Blessed John Henry Newman (1801-1890) (beatified in 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI) composed this prayer, which Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta loved and taught her Sisters of Charity to recite daily. What a beautiful prayer for us as Mothers — am I a radiant light of Christ to my children? Do they see Christ shining brightly through me today? Are my tone of voice, my gazes, my caresses, my encouraging words, all lovely fragrances that lead my children to Him, my precious Jesus, who is the source of all Goodness and all Grace? Let us pray . . .
Dear Jesus,
Help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Thy spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine.
Shine through me, and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus!
Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as Thou shines, so to shine as to be a light to others;
the light, O Jesus, will be all from Thee; none of it will be mine;
it will be Thou shining on others through me.
Let me thus praise Thee in the way Thou dost love best by shining on those around me.
Let me preach Thee without preaching, not by words but by my example,
by the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
the evident fullness of the love my heart bears to Thee.
Amen.