God has created us to love and to be loved, and this is the beginning of prayer-to know that He loves me, that I have been created for greater things.

O God, how easily I make them happy! Give me strength to be always the light of their lives and so lead them to You!

The first time I received an award, I was very surprised. I did not know whether to accept it or not. But I came to the conclusion that I should accept awards in the name of the poorest poor, as a form of homage to them. I think that basically, when awards are given to me, the existence of the poor in the world is being recognized.

In the West we have a tendency to be profit-oriented, where everything is measured according to the results and we get caught up in being more and more active to generate results. In the East-especially in India-I find that people are more content to just be, to just sit around under a banyan tree for half a day chatting to each other. We Westerners would probably call that wasting time. But there is value to it. Being with someone, listening without a clock and without anticipation of results, teaches us about love. The success of love is in the loving-it is not in the result of loving.

I am Albanian by birth. Now I am a citizen of India. I am also a Catholic nun. In my work, I belong to the whole world. But in my heart, I belong to Christ.

None of us, including me, ever do great things. But we can all do small things, with great love, and together we can do something wonderful.

We are not social workers. We are contemplatives in the heart of the world.