Posted on 08/31/2007 4:49:24 PM PDT by xzins
Letters revealing Mother Teresa’s half-century-long “crisis of faith” have many pondering what to make of the secret life of one of the most revered figures in modern history.
Yet as theologians and psychologists offer interpretations for her deep “darkness,” a preeminent American theologian used Mother Teresa’s struggle to remind believers to trust Christ and not their feelings.
Whether it be an average Christian or a saint, doubts on the existence of God and turmoil over the inability to feel His presence is something every Christian has wrestled with.
Yet more important than dwelling on human emotions is securing one’s faith in Christ, according to Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and is one of the largest seminaries in the world.
“Salvation comes to those who believe in Christ – it is by grace we are saved through faith,” wrote Mohler in an online column Thursday in “On Faith” – a project of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.
“But the faith that saves is not faith in faith, nor faith in our ability [to] maintain faith, but faith in Christ,” he emphasized. “Our confidence is in Christ, not in ourselves.”
Mohler was responding to this week’s TIME cover story which explores Mother Teresa’s inner struggles in light of a new book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, which was made public for the first time letters covering a period of 66 years in which she questioned her beliefs and God.
In correspondents to her spiritual confidants, Mother Teresa laments on the “dryness,” “darkness,” “loneliness,” and “torture” she suffers with her inability to feel God’s presence.
A letter to Archbishop Ferdinand Perier in 1953, according to TIME, read: "Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself — for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work.'"
Another letter in 1956 read: “Such deep longing for God – and…repulsed – empty – no faith – no love – no zeal. – [The saving of] Souls holds no attraction – Heaven means nothing – pray for me please that I keep smiling at Him in spite of everything.”
Mother Teresa also painfully shared her inability to pray saying she just “utter words” of Community prayers– a confession that came from a woman who once said the Christmas holiday should remind the world “that radiating joy is real” because Christ is everywhere.
Yet despite the “pain and darkness” in her soul, Mother Teresa served tirelessly among the outcasts, the dying and the most abject poor in India. She brought countless sick Indians to her center from slums and gutters to be treated and cared for under the banner of Christ’s love.
“The very essence of faith, you see, is believing even in the absence of evidence,” said Chuck Colson, founder and chairman of Prison Fellowship, in a column Wednesday in response to the TIME article. “And it is the only way we can know Christ.
Colson shared that he experienced his own darkness of soul when a few years back two of his three children were diagnosed with cancer.
“We can conclude rationally that God exists, that His Word is true, and that He has revealed Himself” Colson said. “But without that leap of faith, we will never know God personally or accept His will in Christ.”
It was in the late 1950s when Mother Teresa met a well-known theologian, the Rev. Joseph Neuner, who helped her accept the “darkness” she felt.
Neuner gave her three pieces of counsel – first, there was no human cure for what she had, so she shouldn’t feel personally guilty about it; second, feeling Jesus is not the only evidence of His presence, and the fact that she longed for God is a “sure sign” of his “hidden presence” in her life; and last, the feeling of absence was part of the “spiritual side” of her work for Jesus.
Mother Teresa responded to Neuner in 1961: “I can’t express in words – the gratitude I owe you for your kindness to me – for the first time in ….years – I have come to love the darkness – for I believe now that it is part of a very, very small part of Jesus’ darkness & pain on earth.”
She later wrote to Neuner, “I accept not in my feelings – but with my will, the Will of God – I accept his will,” according to TIME.
“So what do the letters of Mother Teresa reveal? For one, they reveal the true cost of discipleship,” commented Colson. “To follow Christ is to embrace suffering and the Cross. And, at times, to say with Jesus, ‘My God, my God, why did you abandon me?’”
Baptist seminary head Mohler said that although he would not “presume to read Mother Teresa’s heart or soul,” he concluded from her story that faith should not be placed on volatile emotions but rather solely in the unchanging God.
“There is a sweet and genuine emotional aspect to the Christian faith, and God made us emotional and feeling creations,” wrote Mohler. “But we cannot trust our feelings. Our faith is not anchored in our feelings, but in the facts of the Gospel.
“Our confidence is in Christ, not in ourselves. We are weak; He is strong. We fluctuate; He is constant. We cannot trust our feelings nor our emotional state. We trust in Christ. Those who come to Christ by faith are not kept unto Him by our faith, but by his faithfulness,” wrote Mohler.
The Catholic Church is considering whether or not to make Mother Teresa a saint and the letters were collected as supporting materials for the process.
Mother Teresa died in 1997, nearly two decades after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.
You are welcome. It’s certainly one to remember for our life here on earth, isn’t it?
“Do we glorify Mother Theresa for her good works?” We celebrate her life, that she gave it in serving the Lord in others. Many are called etc. etc. But she DID it. Why wouldn’t we celebrate that? A mere human, rising to Christ’s true challenge. An amazing woman of courage and self-discipline.
Or is nothing worth celebrating?
“I don’t know how “Christians” get by on just telling themselves over and over again, “the scripture is true. the scripture is true.””
What’s you beef with the Scriptures?
“I’m standing back from the doubt crowd. Hope that doubt thing works out for you.”
Just don’t fall in with the Pharisee crowd.
“As Alex once observed, the West has a problem with accepting the reality of Evil.”
But apparently no problem enjoying it’s fruits.
Quite so. Once you deny the reality of Satan, every fruit looks angelic.
Uh, the Eucharist IS Jesus. The statements in the Bible about that are the most unequivocal that Jesus made, yet Protestants deny it, saying he was speaking figuratively.
Man made cures comes with a cost. A spiritual cost. And most likely a physical cost of which we are not fully aware. There is only one CURE for depression. It has nothing to do with an imbalance of chemicals. It has to do with faith in the Lord God Jesus Christ. He is the all time, permanent cure for depression. There is nothing new under the sun. People have been dealing with depression of loved ones since the death of Abel. Christ was the cure then, He is the cure now.
Oh ye of little faith. Christ Jesus is the "glue" that holds all things together, visible and invisible. And that includes the balance of chemicals, indeed, the atomic structure of all things. All things obey Him. So why do we put our trust in man-made things and not the Living God? It is so easy to do so. Instead, we are called to look to the Lord in all things. For in Him we live and have our being.
I don't think she suffers from a lack of faith, but from an inability to feel the presence of God. To me, that seems egotistical. I know that a Creator exists, but I don't expect to feel the Creator's presence. That would be presumptuous of me. Instead, I see the Creator's hand in everything. That's good enough for me.
Mother Teresa's spiritual problems stem from her egotism. She wants to see herself as Christlike, as someone who has the capacity to suffer as much as Jesus did on the cross, maybe even to out-suffer him. She seemed to be appeased when her spiritual emptiness was pointed out to her as being comparable to Jesus' desolation when he was on the cross and cried out to God (asking 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'). This strikes me as egotistical. She wants to feel closer to God by suffering as much as Jesus did, or more. I knew that her whole mindset was one of suffering, but I didn't understand the reason why, until the letters were revealed.
Let me guess. Christian Scientist?
That is really the question here. WHO did the works?? If Teresa truly rested in God, knowing that the goal of the works was to point others to a faith in Christ Jesus, then it was God who did the works. If that was not her goal, but it was just to provide for the needy, without having a heart for their souls to turn to our blessed Redeemer and not their own idols or religion, then most likely, the works for hers. Many people have gone through many hardships doing "good deeds" for the wrong reason. If the deeds do not point to the Almighty God, the God who Saves us, the God who became man, then the deeds are not truly "good".
It isn't about whose "label" you put on the works, it is about in whose character you do the works. The sad thing is that there is mounting evidence that Teresa was NOT about the Father's business in pointing others to Christ Jesus. What is sadder is that many will become distressed when this is pointed out.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha..
No way!! You might want to feed your guessing machine some more fuel or something or perhaps in this heat it is dehydrated and delerious. ;)
I am just a sinner saved by the grace of our precious Lord Jesus. And you would be very suprised at how many believers feel the same way. Especially those who have been totally delivered from depression by Him. I know of several.
Actually, that makes some sense to me. I am not sure I would label it as egotistical. Perhaps the pride of self-righteousness? Whatever it can be labeled, I understand your point and see some validity to it.
LOL! “The Dwarves are for the Dwarves!”
Untrue.
bump
I am sorry. I really don’t understand what is funny about this. Nor do I have a clue what your statement about dwarves is all about. Did you mean dwarfs? Even then, it makes no sense to me.
Read C.S. Lewis. When you grow up, you’ll understand! ;-)
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