I was amazed at the media brouhaha over recently published letters of Mother Teresa revealing her spiritual loneliness.
Especially the questions raised about the suitability of her sainthood in light of her inner struggles. Huh? Singlish says it best: “I catch no ball”.
How does her display of “weakness” detract from her goodness and a lifetime dedicated to bringing comfort to the poor and the dying?
Just because she experienced doubt and struggled in her faith like an ordinary person?
Conversely, I was greatly encouraged and inspired by her continued dedication, her joy and her boundless love for people despite her “dark night”.
Her crosses mark her as human, making her more endearing.
For who among us has not felt the weight of the absence of God in our lives? Or experienced the aridity of the desert?
In Matthew’s Gospel chapter 7 verse 17, he says “every good tree bears good fruit”.
The mountain of good fruit Mother Teresa produced in her lifetime proves to me that she ultimately believed in God and was graced with an inner, imperceptible core of faith.
Else she would have walked away from the abyssal darkness that surrounded her. Given into despair and quit.
Yet, what did this little Albanian nun do? Merely worked selflessly, loved generously and lived simply to the end, eschewing the trappings of wealth, power and glory.
Even if she were not a saint, she was a woman of great stature and extraordinary grace.
There is an excellent article by Elizabeth Lev commenting on the recent media storm around the published book Mother Teresa. Come Be My Light.: http://www.zenit.org/article-20371?l=english
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