Prayer:Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers
Stored: Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers
| Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers | |
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| Author | Unknown |
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| Language | English |
| Approval | None |
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| Added on | 2026-08-13 |
The Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers is a set of prayers composed by Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910–1997), widely known as Mother Teresa, for use by herself and the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity, the religious congregation she founded in Calcutta, India in 1950. These prayers reflect the spiritual charism at the heart of Mother Teresa's vocation: to see and serve the face of Jesus Christ in every suffering and impoverished person. They were prayed daily by the Missionaries of Charity as a foundation for their apostolate among the destitute and dying.
Rooted in the words of Matthew 25:40 — "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" — these prayers encapsulate the theology of the "poor as Jesus" that Mother Teresa received during her famous inspirational experience aboard a train to Darjeeling on September 10, 1946, a date her congregation celebrates as "Inspiration Day." These devotions were not merely pious aspirations but practical prayers meant to be prayed before each act of service.
Mother Teresa was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 19, 2003, and canonized by Pope Francis on September 4, 2016. Her feast day is celebrated on September 5, the anniversary of her death in 1997. These prayers continue to be used by the Missionaries of Charity worldwide and have been widely adopted by Catholic laity engaged in works of mercy.
The Prayer
Morning Prayer Before Service
Dearest Lord, make me see You in every one of Your servants, that knowing Your wishes I may serve You.
Make me see You in the person of Thy poor, and while helping them, may I serve Thee.
Lord, grant that I may serve the poor and the sick with all my heart, for they are Thy representatives on earth.
Help me to see Jesus in the face of every person I meet, that I may love them as I love Thee.
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Prayer for Charity and Humility
O God, we believe Thou art here. We adore Thee and love Thee with our whole heart and soul because Thou art most worthy of all love.
Grant that we may never offend Thee, but may love and serve Thee evermore. May Thy Kingdom come into the hearts of all men.
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Prayer Before Works of Mercy
Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and welcome You, or naked and clothe You?
Let us find You in those who are broken, in those who are lonely, in those who are unloved, and let our hands be Thy hands today.
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Daily Offering
Lord Jesus, You have told us that whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do it to You.
I offer You all my work today — the service of my hands, the love of my heart, the sacrifice of my body — in union with all the Masses offered throughout the world this day.
Accept this offering, Lord, and use it for Thy glory and the salvation of souls. Amen.
History and Background
Mother Teresa composed and gathered these prayers to form the spiritual backbone of the daily apostolate practiced by the Missionaries of Charity. The congregation she founded in 1950 with the approval of the Archdiocese of Calcutta was specifically dedicated to serving "the poorest of the poor" — the dying, the destitute, the abandoned, lepers, and the unloved. She believed firmly that this work could only be sustained through deep, structured prayer, and so these daily prayers were integrated into the rhythm of the sisters' life alongside the Divine Office, Holy Mass, and Eucharistic Adoration.
The theological basis of these prayers draws heavily from the spirituality of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, whose "Little Way" deeply influenced Mother Teresa, as well as from the writings of Saint John of the Cross, who shaped her understanding of the dark night of the soul. The Scriptural foundation is Matthew 25:31–46, the parable of the sheep and goats, in which Jesus identifies Himself entirely with the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. For Mother Teresa, this was not a metaphor but a literal mystical reality.
The prayers were passed on orally and through the constitutions and prayer books of the Missionaries of Charity. As Mother Teresa became an internationally recognized figure — receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 — her prayers and writings were compiled and published by various Catholic publishers, including in the collection Everything Starts from Prayer: Mother Teresa's Meditations on Spiritual Life for People of All Faiths (White Cloud Press, 1998) and in biographies such as Come Be My Light edited by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., who also served as her Postulator for Canonization.
Mother Teresa often stated that the Eucharist and the poor were the two altars before which the Missionaries of Charity knelt each day: "We receive Jesus in the Eucharist. We find Jesus in the poor. These two realities must never be separated." This conviction is the beating heart of the Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers.
How to Pray / Devotional Use
The Jesus in the Poor Daily Prayers are particularly suited for:
- Morning Prayer before beginning a day of work, service, or ministry.
- Prayer before Corporal Works of Mercy, such as volunteering at a soup kitchen, hospital, homeless shelter, or care home.
- Community Prayer for religious congregations, parish groups, and Catholic service organizations.
- Personal Devotion for anyone seeking to deepen their awareness of Christ's presence in others, especially the marginalized and suffering.
- Retreats and Days of Recollection centered on the themes of charity, humility, and service.
Suggested Practice:
- Begin with a few moments of silence, recalling the presence of God.
- Recite the Morning Prayer Before Service slowly, pausing after each line to allow the words to sink into the heart.
- Before each act of service or encounter with a person in need, silently repeat the short aspiration: Lord, let me see Your face in this person.
- At the close of the day, offer the Daily Offering as a prayer of thanksgiving for the grace to serve.
- These prayers may be combined with a reading from Matthew 25:31–46 and a period of silent meditation.
Those who wish to enter more deeply into the spirituality of Mother Teresa may also pray the Missionaries of Charity Chaplet, read her letters as preserved in Come Be My Light, and meditate upon her teachings on the "fifth word of Jesus from the Cross" — I thirst — which she took as the motto for her congregation.