bring faith,
Where there is despair, may I bring hope,
Where there are shadows, may I bring light,
Where there is sadness, may I bring joy,
May I seek as much to comfort as to allow myself to be comforted,
May I seek as much to understand as appreciate being understood,
May I seek to love even more than to be loved.
For to self-forget is to find the true self,
For to forgive, one more easily is forgiven,
For in dying to the personal one awakens to eternal life.
What I most connected with in the movie was her feeling that "loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty". The movie portrayed Mother Teresa as being driven to give love and care to those who had been forgotten by society, essentially left to die on the streets.
The sense of loneliness, despair and being unlovable were some core wounds I was born into, I sense from previous lives. However, how all that really plays out I don't know. What feels true is there was a wound inside me, a story I told myself, that needed healing. That of no one cares for me, and my feeling of being unlovable was over whelming at times. My path this life was to go deep within and heal that from within. To be able to love myself and bring myself compassion.
Mother Teresa gave such a gift to the world, to help others feel loved, when they were in such deplorable conditions, that any inner work to find the love within was a near impossibility. Those of us in the luxury of having our basic needs meet, have a greater freedom and choice to do the inner work to heal ourselves.
Now, in case anyone reading this has adverse feelings about Mother Teresa. Let us remember no one has the full story, the complete big picture. We do what we can, as best we can. My biggest message is, what do you draw from this so to live your life with greater integrity and purpose? What can we learn from any of Mother Teresa's perceived short comings, that we can take out into the world and make needed changes for the evolution of us all?
What I encourage is what can we take away from this for our own learnings and renewed strength for our chosen path.
May there be love and may it begin with me.
& also with me. I believe as a child, My parents tried to teach Integrity & Purpose, & we just did not realize why. It was also important to learn confidence, and the ability to follow through & to be a strong leader. Having a positive purpose & compassionate heart, was taught on a regular basis with actions not words, so as a child, we understood the true meaning. I will definitely check out the movie!
ReplyDeleteHow powerful to be taught through actions. And fortunate indeed to have such valuable values instilled while growing up.
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