Time Magazine: Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith

[MarchHare]

Fascinating article about the private struggle over the faith and doubt of one of the 20th century's most caring and selfless people.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...5415-1,00.html

In 1979, she wrote this to a trusted confidant:

"Jesus has a very special love for you," she assured Van der Peet. "[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak...

Christopher Hitchens, author of the recent book God Is Not Great, is quoted in the article thusly:

She was no more exempt from the realization that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself.

At six pages, the article is a lengthy read, and I'm not yet finished it myself, but it certainly provides a very interesting perspective into someone whom many believe should be a saint.

[ericschand]

The problem it poses for the Church is how can they make
someone a saint, someone who questioned her religion?
However, is she questioning her faith, as much as she is
questioning why her God won't answer her spiritually, or perhaps
trying to find her faith?

It poses no problem for me, as whether or not she was devoutly
Christian makes no matter to me. What she did stands for itself.
I may not agree with her on a variety of topics, but I still respect
her attempts at bringing the dying some final dignity.

ers

[sclitheroe]

"She was no more exempt from the realization that religion is a human fabrication than any other person, and that her attempted cure was more and more professions of faith could only have deepened the pit that she had dug for herself."

It's a shame that that's the only portion you would choose to quote. The expression "dark night of the soul" is far more apt in her case (see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Night_of_the_Soul ) Indeed, her expression of the dark night of the soul makes her ministry and faith more significant and relevant, not less as that quote suggests. Her name, Teresa, by the way, comes from St. Teresa of Avila, a Carmelite mystic of the same order as St. John, who wrote the Dark Night of the Soul.

[Bobblehead]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main...9/wteres29.xml

Mother Teresa, who was greatly admired by Diana, Princess of Wales, said in another letter: "The damned of Hell suffer eternal punishment because they experiment with the loss of God.

"In my own soul, I feel the terrible pain of this loss. I feel that God does not want me, that God is not God and that he does not really exist."

[peter12]

We'll never know her true heart. Even these letters don't portray how Mother Teresa really felt at the end or even in her soul. It's best to recognize that this is a strictly personal and immaterial journey she made. Any other attempt at analysis is just trying to stir up trouble in my opinion.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by peter12

We'll never know her true heart. Even these letters don't portray how Mother Teresa really felt at the end or even in her soul. It's best to recognize that this is a strictly personal and immaterial journey she made. Any other attempt at analysis is just trying to stir up trouble in my opinion.

While I generally agree, if she is going to be cannonized with an eye towards sainthood, then this sort of thing needs to be looked at.

Actually, in my eyes it almost raises my perception of her. Since she did her charitable works without any anticipation of reward in the afterlife, it makes her motives more pure.

[troutman]

Hitchens wrote a scathing book about Mother Theresa:

http://www.amazon.ca/Missionary-Posi...7989721&sr=8-4

Hitchens's answer is that Mother Teresa is first and foremost interested not in providing medical treatment, but in furthering Catholic doctrine and--quite literally--becoming a saint.

[Byrns]

Despite these letters, she never gave up on her faith.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by troutman

Hitchens wrote a scathing book about Mother Theresa:

http://www.amazon.ca/Missionary-Posi...7989721&sr=8-4

Hitchens's answer is that Mother Teresa is first and foremost interested not in providing medical treatment, but in furthering Catholic doctrine and--quite literally--becoming a saint.

Yeah, and I saw the BS episode where she was taken to task as well (along with Ghandi, and the Dali Llama)

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Despite these letters, she never gave up on her faith.

How do you know that?

It's entirely possible that she lost the faith completely years before her death, but kept up the public appearance of being a devout Catholic nun so as not to diminish her work. The reason these letters are significant is because it shows a heretofore unknown side of Mother Teresa, as one who had serious questions and misgivings about her faith.

[Hack&Lube]

I think that after seeing all the suffering and the reality of the world and the deep lonliness she must have felt in all she was doing that it's hard to ignore that there are few moments of faith. Even the biggest paragons of faith could have silently questioned their religion and felt the absence of it in a rational and suffering world in addition to pangs of deep depression. This would be a world-shaker if a pope ever attested to such a feeling...many popes have requested their memoirs and letters and documents destroyed after their deaths.

On the other hand, like the Confessions of Saint Augustine, this could simply be a boon to those who feel disconnected with the "perfect" role models religion sometimes creates. This could show people that even the highest paragons of faith, devotion, and sacrifice are just like you and I.

[AC]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Yeah, and I saw the BS episode where she was taken to task as well (along with Ghandi, and the Dali Llama)

Yeah, that was a shocking episode I'd say.

Ghandi was a racist, and Mother Teresa intentionally made people suffer more.