Mother Teresa's Crisis Of Faith

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='LouisvilleFan' post='1369932' date='Aug 24 2007, 12:31 PM']I fear that some Protestants might take this stuff to indicate that inside, Catholicism is a dark experience lacking in love. Since most of them don't have much of a concept of redemptive suffering, the positive experiences of joy tend to be considered the pinnacle of living in Christ. That's generalizing a bit, as you can't say much about Protestantism without finding an exception, but I hope they'll look beneath the surface and question what it was that kept Mother Teresa motivated through the apparent darkness.[/quote]

Perhaps that might be the case with spiritually "young" Protestants, but I imagine there are more seasoned ones that understand that spiritual darkness and suffering is a very biblical thing and common among all Christians.

Edited August 24, 2007 by Ash Wednesday

[Lounge Daddy]

I'm going to have to see about placing a pre-order on the book

[1337 k4th0l1x0r]

It seems that America is heavily influenced by modern Protestantism - especially Evangelicalism. There's this sort of idea that if you're Christian then you're on fire for Jesus all the time and really feeling the Holy Spirit jumping up and down inside you. If you don't have this then you must not be saved. A problem with that is that it puts an artificial limit on the way that you can worship God and how God can be present in your life. There are times when anyone may feel spiritually dry, but it is love for God and His love for us that keeps us together.

Come to think of it, it really is indicative of how many American's feel about love as if it some disposable good. It's like being married. The making googoo eyes at each other phase of your relationship may be gone and it's a grind that resembles nothing of when you were first dating, but you can still love your spouse. Of course, modern America tells you that things are over with and you need to divorce your spouse and find someone else. It's no wonder many people can't comprehend how someone can love and serve God even through spiritually dead times.

[Lounge Daddy]

Oh... the convolution begins so fast.

I just read a post at Catholic Answers Forum about NPR suggesting that Mother Theresa was a closet atheist!

The post [[url="http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=179100"]HERE[/url]] reads:
[quote]Did anyone else catch the NPR story that suggested that Mother Teresa was really a closet atheist? It even made reference to "that most eloquent atheist" Dawkins, who apparently thinks Mother Theresa's "dark night of the soul" proves the failure of Christianity. Blech. To think that the atheist camp is now trying to claim the Blessed Mother Teresa! It's almost too much to take![/quote]

[kateri05]

argh. go read st. john of the cross people, and don't assume. it makes a butt out of u and me

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I've had some pretty dark times in my prayer life...times when distraction is so hard to fight and I've felt some of these things because of my spiritual life...I've felt like God doesn't love me or even doesn't exist...and I've felt it intensely at times and sometimes for quite a while...and I know that if God didn't put an oasis in the middle of the desert, I'd die of thirst. Blessed Mother Theresa must have had an incredible reserve of faith to go nearly half a century without an oasis.

Anyway, the point is...these are [i]feelings[/i]. Faith is stepping out in the midst of fears and temptations to dispair, and saying, "no, I will believe, because it is true and because it is beautiful, and because it does not matter what I feel." May God give us all the grace to have that great faith Blessed Mother Theresa had, so that our longing for God may grow when we feel that He is away, and may intensify, and give us the strength to bear great and heavy crosses, with Him, invisible, right next to us.

That said, I don't think we should focus on trying to feel God's presence...we should focus on reminding ourselves of God's presence (an act of faith)...and if He desires us to feel it, then we should thank Him for not putting us to the test.

That's just my two cents. I leave everyone with a poem written by Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman, in the midst of spiritual darkness and lack of direction:

"Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom;
Lead Thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home--
Lead Thou me on!
Keep Thou my feet: I do not ask to see
The distant scene--one step, enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou
shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path, but now
Lead Thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will; remember not past years.

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on,
O'er moon and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,
And in the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile."

God bless,

Micah

[jeffpugh]

Great post, Raph. Amen to all that.