www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Mother Teresa's spiritual desert

There is an interesting article about Mother Teresa's drought of spiritual experiences for about 50 years. (I heard Fr. Groeschel say the same thing on EWTN several times in the past.) The article is based on a new book that publishes some of her letters on the subject. This is not a slur; it's a worthy article form anyone who is facing spiritual doubts or who is interested in Mother Teresa. It is 6 pages long, so I did not copy it here. Instead, here is the link.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415-1,00.html

-- John

John,

Thanks for this info. I had heard that this book was coming in September or thereabouts. My understanding is that this kind of direct testimony from Mother Teresa has not been forthcoming while they were gathering her writings and others' testimony for her process of canonization.

Thanks,
Michael

After reading this I wonder if her experience is close to what it would be like to be shown the face of God and then released to go about our life.

I heard of her struggle soon after her death in an article from First Things.

Terry

Is there anything in Byzantine or Russian spirituality akin to the Dark Night of the Soul?

does something really need to be written, most real Christians go through a Dark Night of the Soul at least one time or another.
Much Love,
Jonn

Her "dark night" lasted from 1948 until her death. It was very disturbing to read her writtings. If someone like St. Mother Teresa can't be happy then what hope is there for us?

Please read the article from Times magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html

I find it comforting to hear that great men and women go through the same agonizing experiences that I do. This "dark night" is a recurring experience in my own life. That it lasted so long and that she never pulled out of it prior to her death is interesting and, I suspect, will be scrutinized during the canonization process. Personally, I don't think I can conclude anything from it. Clearly, she saw and lived with evil and suffering in the world in a way that few of us do. I would think that years of working with sick, dying people who are cast out and hopeless would have a tremendous impact on anyone.

There are many, most notably the self-proclaimed apologists for atheism (Christopher Hitchens) and anti-catholic protestants who will see all of this as evidence that Mother Theresa was really living a lie. In the world of my baptist upbringing, true believers didn't have these kinds of experiences. If you had this level of extensive doubt, you were probably unsaved, or so the general opinion was. Thankfully, I am no longer influenced by that kind of false piety.

In answering your question, Ray, I would suggest that perhaps we are not supposed to be happy in this life, in the fullest sense of the word "happy." There is a kind of holy sadness that we should feel when reflecting upon our world. Overall, the world really is a horrible place for the vast majority of people and always has been. We are somewhat sheltered (distracted?) from the horror because of the conditions of modern living. But that simply opens us up for new horrors. Indeed, we have to live with the horror of a seemingly infinite boredom experienced in this life of wealth and leisure.

Truthfully, if I weren't a Christian, I'd be a buddhist. I think that buddhism is the only religion, other than Christianity, that has an answer to the horror of being alive.

Joe

Joe,

Good post...

However, there is one thing Jesus did promise us on this Earth. "My peace I give you." What is this peace? Why did St. Mother Teresa not have this peace? Why do I not have this peace?

Actually it might suprise you that St Teresa of Avila actually doubted the very existence of God! Right up until her death and yet she prevailed. Rather than be dishearted or dismayed this should give us courage and hope.
It is God sifting us so that the chaff may be rubbed off and the pure wheat remain.
Stephanos I
PS The best spiritual times of my life has been when things were the worst for me.

Ray S.:

May I suggest that "the peace from above" is a gift from above. Like faith, it is a gift one asks for and asks for and asks for . . . And God gives it to those He wishes to give it to.

The same Jesus Who said "My peace I give you" is the same Jesus Who also said that the Father chastises those He loves. Given that and an excellent article posted elsewhere on the forum, I would like to suggest that this life, if we are to be like Jesus, is to be a life of suffering, pain, rejection, and crucifixion in order that we may rise with Him on the day He calls and be found on the Right Hand on the Great Day.

Whenever I find myself being rejected, humiliated, scorned, or otherwise marginalized, I remember an answer I once made to the question, "IF you could ask Jesus, face to Face, for one thing what would it be?" That answer contineus to be "Keep me close to You always."

Somewhere I've read that those who feel the most abandoned are those who are closest to God--I think the phrase was that He is "the Alone to the alone." And I still can't penetrate the meaning of this phrase even for a beginning. Maybe some day He will send someone to explain it to me.

For the peace that is from above, for the Heavenly peace, for the peace of soul that the world cannot give and cannot know, that it will sink into the hearts of all the People of God, let us pray to the Lord,

BOB

Living with the Icons of Man's Inhumanity to Man, as Blessed Teresa did, I'm not surprised to hear that she felt a bit empty.

But she still preached the Gospel in season and out of season, she lived what she believed. She definitely lived up to Our Lord's admonitions in St. Matthew's Gospel in Chapter 25.

I also remember that St. Paul was also tested like this, wasn't he?

Bob,


That is not how I interpreted what Christ meant (which is most likely the problem - I should try and understand what the Church says). The way I interpreted it to mean that Christ would allow us the knowledge to know what is right and wrong and give us the "Peace" for following what is right. Why then did St. Mother Teresa not know this "Peace"?

I try to do what is right (go to Church every Sunday, pray, etc...) where is this "Peace"? Perhaps I have "Peace" but don't know it. If I was in a grave sinful state then I might be miserable. Like a drug addict, etc...

All over the news tonight, 'oh Mother Teresa, didn't didn't really believed what she spoke or practiced'.

You know, I understand why she wanted her papers burned, and I understand why they didn't do it. But, what she was concerned about happening is happening.

Lord of the Powers be with us, for in times of distress we have no other help but You.
Lord of the Powers, have mercy on us.

Ray S.:

I think what you mean is the "Grace" for knowing what is right--or the nudge of conscience or the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

From what I've read of this wonderful spiritual gift, it is a state of soul wherein nothing and nobody is able to break the focus of the one gifted from God, the intimate knowledge of His Ever-Preseent Providential Hand in everything that affects the one gifted. That is what is meant when one offers to another, "Don't let anyone or anything disturb your peace."

We pray at the beginning of the Great Ektenia of Peace: "For the peace from above and for the salvation of our souls . . ." That elusive quality--that gift--wherein we are intimately aware of Christ dwelling in us and the promises He has made forming the core of our very being--dwells in that place so deep inside that no one but God can see in and really know how sincere we are--that is the peace of Christ, the peace from above, the Heavenly peace.

This peace is the core from which we can still continue to battle the onslaughts of the Enemy but remain undisturbed by what puts others in a panic.

I think I experienced it once--a time when it seemed to envelope me. I was without work, having been out of work and in therapy for almost three years. I was being constantly hounded by the insurance company. I was at a point where I knew I was too young to retire, too much in pain to sustain full time work or another academic degree, and didn't know if I would lose everything--financial, family, etc. I walked along during my morning walk--to relieve constant sciatica--and I stopped in the middle of my prayers and said, "Lord, if you want me to die behind the barbecue pit here in this park, do with me what You will. Just, please, don't let my family starve." And at that point a weight lifted from me and a feeling of profound peace settled into my whole being. It settled in, covered me over, surrounded me--all at the same time. I finished my walk and felt as if I were walking a foot off the ground. It was at the point of complete and total surrender to Divine Providence.

I lost that feeling and that profound peace when I started back on my old habit of trying to manipulate my own world and control my own course.

So, I don't think the peace we are talking about is derived from doing what is right. It follows an act of surrender-- COMPLETE surrender. But it is not something we can manipulate God to give us--as if by some formula. I may never experience this again. Some saints have it and you can sense in their presence taht profound quality. Some never have it but struggle along anywa. God gives to each of us the gifts He knows we need to attain to the perfection He wills for us. We jsut need to surrender and go with Him and His Will.

In Christ,

BOB

Pani Rose:

Those with absolutely no experience of the spiritual life will never understand what is contained in these letters. The children of the Kingdom will understand; the children of this world will not. Just as so many who heard Jesus speak didn't "get it" and those who were His own did. The question is whether we allow this to disturb our peace. Mother Teresa is a saint not because she was perfect, but because she lived an ordinary life with extraordinary efforts to become like Christ and to reflect Him to the world. "Blessed are they who have not seen but who believe."

BOB