Thanks for posting that quote from Mother. It is so sad to see this remarkable and holy woman maligned even by Catholics. I saw a post on CAF where the poster doubted her beatification because in his opinion she was a relativist. She prayed with Muslims and Hindus and she called Muslims and Hindus to be good Muslims and good Hindus.
I’m halfway through her private writings which have been made public until now. For those who are interested, the book is Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light by Brian Kolodiejchuk, MC. Don’t ask me to pronounce this man’s last name, LOL.
When you read her journals you can’t help but be moved by her love for souls and her desire for the conversion of the world. What people often fail to see is her soul. They hear her quoted out of context and they run with that. We tend to live in a society that expels intelligence. Not only was Mother a woman of God, she was an intelligent woman of God. God forbid that a woman be intelligent!
Mother’s writings clearly demonstrate her desire to convert all people to believe in Jesus and to accept him as their Lord and Saviour. However, she also understood her surroundings. During the Middle Ages the Church had launched several campaigns against the Moors in the Middle East. She had also engaged in wars with the Ottoman Empire. Neither campaign was successful. The Ottoman Empire seceded from the Church and the Muslims did conquer the Middle East.
Being a prior social studies teacher and high school principal, Mother knew that these campaigns had failed. You could not conquer the Eastern world through force or through words. You could only conquer it through the heart. When asked why she cared about Muslim and Hindu people who were hungry or dying she always responded, “I only see Jesus.” Like her model, Francis of Assisi, she preached the Christian faith and used words only when necessary. Even then, she was always to the point. The point was Jesus.
Not only did she pray for the conversion of souls, she rescued people from the misery that often leads souls to despair and sin. She rescued people from isolation and abandonment. She preached Christ’s presence by touching Christ’s wounds in the people she cared for and she never kept it a secret that she was a Christian and a Catholic Sister. Everyone knew that she came in Christ’s name to smile upon them. Her smile was her tool.
Mother also understood that she had a responsibility to the few Christians in India and other parts of the world not to compromise their safety. It would have been folly to go on a preaching campaign against Islam or Hinduism in a society that was in conflict with the Christian world. Lives could have been lost. Christ did not choose her to bring more bloodshed into the world. He called her to heal his bleeding wounds, by touching the wounds of the suffering and he would provide the grace of conversion through her work and her life of contemplation.
We too can take Mother’s mission into the world. We do not have to use words to bring others to conversion. People like Francis of Assisi, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II brought more souls to Christ through their simplicity, joy, charity and intense prayer life and penance than most preachers do through great sermons.
Words are quickly forgotten, but kindness leaves an indelible mark on the person who is touched by the heart of Christ’s mercy. We need not assume that Islam and Hinduism are equal to Christianity. That would be false. But we can take the message of Christ into the world as Mother did. Christ is thirsty for souls. But those souls will not come unless they have someone to follow. We are called to be the prophets whom those souls will follow to Christ. Mother knew that all of us can be prophets, not just her sisters. Her sisters were to be examples of prophetic voices in the world.
What good is having examples in the Church, if we Catholics are going to admire them from a distance, instead of imitating them?
Fraternally,
JR