In a new book that compiles letters she wrote to friends, superiors and confessors, her doubts are obvious. Shortly after beginning work in Calcutta's slums, the spirit left Mother Teresa.
"Where is my faith?" she wrote. "Even deep down… there is nothing but emptiness and darkness... If there be God — please forgive me."
Eight years later, she was still looking to reclaim her lost faith.
"Such deep longing for God… Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal," she said.
As her fame increased, her faith refused to return. Her smile, she said, was a mask.
"What do I labor for?" she asked in one letter. "If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."
I am sure that many Christians would assume that I, an atheist, would take some glee in this revelation. But they are incorrect.
I feel nothing but compassion for a woman who did extremely important humanitarian work, while suffering a crisis of faith. I have more respect for her now then I ever have before, and I have always felt very humbled by the sacrifices that Mother Theresa made to care for the children of Calcutta.
In my opinion somebody who dedicates their life to caring for others without the assumption of a reward in the afterlife is morally superior to somebody who believes there is a reward waiting for them in heaven.
No matter if Mother Theresa believed, or did not believe, she should serve as a role model of selflessness and compassion to all of us, religious and secular alike.
this makes me so sad...and why was she so unfulfilled ? what depressed her...and I feel so sad that she kept that all in all those years....that is just not right...and not saintly- just inhumane....
ReplyDelete"In my opinion somebody who dedicates their life to caring for others without the assumption of a reward in the afterlife is morally superior to somebody who believes there is a reward waiting for them in heaven."
ReplyDeleteI totally agree.
Mother Theresa and her spiritual darkness give me hope. She obviously had faith because she spent much of her time in prayer, if she didn't believe in God she would not have prayed. In the christian relationship between us and God is very complicated and Mother Theresa has shown us that it is not all just a feeling but it is real and not easy.
ReplyDeleteMother Theresa was quite something.
ReplyDeleteImagine it. She could've gone to the Vatican and lived and worked in a splendid city, surrounded by art and culture and wonderful food.
Instead, she went to Calcutta and tended to the sick and poor. No one, regardless of what they were afflicted with, from leprosy, to TB, to HIV or cholera, put her off and she loved them all.
I'm such a germaphobe that when someone sneezes down the aisle at the supermarket, I turn around and go the other way, holding my breath.
But I'm not a great person like Mother Theresa.