What do the Traditionalists say about Mother Teresa?

[sancte_joseph]

I heard from an interview with His Excellency Bishop Williamson SSPX

who said that Mother Teresa was good on the (right track in His opinion) in the beginning (whatever that means)

and then she became more involved in ecuminism and all that they (traditionalist) disapprove of

 

[JReducation]

I heard from an interview with His Excellency Bishop Williamson SSPX

who said that Mother Teresa was good on the (right track in His opinion) in the beginning (whatever that means)

and then she became more involved in ecuminism and all that they (traditionalist) disapprove of

The good bishop is entitled to his opinion, as are the rest of us regarding canonizations. However, the final call belongs to the Holy Father and he gets his information from the tribunal, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Congregation for the Faith and in the case of Bl. Mo. Teresa from her religious superiors. Since she was the General Superior for such a long time, that would probably be the Archbishop of Calcutta.

Once the voting is done, then the rest moves very quickly to the Apostolic See. Once there, no one knows what the Holy Father decides or when until the Papal Secretary communicates to the College of Cardinals that there will be a canonization and when. Sometimes, there is a where too, if the Holy Father is going to proclaim the canonization in some place other than the Vatican.

I’ve always been interested in the process more than in the question as to whether or not to canonize, since that part of the process is exclusively the role of Peter and it is one of those Ex-Cathedra statements. Once the deed is done, it cannot be undone, unless one can prove that the pope was out of his mind. The process is fascinating and it’s also fascinating to see when the Holy Father decides to circumvent it completely, which has happened, few times, but there are several canonizations that went through without the process. The Holy Father decided that he knew enough to know that the person is in heaven.

Oh well, in either case, Mother Teresa is in heaven, whether she is canonized or not. We can’t change that.

Fraternally,

Br, JR, OSF

 

[Bluegoat]

I heard from an interview with His Excellency Bishop Williamson SSPX

who said that Mother Teresa was good on the (right track in His opinion) in the beginning (whatever that means)

and then she became more involved in ecuminism and all that they (traditionalist) disapprove of

I just keep imagining a cartoon, with a bunch of SSPX types standing all alone (no non-Catholics there), very Catholic and proper, on one side; and on the other thousands of the poor, dying, and dispossessed, a legion of them with their hands raised, from who-knows what religion, and Mother Teresa ministering to them alone, a little woman in a nun’s habit. I haven’t figured out what the caption would say.

 

[chaunceygardner]

Jesus lived and died for ALL humanity. Mother Teresa served anyone in need. Did Jesus cure only His followers? No, He ministered to and cured any and all who came to Him in faith: sinners, Romans, Samaritans, the shunned, everyone. We don’t know the ethnicity or religion of the two men crucified with Jesus, or what they all did to warrant death on a cross, but one entered Paradise with Him that day.

Mother Teresa followed His example in what she did, and how she lived, turning away no one who came to her. MT Not traditional? I don’t how more traditional one can get than by living Christ’s Gospel every day of your life.

 

[JReducation]

Jesus lived and died for ALL humanity. Mother Teresa served anyone in need. Did Jesus cure only His followers? No, He ministered to and cured any and all who came to Him in faith: sinners, Romans, Samaritans, the shunned, everyone. We don’t know the ethnicity or religion of the two men crucified with Jesus, or what they all did to warrant death on a cross, but one entered Paradise with Him that day.

Mother Teresa followed His example in what she did, and how she lived, turning away no one who came to her. MT Not traditional? I don’t how more traditional one can get than by living Christ’s Gospel every day of your life.

Chauncey is right on this one. Bl. Mo. Teresa was an active religious. This means that her outreach to Christ in the poor is not limited to Christians or those who want to become Christians, but to Christ. You can’t covert everyone, but you must serve everyone.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[malachi3]

I’ll care what trads say about Mother Teresa when I see them picking up dying destitute people from the gutters and caring for them.

 

[m134e5]

I really wanted to know more of Mother Teresa. So far, of my limited knowledge regarding her, it seems to me that she has a little to do with converting others to Catholic faith. Or was it her way of converting others- through indirect way?

Mother Teresa wouldn’t have been able to serve the poor the way she did if she actively tried to convert everyone she saw- India doesn’t take too kindly to proselytizing. She wore her habit wherever she went- that in itself is a constant witness of faith.

 

[Malkin71]

But salvation is not a matter of being good. We are not saved by our works. We are saved by grace. We receive grace through faith in Jesus Christ and then, by grace, we produce the necessary fruits of our faith, which is works.

If a soul can not accept the truth, then they may, by following the lights that God has given them and in spite of their errors, come to salvation. But that’s not a one way ticket to heaven. We don’t know the state of these souls. It’s possible that they “can not” accept the truth because they are being obstinate in their errors and not truely seeking God. We just don’t know. What we do know is that they don’t have the truth and if we have been given the gift of faith, we have a duty to witness that truth to others as the TRUTH and not just one road out of many leading to the same place.

In James 2, 14-18 NAB it says you must have faith and works.

"What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day,

and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it?

So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

Indeed someone might say, “You have faith and I have works.” Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. "

usccb.org/nab/bible/james/james2.htm

 

[TristanCross]

I love Mother Teresa (Teresa of Avila right?)

 

[r4j]

Folks, if I may offer my humble opinion, because before being ‘fully’ Catholic, Mother Teresa stood out as a hero to me. I am a Catholic re-convert as of 2+ years ago.
I recently bought a CD collection of Mother Teresa’s letters to her spiritual directors. If you want to get some insight into her, I would suggest this as one way. I vastly misunderstood one thing about her and I learned a bunch of new things about her.
As someone said earlier - please be real careful about grabbing a line quote from someone. Just like reading the bible, you must know what the whole thing says. Things out of context can be dangerous.
Maybe Mother mentioned the receipt of communion in the hand because she had such a holiness for Jesus that the tought of touching Him was just beyond her imagination. Maybe she thought it diminshed His divinity in some way. Maybe she saw the way some people handled Him and she thought it wasn’t good and it made her feel sad for Him.
I don’t think one can ever completely know why another says what they say the way they say it - what thoughts, feelings, message they are trying to convey.

 

[tcraig]

I wonder what everyone means when they talk about evangelizing?

I agree. And I wonder if any ever stop to think who, exactly, are the “poorest of the poor” in Calcutta?

I’ve read accounts that she and her sisters would pick people up off of the street that were so ill and malnourished that they were too weak to keep the rats from gnawing on them.

Are these the people that some insist she should have “evangelized” in another way other than bathing them, spoon-feeding them, binding their wounds and providing a loving, caring face for them to look upon during their last moments??

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

I love Mother Teresa (Teresa of Avila right?)

Not quite:​

• Mother Teresa of Calcutta = 20th century Albanian religious and foundress (d. 1997)
• Saint Teresa of Avila = 16th century Spanish religious, Doctor of the Church (d. 1582)

 

[centurionguard]

Find me (((“ONE”))) person in this world in the Twentieth and Twenty-first century more holier and saintly than this wonderful humble women Mother Teresa of Calcutta ? She was a mystic. I love this woman. If there ever was a more well deserve reason to confer Sainthood on a person by the Holy Catholic Church and her wisdom. Mother Teresa of Calcutta humbly deserves Sainthood.

PRAYER OF MOTHER TERESA OF CALCUTTA

Dearest Lord; May I see you today and everyday, in the person of everyone that I meet. Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you and say, “Jesus my friend: how sweet it is to serve you.” Lord give me the seeing faith, so my life may never be monotonous. May I always find joy in humoring the fancies and gratifying the wishes of each person I meet.

Oh Beloved Jesus, how dear your are to me, and what a privilege it is for me to be allowed to tend you. sweetest Lord, I appreciate what you have given me in life: my job, my family, my friends etc. Never permit me to disgrace it, by giving way to coldness, selfishness, and impatience.

Oh God while you are Jesus, inside each person I meet: please be a patient Jesus, bearing with my faults, looking only to my good intentions which are to love and serve you, in the person of each and everyone I meet.

Lord increase my faith, bless my efforts and works, now and forever more Amen.

 

[DLClark]

She needed to find salvation by faith alone in Christ. All her good works will not get any close to heaven that you are. Only through faith in Christ is heaven’s door opened to us. That is all. Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
NASU

 

[Gertabelle]

She needed to find salvation by faith alone in Christ. All her good works will not get any close to heaven that you are. Only through faith in Christ is heaven’s door opened to us. That is all. Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
NASU

This post is off-topic, but I really want to respond anyway.

Mother Teresa did find salvation through her faith in Christ alone. If you would stop to learn a little more about her spiritual life before you pass judgment on her, you might create a post with a little less self-righteousness.

Mother Teresa took on all the works she did for the love of Christ. Her works were a response to her love for Jesus, not a replacement for it.

You know one verse from Ephesians very well. Now try a section of James:

14 What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? 15 And if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food: 16 And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? 17 So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. 18 But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. 19 Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou that faith did cooperate with his works and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God. 24 Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only? 25 And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers and sending them out another way? 26 For even as the body without the spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead.

It might cause you some discomfort to see such a radical example of the works that can be inspired by deep and fierce faith in Christ. Try reading some of her letters, or listening to some of the things she had to say about her own work – it was all for Jesus. She used to say that without Jesus, they would just be social workers, and they should all just pack up and go home. But she believed in giving everything to God, every tiny mundane act of necessity or inconvenience or service – “Small things with great love… The moment it is given to God, it becomes infinite.”

And now how about a passage from Matthew:

31 And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. 32 And all nations shall be gathered together before him: and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. 34 Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: 36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. 37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry and fed thee: thirsty and gave thee drink? 38 Or when did we see thee a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and covered thee? 39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison and came to thee? 40 And the king answering shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. 41 Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me not to eat: I was thirsty and you gave me not to drink. 43 I was a stranger and you took me not in: naked and you covered me not: sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 44 Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to thee? 45 Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen: I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. 46 And these shall go into everlasting punishment: but the just, into life everlasting.

We are saved by our faith in Christ. And Catholics, who have a history of taking the whole biblical view may be in a better position than you think to receive and act upon this faith.

God bless you. And now, back to topic

Gertie

 

[sancte_joseph]

She needed to find salvation by faith alone in Christ. All her good works will not get any close to heaven that you are. Only through faith in Christ is heaven’s door opened to us. That is all. Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
NASU

faith without works is dead… someone can truly say i believe in Jesus Christ i believe that he will save me… but still can act really bad against God’s commandments

and they might not be saved…

 

[JReducation]

I just want to add to everything that has been said in favor of Mother’s saintliness, that the Church does not confir sainthood on anyone. A decree of canonization is a statement of faith that says we believe that a person is in heaven through God’s love for having lived a heroic Christian life.

If anyone can prove to me that Mother did not live a heroic Christian life, then they have may attention. But be careful, there is already one confirmed miracle attributed to her prayers and there are others under study. People who die without faith cannot pray for us. Those who cannot pray for us cannot intercede for miracles on our behalf.

Woe to you who question her faith.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[CatholicChick]

I love Mother Teresa and am and always will be amazed by her acts of kindness and care of others. My daughter is named after her…so yes …I love her!

 

[centurionguard]

This post is off-topic, but I really want to respond anyway.

Mother Teresa did find salvation through her faith in Christ alone. If you would stop to learn a little more about her spiritual life before you pass judgment on her, you might create a post with a little less self-righteousness.

Mother Teresa took on all the works she did for the love of Christ. Her works were a response to her love for Jesus, not a replacement for it.

You know one verse from Ephesians very well. Now try a section of James:

It might cause you some discomfort to see such a radical example of the works that can be inspired by deep and fierce faith in Christ. Try reading some of her letters, or listening to some of the things she had to say about her own work – it was all for Jesus. She used to say that without Jesus, they would just be social workers, and they should all just pack up and go home. But she believed in giving everything to God, every tiny mundane act of necessity or inconvenience or service – “Small things with great love… The moment it is given to God, it becomes infinite.”

And now how about a passage from Matthew:

We are saved by our faith in Christ. And Catholics, who have a history of taking the whole biblical view may be in a better position than you think to receive and act upon this faith.

God bless you. And now, back to topic

Gertie

EXCELLENT POST Thank You.

14 What shall it profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith, but hath not works? Shall faith be able to save him? 15 And if a brother or sister be naked and want daily food: 16 And one of you say to them: Go in peace, be ye warmed and filled; yet give them not those things that are necessary for the body, what shall it profit? 17 So faith also, if it have not works, is dead in itself. 18 But some man will say: Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without works; and I will show thee, by works, my faith. 19 Thou believest that there is one God. Thou dost well: the devils also believe and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, offering up Isaac his son upon the altar? 22 Seest thou that faith did cooperate with his works and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the scripture was fulfilled, saying: Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him to justice, and he was called the friend of God. 24 Do you see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only? 25 And in like manner also Rahab the harlot, was not she justified by works, receiving the messengers and sending them out another way? 26 For even as the body without the spirit is dead: so also faith without works is dead.