So if Mother Teresa was an agnostic?

Tanglefoot · 08-24-2007, 05:23 PM

and she becomes a Saint, what does that say about the Catholic Church.

"In letters eight years later she was still expressing “such deep longing for God,” adding that she felt “repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal.”

Her smile to the world from her familiar weather-beaten face was a “mask” or a “cloak,” she said. “What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true.”

Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 and was beatified in record time only six years later, felt abandoned by God from the very start of the work that made her a global figure, in her sandals and blue and white sari. The doubts persisted until her death.

The nun’s crisis of faith was revealed four years ago by the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk, the postutalor or advocate of her cause for sainthood, at the time of her beatification in October 2003. Now he has compiled a new edition of her letters, entitled, "Mother Teresa: Come be My Light," which reveals the full extent of her long “dark night of the soul.”

“I am told God lives in me — and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul,” she wrote at one point. “I want God with all the power of my soul — and yet between us there is terrible separation.” On another occasion she wrote: “I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.”"

Gettin' In Tune · 08-24-2007, 06:30 PM

I doubt that the catholic church will claim her as agnostic. Most likely they will use this as a tool to further entrench people in dogmatic faith. Theology can come up with some fascinating theories such that spirituality is filled with "dark nights" or "darkness within faith." Now it is perfectly acceptable to question your faith and go through "dark periods" without abandoning your faith or love of jesus. Just hold onto to your faith until you desperately find God again....since this is how God and Jesus' love works: In mysterious ways.

Quote:

The church anticipates spiritually fallow periods. Indeed, the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross in the 16th century coined the term the "dark night" of the soul to describe a characteristic stage in the growth of some spiritual masters. Teresa's may be the most extensive such case on record. (The "dark night" of the 18th century mystic St. Paul of the Cross lasted 45 years; he ultimately recovered.) Yet Kolodiejchuk sees it in St. John's context, as darkness within faith. Teresa found ways, starting in the early 1960s, to live with it and abandoned neither her belief nor her work. Kolodiejchuk produced the book as proof of the faith-filled perseverance that he sees as her most spiritually heroic act.

He contends that the letters reveal her as holier than anyone knew. However formidable her efforts on Christ's behalf, it is even more astounding to realize that she achieved them when he was not available to her - a bit like a person who believes she can't walk winning the Olympic 100 meters. Kolodiejchuk goes even further. Catholic theologians recognize two types of "dark night": the first is purgative, cleansing the contemplative for a "final union" with Christ; the second is "reparative," and continues after such a union, so that he or she may participate in a state of purity even closer to that of Jesus and Mary, who suffered for human salvation despite being without sin. By the end, writes Kolodiejchuk, "by all indications this was the case with Mother Teresa." That puts her in rarefied company

GBG · 08-25-2007, 11:35 AM

I wouldn't call what she had a "crisis of faith", it's more of a "revelation of reality". it's just a shame that the brainwashing doesn't allow these people to openly say what they think. Instead they have to carry on saying one thing and believing the exact opposite.

duck · 08-25-2007, 11:53 AM

I'm not placing a great deal of importance on this. Even the apotles had periods of questioning their faith and thier missions.

**The An-Jel** · 08-25-2007, 12:44 PM

I'm inclined to agree with duck but then on the other hand it seems her Crisis of Faith lasted since right after her first calling where Jesus supposedly spoke to her. Maybe she was just feeling bitter or something that day and she was saying things she didn't mean but on the other hand... maybe she was serious. I like Mother Theresa she seemed to be an actual representative who believed in the actual stereotype of her faith and sought to emulate that rather than take for granted in perverse and "immoral" ways like most of the others of her faith.

duck · 08-25-2007, 02:26 PM

Not most, An-Jel.

I have met true and sincere priests of the catholic church. One of them married my wife and I. The other three I have met, I also keep deep and true respect for.

GBG · 08-25-2007, 02:54 PM

Mother teresa would probably have appeared "sincere" if you had met her. But look at what she really believed when she wasn't forced to put on a show for her fans.

Of course nobody is going to have a conversation with a priest and expect them to say "pst, Guess what! I don't really believe any of this crap!", So of course they are going to appear sincere.

**The An-Jel** · 08-25-2007, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duck

Not most, An-Jel.

I have met true and sincere priests of the catholic church. One of them married my wife and I. The other three I have met, I also keep deep and true respect for.

Shrugs. I just visited a friend at a Monastary and while they all seemed devoted to their cause in the underlying principles they seemed to be lacking. The friend I had worked there and decided to divulge all the deep dark secrets while smoking some home grown pot. Mind you I don't smoke the pot and I really don't care if people do. On top of the child molestations and obvious finagling of a percentage of peoples wages into the Church's coffers I can't say I have met a lot of respectable Catholics or any religious representatives. I think the patronage is by far more respectable in their delusions

Probability_Amplitude · 08-26-2007, 06:50 PM

Reminds me of that quote

"The heart of man can never truly embrace falsehood"

And no, I'm not claiming my religion is any better, before anyone jumps on me!

duck · 08-26-2007, 06:54 PM

Very nice quote.

Don't know the truth of it concerning Mother Teresa, but lends itself to discussion well. I honestly think many would like to make more of this enlightenment than there is substance to support it.

I believe that it just shows that we all struggle in areas of faith.