Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith

  • Thread starter Thread starter thechrismyster
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
The Time article is surprisingly well balanced. If a lesson is to be learned it is to be careful in asking Jesus to share in His sufferings. That Mother Teresa suffered 50 years in the Dark Night of the Soul makes her a most incredible Saint. At least now we can all rejoice that she now is experiencing Christ in His fullness !!!
 
I was completely amazed by this article. I first saw it linked on Drudge, and thought, oh boy, they’re really going to bash the Catholics on this one. Instead, I feel more deeply than ever that Mother Teresa was one of the most saintly people to ever walk this earth. I can’t wait to read the book. There is one quote from the article that kind of summed it up for me:

“The tendency in our spiritual life but also in our more general attitude toward love is that our feelings are all that is going on,” he says. “And so to us the totality of love is what we feel. But to really love someone requires commitment, fidelity and vulnerability. Mother Teresa wasn’t ‘feeling’ Christ’s love, and she could have shut down. But she was up at 4:30 every morning for Jesus, and still writing to him, ‘Your happiness is all I want.’ That’s a powerful example even if you are not talking in exclusively religious terms.”

This article explains that though Mother Teresa felt completely spiritually dry and cut off from God, that did not stop her for an instant from carrying out his will. She never for one moment let her feelings guide her actions. Even though she didn’t feel it, she nonetheless let the Holy Spirit guide her every step of the way. Her dependence and devotion to Jesus was way beyond human comprehension.

For those of you who haven’t read this article, please think again. Do yourself a huge favor, and read it.

Mary
 
From what I’ve read of this, it seems that Mother Theresa’s spiritual troubles were - as others have said - downright inspiring. On the one hand, loving God, wanting to do Christ’s work. On the other, having no direct experience, or moment of… rapture? if that’s the right word. Having doubts and worries, while at the same time committed to God and hope to the very end.

People are (rightly) worried about the atheists-on-the-march manipulating this, but I don’t think it will get them anywhere. Too much commitment to the social values that typically make her such a target to begin with, too much commitment to God, and ultimately just too strong in her faith, even under fire.

In a way, it’s nice. One last (for the moment) victory for her.
 
Nullasalus said:
In a way, it’s nice. One last (for the moment) victory for her.
Click to expand...
One last victory Mother Teresa, yes, but I think she would say, one more victory for our Saviour.

How the angels must have rejoiced when she entered into heaven!

Mother Teresa, pray for all of us that we can be witnesses of our God as you were and still are.

Mary
 
Mother Teresa’s Struggle Of Faith

According to recent revelations, Mother Teresa struggled with her faith for years. Some may feel distressed at the thought of an iconic figure experiencing such difficulty. “After all”, one may say, “if a saintly person like Mother Teresa had such a hard time with her faith and with prayer then what chance do I have?”
We can usually learn more from those who struggle, or who stumble and get up than we do from those who seem achieve their goals effortlessly. We are inspired by the examples of people who overcome great adversity and ultimately succeed, even if that success is not measured on a grand scale. We admire people such as Bill Porter, (see the film “Door To Door” with William H. Macy). Conversely, people who have no adversity in their lives often teach us very little. Paris Hilton is obscenely wealthy. Her recent run-ins with the law captivated us briefly, but did not evoke much in the way of public sympathy.
The fact that Mother Teresa persevered speaks volumes. The easiest thing for her to do would have been to abandon her faith and take a secular job, perhaps working for the ACLU or NARAL. But she did not. She struggled. And she persevered. If I grasped the fullness of this, she struggled through a “desert experience”, a “dark twilight of the soul” for 40 or 50 years.

Even though she may have felt that praying was like speaking into a dead phone, she kept it up. She was faithful to her vows and her vocation. She never disgraced the Church or caused any scandal. She founded a religious order, set up residences and missions all over the world and helped innumerable people. Despite her inner turmoil she continued in her ministry to the least lovable and most needy among us, and in so doing set a tremendous example of what Christ calls us all to do.

Some theologians have expressed earthly struggles as discipline. I have heard it said, “The more you suffer on Earth, the less you have to suffer in Purgatory”. Growing up, when I’d get hurt or have to struggle through some unpleasantness, my parents used to say, “Offer it up for the holy souls in Purgatory”. In other words, turn suffering into a prayer, an offering to God.

*Hebrews 12: 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”*

Christianity is not for sissies. Even though Jesus says, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light”, He never promised that our lives would be trouble-free. We return to Him in prayer in order to find rest for our souls. We then go back into the world refreshed, and continue to do His will.

We have always admired Mother Teresa for her successes - her heroic efforts in her ministry. And now we have another reason to admire her - for her perseverance through struggles and her difficulties. She set an example for us all that will live forever.
 
She will be honored as the “Patron Saint of those struggling with their faith”, I have heard on the news. I have had only short bursts of that in my own life. The grace that was given to her was absolutely miraculous. She is truly is a lesson for the “babies” of Christ in that the commitment to Him is the real love that must be strived for even through the spiritual torment of the darkest of night. She is an amazing saint.

As far as the atheists claim, goes to show you how ridiculously ignorant and empty they are to anything spiritual.:rolleyes:
 
Did anyone else catch the NPR story that suggested that Mother Teresa was really a closet atheist? It even made reference to “that most eloquent atheist” Dawkins, who apparently thinks Mother Theresa’s “dark night of the soul” proves the failure of Christianity. Blech. To think that the atheist camp is now trying to claim the Blessed Mother Teresa! It’s almost too much to take!
 
Well, on the same note I’ve read biographies of St Francis of Assisi that made him out to look like the first protestant.
 
How brave of them to speculate that of her when she isn’t around to defend herself. :mad:
 
Oh no, the whole of Christianity has been exposed to be false. 😛 Goodness, I heard the stories about her doubts, and thought if you know much about Saints, this isn’t exactly breaking news that a Saint, or one along a path to be recognized as a Saint, may have doubts. It’d be nice to have them talk to more experts of the field.
 
WanderAimlessly said:
Typical. Attack those who cannot defend themselves.
Click to expand...
Indeed, just like the communists who initiated the slander campaign against Pope Pius XII. And some of these people are Catholic promoted this! Nothing more vitroilent then attacks on Mother Church from ex-catholics. The devil never sleeps and he’s enjoying every minute of it. Just like how after Benedict XVI was elected pope, CNN showed a clip of him as pope and then showed a clip of Adoft Hitler. And how on the pope’s anniversary this year, they carefully placed a photo of him when he was a member of Hitler’s youth right next to a pic of him as pope. The media err… the gospel of Satan never learns.
 
consumedconvert said:
Did anyone else catch the NPR story that suggested that Mother Teresa was really a closet atheist? It even made reference to “that most eloquent atheist” Dawkins, who apparently thinks Mother Theresa’s “dark night of the soul” proves the failure of Christianity. Blech. To think that the atheist camp is now trying to claim the Blessed Mother Teresa! It’s almost too much to take!
Click to expand...
All the same, in spite of Dawkin’s insinuations, character assainations, and verbal machinations who would you rather be standing next to when those the angels separate the sheep from the goats on judgment day? Mother Teresa or Richard Dawkins?

For some the light of Truth may dawn much too late and this should grieve us all who know the truth of Christ. 😦
I think of Mother Teresa as the same breed of Christian as Jim Elliot, and his four missionary friends Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, and Roger Youderian. These men and their families tried to spread the Gospel to the Waodani tribe in Ecuador back in the 50’s. It would appear to me that they understood well the eternal significance of life and the importance of rescuing those headed into eternal darkness. They were every bit as engaged as an elite Coast Guard rescue team but they did so by shining the light of eternal Truth that Christ supplied them with.
They carried rifles on their airplane on their trips deep into the jungles of Ecuador but when asked if they would use them if attacked Jim answered something like this, “No, for if they kill us we know we will go to be with our Lord but if we kill them they are lost for all eternity.” After all five men were murdered by the tribe their wives, sons and daughters moved in with the tribe. They didn’t give up and they baptized the very men who incited the tribe by false witness and those that speared them, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen.

Richard Dawkins needs a lot of prayer - sometimes men like him, when converted after being in the dark so long, pursue the light of Christ with much vigor and passion.
 
Eschato said:
Well, on the same note I’ve read biographies of St Francis of Assisi that made him out to look like the first protestant.
Click to expand...
:bigyikes: I hadn’t heard that one before!
Actually all kidding aside I do believe I read a biography on him, many years ago, whereby Francis actually heard the audible voice of Christ while praying in a lonely chapel. If I recall correctly he was instructed by Him to, “Restore my Church!” At first he thought God was telling him to rebuld the rundown chapel in the woods outside Assisi that he was praying in and he started to do just that 🤷 but then Francis realized God had a much bigger “Church” in mind for him. 👍 Ah, the patience God has with us until we finally get it. 🙂
So I would think that protesting for a closer walk with our Lord is a good thingg and really what the prophets have done throughout the ages. Unfortunately the kings, princes, and the nation of Israel did not always listen to the prophets God sent them, nor did the Church always listen to those whom God sent to her either. But reform, I would think we can all agree, is a good thing for the Church. As long as it is directed by the Lord and it truly is “He” that is speaking and directing the heart & mouth of the reformer. But that said, I also think it is crucially important not to vary from the Lord’s instruction even one iota. Perhaps where some reformers wandered off the true path was on this point, whereas others got lost somewhere between the border between zealous inspiration and the sin of pride. As we know pride always runs contrary to the fruit of the spirit and, as Christians who hopefully have their eye on Christ, we need to be wary of it for it can blow us far off course, take us far from God, and into the realms of worldly power and bondage. I have always tried to take the Lord’s advise on discernent her, “By their fruits you shall know them”. History isn’t that hard to read although the dig may take a few shovels and lots of time and patience but in the end I believe one can discern for themselves the difference between fruit and weeds or, parably speaking, wheat from tares. However, in spite of counterfeits I do believe that if “reformation” is being directed by God that not only should the Christian engange and take that to the bank but they can and should take it all the way to the stake if necessary. For in this case they should not fear what any men may do to them for they are in the hands of the Lord and have become His mouthpiece by the indwelling Holy Spirit and squelched not only their own self will but exposed the prideful underbelly of the enemy at work in man.
Matthew 10:19-20
"But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.

Jesus didn’t just instruct us with the parable about the tares and the wheat to tell us a good story, like some Aesop’s fable, but to make us aware not all voices within His Church belong to Him who bought us by His precious blood. Certainly Francis would not have been the first to engage in reform and neither would he be the last.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares - Matthew 13:24-30
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
👍
May God Bless, pat
 
thechrismyster said:
time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html

interesting article… she wondered the same things we all do.

The letters, many of them preserved against her wishes (she had requested that they be destroyed but was overruled by her church), reveal that for the last nearly half-century of her life she felt no presence of God whatsoever — or, as the book’s compiler and editor, the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, writes, “neither in her heart or in the eucharist.”
“I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love,” she remarks to an adviser. “If you were [there], you would have said, ‘What hypocrisy.’”

Dark night of the soul really tortured her at times. Amazing woman.
Click to expand...
 
…I seem to recall hearing that Jesus on the cross called out…My God,why have thou forsaken me?..I am so glad this little ‘smear’ is developing like this…for a while maybe I thought she was not so saintly after all…I met a priest who worked with her in India and was he so impressed.he sent me a photo of himself sitting alongside her…a treasure for me…yes…when one works so long for our Creator and sees so little improvement of course one gets a bit testy…again…amen for this lil bit…and by the way,check out the cover of Time mag for aug 20…it has a pic of the good Rev.Billy Graham and the heavily touched up picture has the top of the Ms looking all the world like Horns coming outta his head…what a great use of subliminal seduction…a topic I taught…all the best Nino
 
I haven’t read the article yet but I just have to say it’s nice to know that even one of my most beloved people was “human” too. Which shows me that if she struggled, then it’s ok for my struggle too. Because although she struggled (whether it was private or public is moot) she ALWAYS chose to do His will, not her own. And that speaks volumes to me and it’s a character trait I’d love to learn to emulate.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top