Dear Lord,
help me spread your fragrance
where I go.
Flood my soul
with your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being
so utterly that all my life
may only be a radiance of yours.
Shine through me,
and be in me,
so that every soul
I come in contact with
may feel your presence
in my soul.
Let them look up
and see no longer me,
but only you, O Lord!

Stay with me,
then I shall begin
to shine as you do;
to shine
so as to be a light to others.
The light,
O Lord,
will be all from you;
none of it will be mine;
it will be you
shining on others
through me.
Let me thus praise you
in the way you love best,
by shining on those around me.

Let me preach you
without preaching,
not by words
but by my example,
by the catching force,
the sympathetic influence
of what I do,

the evident fullness
of the love
my heart bears to you.

Amen.

- Mother Teresa