The ‘Atheism’ of Mother Teresa [Dark Night of her Soul?]

CERC ^ | September 9-15, 2007 | FATHER RANIERO CANTALAMESSA

[Salvation]

I was wondering if you were going to reference Paul’s words< “Greatest among sinners.”

[Salvation]

The ‘Atheism’ of Mother Teresa [Dark Night of her Soul?]

Jesuit Philosopher Recounts Time with Mother Teresa [Fr. John Kavanaugh, S.J.]

Faith Crisis? Not the Mother Teresa He Knew

Vatican mapping miracles by Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa's Reaction to Pres. Clinton's Access to Abortion Clinics Act Recalled by Fr. Pavone

Mother Teresa of Calcutta on abortion

There are no atheists in the streets of Calcutta

Christian Leaders Weigh in on Mother Teresa's 'Crisis of Faith'

A Suffering Servant: The Letters of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa's Letters Show Heroic Spiritual Struggle

Mother Teresa 'simply loved life'

Mother Teresa's canonisation not at risk

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

Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith

Quotes From Mother Teresa of Calcutta on the Most Blessed Sacrament(catholic Caucus)

Joy and Hope by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

9/5/97 Mother Teresa (Gonxhe Bojaxhiu) (b.1910),dies of heart failure in Calcutta

Mother Teresa on Abortion

Priestly Celibacy by Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Beatification of Mother Teresa of Calcutta - October 19, 2003

The gift of Priestly celibacy as a sign of the charity of Christ, by Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Diocesan Inquiry on Mother Teresa's Sainthood Concludes in Calcutta [Read Only]

The Beatification of Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa not to be exhumed

What Made Mother Teresa So Special, Part I

Mother Teresa's Saintly Spirit Remembered, in a Truly Balkan Way

Mother Teresa's Beatification to Be a Worldwide Television Event

WHATEVER YOU DID UNTO ONE OF THE LEAST, YOU DID UNTO ME, M. Teresa, Senate & House Prayer Breakfast

Mother Teresa's Beatification and Related Events

Mother Teresa's "Secret"

Slur on Mother Teresa in paper stuns Church

Why Mother Teresa Should Not Be a Saint

Pope credits Mother Teresa with miracle

Mother Teresa's Mystical Experiences[her letters to Archbishop Perier]

Miracle Approved; Beatification Set for Mother Teresa

[WARNING: I think this is a fabrication] Prophecy attributed to Mother Teresa?

Mother Teresa's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech

[topher]

Saint Paul was a mystic in the sense that God came to him in a profound way to correct his life (when he is struck down by God and blinded. He hears God saying: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?") Saint Paul was so struck by this MYSTIC EVENT that he changed his name from Saul to "Paul", which means "SMALL".

In the life of Moses, the BURNING BUSH was a MYSTIC event (as well as some of the "magic" he performed in Egypt).

For Mother Teresa, she had the initial apparition from Heaven that ordered her to form the Missionaries of Charity.

Then there is the MYSTIC EVENT of the ceasing of fighting in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1982.

In the latter event, Mother Teresa tried to get a cease fire by talking to people so that she might save some retarded Muslim children.

She was told that nobody could order a cease fire. At that point, she went and prayed in the next room and said that there would be a CEASE FIRE at 6am the next day, and that she needed to have vehicles ready to cross into the Muslim side.

The cease fire did occur at 6 am, and only heaven knows why it happened...

[topher]

Have you ever heard or seen the video about the Cease fire in Beirut. If there was thing that very miraculous in her life, it was that ceasefire. There is an old documentary on Mother Teresa that it is shown as it happens.

[Salvation]

Wow! I had forgotten about this, or else it never got into my mind to remember.

[Salvation]

I have not seen this video. Sounds fabulous!

[unspun]

What matters is Jesus and events that are in Christ, whether one labels them mystical or not.

(As for Theresa, each person's walk is that person's and it is a matter directly between God and that person and no other, thank God for her.)

[Salvation]

Her name is spelled Teresa.

[topher]

You are correct.

If God is love (charity), then love (charity) was found in the life of Mother Teresa.

One of the reasons the Catholic Church changed how people became saints was that a very mystical nun had everyone fooled. She had sold her soul to the devil, and she was able to levitate (fly) as well as other mystical things.

That is why the Catholic Church changed not only an investigation into the life of the person, but also the need for two miracles.

[IIntense]

She was afraid, in speaking about it, of attracting attention to herself.

Unless Mother Teresa actually confided this to someone, the reason given for her silence is pure speculation.

It was she who "deceived" herself about her spiritual status, not the people.

Could the anguish she suffered possibly be attributed to natural causes, such as a lack of self-esteem? Many, many people take their good works for granted, as in, that's what we are supposed to do!

In their own mind, they are not good enough, they don't measure up. They are too hard on themselves and they suffer because of it.

Whatever the reason that Mother Teresa had "dark nights of the soul", she was an extraordinary woman who gave her life to God through her care of the poorest among us.

[topher]

Here is a link to the Documentary. But I cannot find an ISBN or a place that sells this...

Mother Teresa Documentary narrated by Richard Attenborough

[unspun]

Thanks for the info, topher.

As for me, I’ll stick with what the Holy Spirit inspired the NT writers, about how one becomes a saint. ;-`

[Kolokotronis]

I find it astonishing that the media, even the Roman Catholic media find Mother Theresa’s spiritual struggles so noteworthy, or perhaps better said, that the media is surprised by it. Great holiness attracts great evil. Part of the glory of saints is their triumph over powerful demons.

[Tax-chick]

I find it astonishing that the media, even the Roman Catholic media find Mother Theresa’s spiritual struggles so noteworthy, or perhaps better said, that the media is surprised by it.

Much of the Catholic media is, in spirit, pretty much as secular as the secular media. They may not realize it, but their perspective is simply the world's.

I don't think that's the case with Father Cantalamessa, who is very much in the Spirit - as well as being a traditionally educated Catholic, familiar with the spirituality of the saints, as this article shows. He is addressing the "spin" on the recent publication of some of Bl. Mother Teresa's letters, which equates faith with feelings of faith.

The little I've read on this matter (Columbia has an article by the book's author in the current issue) reminds me very much of the letters of St. Therese of Lisieux, who also passed a large part of her (short) life without feelings of consolation.

[topher]

Kolokotronis posted:

... Great holiness attracts great evil. ...

I agree. Many saints had to overcome great trials. Certainly the evil ones do not want the holy ones to succeed.

There is a story of Saint Jean Vianney that he went to stay with some other priests. He warned them before he went to bed that if they heard some noise in his room to ignore it.

That night, there was a noise in his room that sounded like he was being killed. The priests got up and went into Jean Vianney's room -- where he was fast asleep. (Either he had time to roll over and go back to sleep or the commotion did not bother him.)

The next morning the priests asked Saint Jean Vianney about the night before. His response was that when he would have a big catch (in the confessional -- a hardened sinner repenting), the day before or night before Satan would attack him. I guess Satan knew the person had thought of going to confession or God gives Satan knowledge of future events.

There are also many examples of this sort thing in the life of Saint Padre Pio that are documented (such as the time Saint Padre Pio was protecting a seminarian from temptation -- probably with angels he asked for).

In this particular case of Saint Padre Pio, the devil took a curtain rod and was beating Saint Padre Pio with it.

The next morning, Saint Padre Pio was injured (and frightened) from the attack.

Some of these stories would make better press than the information in the letters of Mother Teresa...

[Kolokotronis]

Christians who have read the writings of and stories about the Desert Fathers are familiar with the sorts of experiences you refer to. These events continue to this very day at monasteries around the world. I myself have heard such stories from monastics down in the old country who have had these experiences. But of course, modern, sophisticated and by all means enlightened Westerners would find these reports hard to credit.

Demons are very real. Among the Evil One’s greatest successes has been to convince the world he doesn’t exist.

[Aquinasfan]

Great article. Thanks for posting this. Mother Theresa was very deep indeed. God love her.

The interminable night of some modern saints is the means of protection invented by God for today’s saints who live and work constantly under the spotlight of the media. It is the asbestos suit for the one who must walk amid the flames; it is the insulating material that impedes the escape of the electric current, causing short circuits.

St. Paul said: “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

Great insight.

[Tax-chick]

Some of these stories would make better press than the information in the letters of Mother Teresa

The point is not to tell a good story. The point for the media is to slander Mother Teresa, because she was pro-life.

There's added entertainment value for the anti-Catholic fringes, who get to flatter themselves that Mother Teresa wasn't "saved," while they are.

[Mad Dawg]

No NO nOno nononononono!

I’M the chief, Not YOU. So THERE!

[Mad Dawg]

If I may say so, the usage of "mystic" which you note is a corruption, IMHO. If we're going to talk about tradition, there are ample traditions in eastern and western Xty which pertain to the vision of God and or to union with God. There is material in the Epistles (caught up to the third heaven whether in the body or out of the body ....?) which deals with mysticism.

There is a prudential reason for the "occultness" (in the strict sense of "hiddenness" rather than the conventional sense of all spooky and weird and certainly UNXtian) of this sort of thing. Here's a major seedbed for heresy, deadly spiritual pride, madness, and destruction. And the pursuit of "experiences" for their own sake is, strictly speaking, perverse. But when the conversation focuses too much on weird stuff that happened when so and so was praying, you're going to get people praying NOT because prayer is one of the things we owe God, but for the sake of experiences. And those the roaring lion is always ready to provide.

For me it's important not to let popular and conventional perversions of terms dominate. Let the Gentiles change THEIR vocabulary, for crying out loud! Why should we agree to let them trash our language and take over our "terms of art"? Mother Theresa prayed. Stuff happened. There's nothing to see here. Rather than look for something, let us all to OUR prayers! What we see is not as important as Him who always sees us.