This is not a blog post written to cause contention, but to inspire thought.
The following is a story from CBS of mother Teresa and how she lost her faith. I find it inspiring that even though she had many doubts she continued with the work that was before her. Even though she had every excuse to walk away from the church, Calcutta and all it's poverty she continued to stay and help the people.
Though I am not a "believer", I believe in mother Teresa and the work she did. She is an inspiration!
I'm sure many of you have doubts from time to time. I had so many I lost my faith completely. But unlike me, mother Teresa stayed on the path. Was it for God? Was it for mankind? Was she a "saint"?Or was it all she knew to do? What ever her reason, it must have taken great courage to continue on. To live your whole life in poverty doing hard , selfless work even when you were no longer sure of a "God" or a "payoff" at the end.
Rest in peace Teresa!
(CBS) In life, Mother Teresa was an icon — for believers — of God's work on Earth. Her ministry to the poor of Calcutta was a world-renowned symbol of religious compassion. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In a rare interview in 1986, Mother Teresa told
CBS News she had a calling, based on unquestioned faith.
"They are all children of God, loved and created by the same heart of God," she said.
But now, it has emerged that Mother Teresa was so doubtful of her own faith that she feared being a hypocrite, reports
CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.
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."
"These are letters that were kept in the archbishop's house," the Rev. Brian Kolodiejchuk told
Phillips.
The letters were gathered by Rev. Kolodiejchuk, the priest who's making the case to the Vatican for Mother Teresa's proposed sainthood. He said her obvious spiritual torment actually helps her case.
"Now we have this new understanding, this new window into her interior life, and for me this seems to be the most heroic," said Rev. Kolodiejchuk.
According to her letters, Mother Teresa died with her doubts. She had even stopped praying, she once said.
The church decided to keep her letters, even though one of her dying wishes was that they be destroyed. Perhaps now we know why.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
god
