Mother Teresa Did Not Feel Christ's Presence for Last Half of Her Life, Letters Reveal

Fox News ^ | 08/24/2007 | Unknown

[HarleyD]

Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who has been put on the “fast track” to sainthood, was so tormented by doubts about her faith that she felt “a hypocrite,” it has emerged from a book of her letters to friends and confessors. Shortly after beginning her work in the slums of Calcutta, she wrote: “Where is my faith? Even deep down there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. If there be a God — please forgive me.” In letters eight years later she was still expressing “such deep longing for God,” adding that she felt “repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal.” Her smile to the world from her familiar weather-beaten face was a “mask” or a “cloak,” she said. “What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.” Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 and was beatified in record time only six years later, felt abandoned by God from the very start of the work that made her a global figure, in her sandals and blue and white sari. The doubts persisted until her death.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Mother Teresa: Naturally, if they want peace, if they want joy, let them find Jesus. If people become better Hindus, better Moslems, better Buddhists by our acts of love, then there is something else growing there. They come closer and closer to God. When they come closer, they have to choose.

Interesting. Thank you. Her statement is much more clear in context.

[murphE]

If I am a good Hindu and worship the Hindu gods in a loving and respectful manner and do good works, and feed the poor, will that all be accounted unto me for righteousness?

"The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church." (Pope Eugene IV, the Bull Cantate Domino, 1441.)

Syllabus of Errors - Pope Pius IX

#16. Man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation, and arrive at eternal salvation. -Condemned

#17. Good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ. -Condemned

[murphE]

A Catholic can have a moral, though not an infallible, certainty that he or she is in a state of grace and an heir of heaven.

Regarding this...In a sermon I heard a story about St. Joan of Arc. During her trial they tried to trap her by asking her if she was in a state of grace. She gave an excellent answer, she said, "If I am, I pray God keep me there. If I am not, I pray God put me there."

[M Kehoe]

Faith is something ya gotta work at. It ain't easy. Never has been, never will be.

The Lord asked me to type this post. Since He knows better than I do...

5.56mm

[Frank Sheed]

You have no idea what wiles Satan threw at her! She was a solitary tiny nun, taking the dying of Calcutta who founded a religious Order that works on total Charity and total obedience. Her Order is now found throughout the world, and her work gave a final respite to those dying in the gutter with infestations of parasites and bugs.

You may be assured of YOUR salvation. I believe firmly in hers.

Frank

PS Let me know when you get a Nobel Peace Prize...

[Frank Sheed]

It is, Dangus. I have heard others comment on her own “dark night of the soul,” a very special grace given by God. But then, some Christians will forget that even Christ asked, “My God, my God. Why has thou abandoned me?”

[Running On Empty]

Thanks

[M Kehoe]

Fox News ^ | 08/24/2007 | Unknown

I wonder who "Unknown" is?

5.56mm

[red irish]

People every day say things when they have feelings of despair especially when dealing with so much of the worlds suffering. She was very much a hands on person in dealing with the homeless and those who were dying on the streets,and who no one wanted. I shall place my faith in the Lords judgment as to what Mother Theresa believed.

[P-Marlowe]

Is that a “No”?

[red irish]

Eyes rolling!

[red irish]

Amen! It is better to be judged by God than anyone here.

[P-Marlowe]

PS Let me know when you get a Nobel Peace Prize...

LOL.

Past winners:

[Running On Empty]

thanks

[Running On Empty]

PS—there’s always a whole lotta judgin’ goin’ on around here on this Forum

[Frank Sheed]

You may be assured of YOUR salvation. I believe firmly in hers.

Funny you missed this part, Christopher Hitchens...err, P-Marlowe.

[Salvation]

All saints have there moments of darkness as well as their moments of light.

Just like you and me.

[Steve_Seattle]

Jesus: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”

[Steve_Seattle]

I thought Thomas Crapper was the man who invented the flush toilet.

[Running On Empty]

It may not “look” like that to you. However, that doesn’t mean that “look like” is factual.

Hopefully #98 will shed some light, from her own lips.