August 25, 2007
EVEN SAINTS ARE HUMAN:
Mother Teresa felt "emptiness": archbishop (Bappa Majumdar, 8/25/07, Reuters)
Mother Teresa experienced "emptiness" like any human, and the revealing letters she shared with her colleagues portrayed her humility, said the Archbishop of Kolkata, where the nun lived most of her life.A book of letters written by Mother Teresa of Calcutta -- now Kolkata -- has revealed that she was deeply tormented about her faith and suffered periods of doubt about God.
"Despite facing the negative side of life, she remained steadfast on her way to holiness, such was her greatness," Reverend Lucas Sircar, who knew her for decades, told Reuters.
Given that Christ Himself despaired of God on the Cross, how would we mere mortals avoid doing so on occasion? Posted by Orrin Judd at August 25, 2007 8:39 AM
We would need to study the primary sources to evaluate these hyped-up acccounts. These feelings are not unknown abong Catholic saints and mystics, who have the honesty to confront them.
Posted by: Lou Gots at August 25, 2007 9:16 AMNo psychiatrist? No healthy sex life? No Prozac prescription? And she still had the will to go on?
Actually, what amuses me about the story (it was already public knowledge that she grappled with melancholia before she died) is that I suspect the editors siezed upon it with some kind of glee, or implied confirmation of their aetheism and hatred of Christianity. Look! Even the saints don't believe! It's all B.S.! This shows such a level of ignorance about religion, the history of religion, the spiritual life, the lives of saints (St. John of the Cross, St. Augustine anyone?) ad, as O.J points out, Christ Himself on the cross, that it is the perfect example of how utterly separated these people (media elites) are from the ACTUAL WORLD they purport to report on. They are the ones living in a delusional fantasy land, where they spend all their time and energy trying to make REALITY resemble their fantasy. Their anger and hatred stem from the fact that it is impossible.
Posted by: j at August 25, 2007 1:10 PMEven if she had doubts, she did more to help others than her detractors have done. Even those who suffered and died didn't do so in a gutter but with a fellow nearby holding his or her hand. That may be a small physical thing, but to the human, that may be everything.
Posted by: Mikey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at August 25, 2007 1:44 PM
I've heard about this before, that she wrote letters decades ago that indicated occasional doubts about God's existence. That is not too surprising when you consider the suffering she witnessed on a daily basis. St. John of the Cross and Saint Therese of Lisieux were two other examples of holy people who were subjected to doubting and the accompanying spiritual torment.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at August 25, 2007 6:51 PMI question the timing. Why now?
Posted by: erp at August 26, 2007 11:44 AM