Letters revealing Mother Teresa’s half-century-long “crisis of faith” have many pondering what to make of the secret life of one of the most revered figures in modern history.
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(Photo: AP Images / Bebeto Matthews, file)Mother Teresa waves to a crowd of onlookers in this June 18, 1997, file photo in the Bronx borough of New York. Mother Teresa's hidden faith struggle, laid bare in a new book that shows she felt alone and separated from God, is forcing a re-examination of one of the world's best known religious figures.
Yet as theologians and psychologists offer interpretations for her deep “darkness,” a preeminent American theologian used Mother Teresa’s struggle to remind believers to trust Christ and not their feelings.
Whether it be an average Christian or a saint, doubts on the existence of God and turmoil over the inability to feel His presence is something every Christian has wrestled with.
Yet more important than dwelling on human emotions is securing one’s faith in Christ, according to Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary is the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and is one of the largest seminaries in the world.
“Salvation comes to those who believe in Christ – it is by grace we are saved through faith,” wrote Mohler in an online column Thursday in “On Faith” – a project of The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.
“But the faith that saves is not faith in faith, nor faith in our ability [to] maintain faith, but faith in Christ,” he emphasized. “Our confidence is in Christ, not in ourselves.”
Mohler was responding to this week’s TIME cover story which explores Mother Teresa’s inner struggles in light of a new book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, which was made public for the first time letters covering a period of 66 years in which she questioned her beliefs and God.
In correspondents to her spiritual confidants, Mother Teresa laments on the “dryness,” “darkness,” “loneliness,” and “torture” she suffers with her inability to feel God’s presence.
A letter to Archbishop Ferdinand Perier in 1953, according to TIME, read: "Please pray specially for me that I may not spoil His work and that Our Lord may show Himself — for there is such terrible darkness within me, as if everything was dead. It has been like this more or less from the time I started 'the work.'"
Another letter in 1956 read: “Such deep longing for God – and…repulsed – empty – no faith – no love – no zeal. – [The saving of] Souls holds no attraction – Heaven means nothing – pray for me please that I keep smiling at Him in spite of everything.”
Mother Teresa also painfully shared her inability to pray saying she just “utter words” of Community prayers– a confession that came from a woman who once said the Christmas holiday should remind the world “that radiating joy is real” because Christ is everywhere.
Yet despite the “pain and darkness” in her soul, Mother Teresa served tirelessly among the outcasts, the dying and the most abject poor in India. She brought countless sick Indians to her center from slums and gutters to be treated and cared for under the banner of Christ’s love.
“The very essence of faith, you see, is believing even in the absence of evidence,” said Chuck Colson, founder and chairman of Prison Fellowship, in a column Wednesday in response to the TIME article. “And it is the only way we can know Christ.
Colson shared that he experienced his own darkness of soul when a few years back two of his three children were diagnosed with cancer. Continue >>
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I only quoted numbers to show that even though people have tried to destroy the movement she started it continues to grow
I only quoted numbers to show that even though people have tried to destroy the movement she started it continues to grow
I commend those who are serving the poor, sick, and down trodden throughout the world. It definitely is a special calling to live and serve among the destitute. However, one cannot demonstrate their faith to be true by quoting sheer numbers. Truth never has and never will be determined by mass numbers. God himself has given us his written word (2Peter 1:20, 21) as the only standard and test of truth (Isaiah 8:20, Matthew 4:4).
Hi truthandjustice, All that you said may be true. but what does that have to do with the Word of God.? What does that have to do with Scripture that says, we are saved by Grace and not of works.?
Do you deny that The Word of God does in fact teachs that.?
All that you stated in your post really doesn't prove anything does it, except that you put your trust in works instead of Salvation by Grace.
I have only quoted the Word of God, And that offends you for some reason. I cannot change the Word of God for you,
There is one thing that frustrates me, People who claim to know God,and reject His Word.
We are hearing reports of the things Mother Teresa has said, And many people are putting words in her mouth. Why not just take her for what she has said?. Don't add anything, take her at her word.
Art.
The christian walk and life is not an easy life. We have to carry our cross of suffering to serve Christ. It's a life of self-denial as Christ taught us. Mother Teresa who I believe served Christ with all her heart. She had her moments of ups and downs which every christian has.That's normal because we are not super humans.We need to trust Christ and Him alone.Please don't throw unfounded accusations against Mother Teresa. Those who accuse her don't even dare to do what she had done for the poor and downtrodden.These false preachers talk big but they are like the Pharisees of old.Repent and do no more sins!
Nobel Prize winning Mother Teresa Mother Teresa, dedicated to working among the sick and destitute is dead but other people have taken up the work.
They now run homes for abandoned children and those suffering leprosy and AIDS in 14 new countries.
From 733 in 130 countries in 1997, it now has 757 in 145 nations while the number of nuns has also risen and now stands at 4,800. I just wanted to tell you those numbers so you could get more frustrated.
artm:
I agree with you 100%! When will our brothers and sisters realize that our salvation lies in the finished work of Jesus Christ? Acts 10:43.
So many here are pointing to the works that mother teresa did as evidence of her salvation. Yet the Word of God clearly tells us that " We are saved by Grace,Not of works."
Thank God for the many good things people do all over this world everyday. But those things in themselves do not prove Salvation.
In Acts Chapter 10, You will find the story of cornelius. He was a man of many good works, But in short, He was not saved, untill God sent Peter with the message of Salvation.
The only way in which one can be truly saved, Is by accepting the Gospel message of Salvation through Jesus Christ.
Salvation does not come by good works. When one depends on works for their salvation, They are beleiving wrong.
And when one reads the Bible, they find that all Christians are Saints right now.
Lets not depend on a denomionation for Salvation. And lets not lift up our denomination, But rather, lift up Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.
Art.
I have known the Lord Jesus Christ for 32 years now. He has kept me BY HIS GRACE AND MERCY for that many years. I have had so many great times and lots of painful ones as well. Becoming a Christian does not mean that you don't have pain, but neither does it mean you are really gonna get it now! Life happens. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. Besides having a relationship with one's Creator, and Savior, besides being blessed with "benefits daily" walking with Christ, besides knowing that when you put off this physical body in death you have a home waiting where God resides, you have Someone who walks with you IN your pains and sufferings... in fatigue, heartache, sorrow, and negative emotions and all, however, what remains is that deep abiding JOY that the Holy Spirit gives IN suffering because you belong to God through Christ. My mother was killed by a doc's mistakes in the hospital...two years later my beloved hubby died in front of me with a cardiac arrest, four years later my oldest son died suddenly of some unknown lung disease, then a year ago I was diagnosed with Lymphoma and underwent chemo therapy, and three months after that nearly died of liver failure due to chemo meds. So, I do know what deep pain and sorrow is. I have lived with it and lived through it. I must tell you that God is tremendously faithful and HE keeps me...He carries me when I can't keep up with life and be the disciple I need to be because my pains have knocked me down. His Word is alive and powerful and is devotedly for His children to enable them to keep their focus when the emotions are dead. Heck, even the faith I have in Him, is a gift from Him! I think it's when the "lights are out" in life, and all seems contrary that God is there, and you feel down for the count that God's blessings shine forth the greatest..."He never forsakes those who seek Him" "I will never leave you nor forsake you", God declares, and if you can't believe that then just believe that ...."Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Hard times are where the "rubber meets the road" in your faith journey and either you believe God or you don't...simple as that. I believe and I walk in Holy Spirit given victory. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.
Mother Teresa, even though was a saintly person, totally dedicated to serve the poorest of
the poor, we need to remember that she was a human being. Those disciples who were
walking and talking with the living Jesus had fear, doubt, hunger, thirst, pride etc etc. One well known American evangelist who was raising millions of Dollars through T.V. evangelism made
a hurting comment about Mother Teresa, and his ministry began to disintegrate after a few months. we must be cautious to throw mud at God's elect by reading about their human
weakness like depression, doubt, fear etc.
The question is not whether Mother Teresa had or did not have such doubts and feelings. We should be focusing instead on the solution to such doubts and feelings. What is the solution? Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Cast all your care upon him; for he careth for you – 1Peter 5:7.
Anti - Catholics will stop at nothing to trash the Church including spreading lies about a nun who did nothing but help people her whole life. Did she have doubts? absolutely Was she depressed at times? absolutely Did she encounter these same people who are trying to ruin her work after her death during her life? absolutely. However, I take comfort in the fact that her sisters are still out there around the world on the front lines of poverty, disease, and hopelessness giving comfort. There is another mother Teresa working out in one of these forgotten parts of the world suffering from depression because of all the turmoil she is surrounded by. Perhaps the people who are attacking mother Teresa could find these other women doing good works around the world and attack them. Isn't that what God would want us to do?
TUPRBABE - You wrote "Mother Teresa's clinic refused to give pain medications to patients, citing some Catholic creed that indicates we have a "duty to suffer." I've tried to check this claim on the web and to tell you the truth, I can't say that I've found any proof of this claim on any website that I would consider reliable.
Just so we can keep in mind what Mother Teresa was really like .. This from American Catholic -
"We went to the orphanage, Shishu Bavhan, where little iron cribs lined the rooms. They were filled with babies that Mother Teresa and her sisters had saved.
One time a malnourished baby had just been brought in from the garbage heaps. I watched as a young nun washed this child and administered medication to try to save her from death.
Then Mother Teresa told us the story of another baby who had been brought in the day before. She said the child looked as if she had two heads because of a tumor that was so large she screamed in pain each time she moved. Mother Teresa made arrangements to have the child flown to a hospital to have the tumor removed. "So many babies, so many stories," she said with a look of sadness in her eyes.
Immediately after we arrived at the orphanage, Mother Teresa began caring for her little ones. Their tiny frowns quickly turned to glowing smiles when she entered the room. Those who could ran to her, tugging at her skirt and kissing her as they giggled gleefully.
At Shishu Bavhan, I saw an Indian woman who volunteers at the orphanage go from crib to crib, picking up each baby and giving each a loving hug. Mother Teresa told me that the babies could get medicine and food, but if they were not hugged, they would die. She said she had someone come every day to give tender hugs and kisses to each child, "something beautiful for God."
Suffering is a gift from God, He tells us to "count it all joy" and it's not that you look for the suffering, but GOD is watching how we handle this suffering, do we react to it, or do we bring it all to Him and let Him work it all out for HIS glory and our good.
Mother Teresa had more compassion in her little pinky then most people ever exhibit their whole lives. Pete, you produce the FACTS of where that money went?? You put up some evidence please to back up what you're saying.
One day we will all stand before God and give an account for our lives, you won't be standing there Pete for Mother Teresa, she will have to give an account for her own life, but you will have to give an account for your own, as will I.
Thank you again, Lord for the life of YOUR servant, Mother Teresa!
When we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, suffering is part of the price we pay..we enter into and participate in the sufferings of Christ. Jesus was born, He suffered while on this earth, He was beaten, scourged and crucified for the sin of mankind. He was risen again and by HIS sacrifice this restored mankind back to the right relationship we once enjoyed with The Father. However, this doesn't come to us automatically, we have to BELIEVE GOD, first of all that mankind is EVIL and rebellious and we have gone our own way (which is truth) (but not everyone wants to admit their own rebelliousnes, they enjoy the rebellion). And that is their own choice.
Mother Teresa, (and who is the Accuser of the brethren) was one of the most self-less people the world has ever known. There is not a Christian alive or dead who has not battled doubts, but that doesn't mean we deny Christ!
PETE: you do not know Mother Teresa personally, nor do you know the many missions around the world that ministered to dying people that she helped raise up! My own Chaplain is a sister in CHrist who spent much time with Mother Teresa, and worked with the LEPERS in India.
So much of the Media has nothing better to do then trash a Godly woman/it's open season on Christians. But that is okay, the LORD warned us, the world hated Him and it would hate us too, and it's worth it to walk with Jesus! Lord God, thank you for the life of your precious servant, Mother Teresa. Lord God, only you know each heart and help my brothers and sisters as they trust in You Lord, the world is not worthy of these precious brethren Lord God!
THank you Jesus, for the Truth of Your Word! In Your Name I pray! Amen