As we celebrate the feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta today, the Catholic T-Shirt Club found two ways to honor this contemporary saint.
First they designed a T-shirt featuring St. Teresa’s words: “Intense love does not measure. It just gives.”
Then they found a creative way for customers to reuse the mailing boxes from their T-shirts to bless people in need. Whether you choose to keep these boxes in your car or donate them to shelters or other agencies that help the homeless, blessing boxes such as these are easy to make and an excellent way to involve the whole family in helping others. Finding small ways for everyone in the family to help the vulnerable is a beautiful and simple way to carry on Mother Teresa’s work in our own part of the world.
What can you put in a “blessing box”? Mine will include:
- toothbrush
- toothpaste
- travel-size mouthwash
- socks
- pack of wet wipes
- band-aids
- travel-size deodorant
- tissues
- water bottle
- granola bar
Later in the year, warm gloves will be added to the boxes I put together. I’ll also be enclosing the toiletry items in a ziplock sandwich bag to ensure that any leaks don’t ruin the food items in the box. And look at the side of the box–there’s a Mother Teresa quote front and center.
This T-shirt is my favorite design so far from the Catholic T-Shirt Club. I prefer designs with quotes rather than pictures of faces on a T-shirt, and I love that the shirt’s designer referenced the signature blue-striped garb worn by Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity in the heart design on the shirt. The card inside the box featured one of Mother Teresa’s most famous quotes, “Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier,” but the lesser-known quote on the T-shirt is not only a conversation starter but food for my own meditation as well.
I’m a fan of the way Catholic T-Shirt Club has turned an evangelization tool into an opportunity to help those in need.
Copyright 2017 Barb Szyszkiewicz, OFS
I received a free Mother Teresa box from the Catholic T-Shirt Club in exchange for my honest review.