For the past five days, I have written five different blog posts focusing on the words of the newest saint in the Catholic Church’s arsenal, St. Teresa of Calcutta. On day one, I focused on work and evangelization; day two, I wrote about family life; day three, I focused on faith and holiness; day four, yesterday, I wrote about her words on prayer; and finally today, we will focus on her words that speak about Blessed Virgin Mary. Since today is a Monday, it fell perfectly to include this last blog post as part of my “Mondays with Mary” series.

In her book, Total Surrender, St. Teresa of Calcutta says the following about Mary’s Example –

“The Magnificat is Our Lady’s Prayer of thanks. She can help us to love Jesus best; she is the one who can show us the shortest way to Jesus. Mary was the one whose intercession led Jesus to work the first miracle. ‘They have no wine,’ she said to Jesus. ‘Do whatever he tells you,’ she said to the servants. We take the part of the servants. Let us go to her with great love and trust…”

Like many of the saints before her, including her contemporary, Pope St. John Paul II, she had a deep devotion and a relationship rooted in love with the Blessed Virgin Mary. St. Teresa of Calcutta (“Tiny T”), like her Teresa predecessors, St. Teresa of Avila (“Big T”) and St. Therese of Lisieux (“Little T”), knew the importance that the Blessed Mother played not only in the life of Jesus Christ, but the important role she plays in all of salvation history. She knew well if there were no Mary, there would be no Jesus. Mary’s role in the Church, yesterday, today, and tomorrow is always about leading us closer to Jesus Christ.

To conclude this quintuple of blog posts, here are 10 quotes focusing on the Blessed Virgin Mary from the words of the Saint of Calcutta –

From a letter written on the day of her death –

1. “Loving trust and total surrender made Our Lady say ‘yes’ to the message of the angel. And cheerfulness made her fun in haste to serve her cousin Elizabeth. That is so much our life: say ‘yes’ to Jesus and running in haste to serve him in the poorest of the poor. Let us keep very close to Our Lady and she will make that same spirit grow in each of us.”

2. “Pray especially to Our Blessed Mother Mary, placing all your intentions into her hands. For she loves you as she loves her Son. She will guide you in all your relationships so that peace may fill your life.”

3. “Let us ask Our Lady, in a very special way: Mary, mother of Jesus, be a mother to each of us, that we, like you, may be pure in heart, that we, like you, love Jesus; that we, like you, serve the poorest for we are all poor. First let us love our neighbors and so fulfill God’s desire that we become carriers of his love and compassion.”

4. “Mary is our mother, the cause of our joy. Being a mother, I have never had difficulty in talking with Mary and feeling close to her.”

Speaking about electricity and wires, and where the power of our ‘light’ comes from, she says the following –

5. “Our Lady was the most wonderful wire. She allowed God to fill her to the brim. By her surrender ‘Be it done to me according to thy word’ she became ‘full of grace.’ The moment she was filled by the current, by the grace of God, she went in haste to Elizabeth’s house to connect the wire, John, to the current, Jesus. As his mother said, ‘This child, John, leapt up with joy at your voice.’ Let us ask Our Lady to come into our lives also and make the current, Jesus, use us to go round the world – especially in our own communities so that we can continue connecting the wires of the hearts of men and women with the current, Jesus.”

6. “Even Almighty God cannot fill what is already fill. We must be empty if we want God to fill us with fullness. Our Lady had to be empty before she could be full of grace. She had to declare that she was the handmaid of the Lord before God could fill her. So also we must be empty of all pride, all jealousy, of all selfishness before God can fill us with his love.”

7. “Mary showed complete trust in God by agreeing to be used as an instrument in his plan of salvation. She trusted him in spite of her nothingness because she knew he who is mighty could do great things in her and through her. Once she said ‘yes’ to him, she never doubted. She was just a young woman, but she belonged to God and nothing nor anyone could separate her from him.”

8. “Mary did not feel ashamed. She proclaimed Jesus her son. At Calvary we see her standing upright – the mother of God, standing next to the cross. What a deep faith she must have had because of her love for her son! To see him dishonored, unloved, an object of hatred. Yet, she stayed upright.”

9. “How much we need Mary to teach us what it means to satiate God’s Thirsting Love for us, which Jesus came to reveal to us. She did it so beautifully. Yes, Mary allowed God to take possession of her life by her purity, her humility, and her faithful love…Let us seek to grow, under the guidance of our Heavenly Mother…”

10. “If we stand with Our Lady, she will give us her spirit of loving trust, total surrender, and cheerfulness.”

As the Catholic Church celebrates this newest Saint, please pray for the work of the Missionaries of Charity throughout the world, pray for the pilgrims returning home from the Canonization, and pray that all people, even our enemies, may they come to know the love and mercy of Jesus Christ through His Holy Mother and the Saints in Heaven.