Posted on 08/24/2007 8:40:01 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
All will be known on the Last Day. Till then I will keep my lamp lit.
I'm not certain. There are some question marks in some of her behavior or statements so they will need to be reviewed to see if those things are obstacles or might cause scandal to the Faithful. Under the pre-VII process she might have been passed over. It was very strict. We'll have to see. She was not a theologian but in her life she lived the Gospel more so than any of us. Ultimately though, it is Heaven's decision if Mother Teresa is meant to be an example to everyone. The requisite miracles will happen or not.
I cannot identify with "trials of Faith".
Okay. Have you considered what St. Paul said about persevering to the end in order to be saved, comparing the journey like an athlete struggling to win a race? The best of us will be under constant assault by Satan, especially at the moment of death. Also, consider Christ on the Cross doubting, almost denying God the Father at the moment of His death. He asked why He had been forsaken. These are the trials of Faith.
Yes, God chooses us but we still have free will. We must choose to accept Him or not. The Gospels are full of examples.
There's the choice.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
Wait until you get to “Ascent to Mt. Carmel” and “Spiritual Canticle”.
I agree. I could only read a few pages at a time in order to absorb the meaning. Even now when I go back and read again I understand what he is saying in a different way. It's like reading the text for the first time.
I'm sure that the rewards were there, but perhaps not what she was expecting. I would not be surprised if some of her depression came after the age of 40. Women go through so much with menopause. I'm a little biased, because I am happily married and find this time of motherhood to be the most fulfilling. I don't think we should assume that Mother Theresa was ultimately different from any other woman who gives up family life for career (even if that career is as a world-renouned humanitarian), and becomes depressed when she gets older and realizes that she has not fulfilled her female drive to bear children.
BTW, even if all of this is interesting about Mother Theresa. It bothers me that this stuff is coming out against her wishes.
Just wanted to add, I’ve been to some of Mother Theresa’s homes in India. No matter what her personal feelings -or lack of feelings- she did something pretty remarkable there. Old people and young orphans and cared for. Poor children are given an education. Her popularity got assured that donations came in regularly. You can’t discount the good that came from her.
Does that mean you have no answer?
Maybe none is necessary beyond what lastchance chose to make.
We’re not in a court of law here, and nobody is keeping tabs on who wins and who loses—except the Lurkers Gallery. :-)
What an unfortunate state it would be if we “discuss” just to win and make points.
I agree with Joe6-pack—”We must keep Him constantly amused with our silliness”.
Thanks
Peter comes to mind. Actually he denied Christ three times. Christ even warned him it was going to happen. But I want to remind you of something. If we could all walk in the walk and stay in the Word 24/7 then the death of Christ for our sins before and after salvation would not have been required.
Who are we to measure someone else's pain and judge their tolerances to it? Do you not understand that even the feeling in mans heart of abandonment by GOD was conquered for us on the cross. Christ felt it. That was the only thing he did not know because all his existence before being born up till his death he knew and dwelled in the presence of his father. "My GOD My GOD what has Thou forsaken me?" was a very real cry of absolute anguish and fear from our LORD. That is the greatest question ever asked and one of the most difficult. GOD could not look upon his own son. Not because of what wrongs he had done {as he was without sin} but because of what mankind had done.
I do not believe in Peaches and Cream theology where once you except Christ everything goes just great in life and you jump for joy and have a song in your heart at all times. But I do believe that nothing after that fact can ever separate us eternally from GOD. We still face all fears and all emotions but Christ is their and the Spirit intercedes for us even in our groans of anguish or emptiness of our heart. We can not overcome it alone and because of that Christ did it for us.
I've been through enough in my life especially at one point in less than a year time frame I had some very big questions to ask. Actually spiritually and emotionally I went numb for over a week. I felt nothing about nothing or nobody. It wasn't a place I wanted to be or remain but lifes events took me there. The sudden unexpected death of my wife when she was 23, the healing process to follow, and the unexpected finding of a new love only to watch before my very eyes her slipping away from me nearing death. I was screaming NO! driving behind a cop racing to the hospital while she was describing what she was seeing to me. She was that close to death and the other side and she was feeling the peace and seeing the light. But she made it back to me.
1985 22 years ago this Labor Day she has been in a wheelchair an incomplete quadriplegic since that time. When that happened that was when I went numb. I'm not Roman Catholic I'm Baptist. But had it not been for a few Sisters of Mercy by that I mean Nuns at that point I may have well lost my sanity. But I would not have lost my salvation.
I've been in and out of The Valleys since that time. At times feeling a close relationship with Christ at one point so close having a Divine revelation or the very Masters voice himself comfort me. That event BTW was right before I went numb. It was in a Laying on of Hands for her in ICU by two preachers. When it happened we all four my girlfriend and the two preachers plus myself felt the presence of the Spirit. I was overcame with a calming voice which said It's going to be OK. No telling me what to do mind you but it was going to be OK. She at first could move nothing. Her arms were drawn to her chest. The doctors said they would stay there. Then she got use of them and over a period of weeks her hands. She will never walk again on this earth though.
Now I'm going to give you some insight. When I went numb I was scared. I left the hospital and her not knowing If/When I'd ever be back. I drove about 15 miles and went back to the hospital but not to her room. I wandered the halls. A little old Nun saw me and asked me to step into her office. She looked at me and asked what's wrong. I explained how I felt and she told me something that made perfect sense. The mind must have rest as well as the body. I had been there all times I was not at work with my girlfriend. She said you must seek time alone for yourself. That was very scripturally sound advice found in the Bible that I overlooked. I healed rather quick and asked the woman in my life for her hand in marriage. A few week later in the hospital Chapel with a Baptist preacher officiating and the Nuns and even a Priest there as well we were married.
The rest of the times since then have been good and bad. Valleys and mountain tops. Times when I could not feel the presence of GOD, times when I knew beyond any doubt he was there.
Mother Theresa saw a lot more than ever have in her life. She lived in conditions and did a task I do not think any on this thread could endure doing for the length of time she did. The Time article put her views in context and let her explain them and I can understand them. I see no Blasphemy but rather a human being. To think she was not saved is wrong. "For they who given even a drink of water in My Name shall by no means loose their reward."
I'm thankful I was never asked to do what she did nor put to the test she was. GOD knows her heart and I don't think that unless she walked in his presence that she could have done it no matter what her Christian Sect. Some writings by man can give good insight. The writing called FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND to me means quite a bit and I think holds many truths.
I've seen and heard quite a bit from brethern who have good intentions but cause doubt themselves. One was a Charasmatic who told my wife that it was because of her lack of faith she remained in a wheelchair. That is not in the scriptures. It was a dangerous church doctorine and a burden that even the Apostile Paul had to bear and addressed quite well. They forget that though. If faith alone could heal a person I think Joni Erickson Tada would be dancing. They tried it on her also.
I see Christians trying to tear down the ministry of others over their petty differences in theology. It was done to Mother Theresa, it's been done to Billy Graham, it's been done to the current and last Pope, and it will continue till Christ returns. It serves the Church no good service and by the church I mean all believers.
Your story shows that there is indeed heroic Christianity hidden from view, and that there are more hidden saints than famous ones. In your own way, you have born the kind of burdens born by Mother Theresa, and your post was one of the wisest I’ve ever seen in FR.
No it means that we are so far apart in our views of faith, justification, salvation and free will. I think any answer no matter how well meant would give rise to more Anti-Catholic screeds. So I will trust that your soul and its fate are rightly in the hands of Christ our savior as is mine and Mother Teresa’s.
I have faith that all will be known on the Last Day. Until that day I will continue to be ready for Him. With the help of His Grace I pray that I may keep His commandments. And that I never forget that I am a sinner who has been saved by His Blood. So rather than getcaught up in a pointless argument I pray that God continues to bless you and that He alone shall you serve.
As usual, any legitimate criticism of a Catholic position automatically becomes an "Anti-Catholic screed".
Are you so insecure in your faith that you can't argue doctrine without resorting to such juvenile whining?
That is a rhetorical question. I can't seem to get a yes/no answer out of anyone on this thread.
“I have faith that all will be known on the Last Day. Until that day I will continue to be ready for Him. With the help of His Grace I pray that I may keep His commandments. And that I never forget that I am a sinner who has been saved by His Blood. So rather than getcaught up in a pointless argument I pray that God continues to bless you and that He alone shall you serve.”
That is beautiful. I hope that I can be as gracious and kind as your example.
Maybe it’s wise to stop asking.
You are right “anti-Catholic screed” was too strong a term. I apologize. And nothing I say in defense of Catholic faith would change your mind. Others have offered much better apologetics than I ever could. I would be happy to provide you with a list of titles should you be interested.
Thank you for your beautiful witness. A witness that has withstood anguish that few of us will ever know. May God in His loving mercy grant you peace.
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh (1 Peter 3:15)
let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; (James 5:12)
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