[lupie]

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.

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.

[maryz]

LOL! “The Dwarves are for the Dwarves!”

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

lupie - Thank you for understanding what I was trying to say. You may be right that "self-righteousness" is a better term to describe it than "egotism".

maryz - I'm not sure what you were laughing at. I think it was the word "egotism" or "egotistical" that set you off. I apologize for using the wrong word. But Mother Teresa's problem is very complex, and I'm not a psychologist or a theologian - just someone trying to understand her spiritual problem.