Thinking about Mother Teresa

[pegkerr]

I have been thinking a great deal about this article ever since I read it. Time Magazine has published a report about the inner life of Mother Teresa:On Dec. 11, 1979, Mother Teresa, the "Saint of the Gutters," went to Oslo. Dressed in her signature blue-bordered sari and shod in sandals despite below-zero temperatures, the former Agnes Bojaxhiu

Comments

[chelsearoad]

I read the article too and it has had quite an impact on me (another ENFP) as well. Some people will use this to call her a hypocrite and deride religion, but I think everyone who uses their mind and has some religious faith also goes through a lot of questioning and soul searching.

[morganmuffle]

I've been wondering about posting a link to that article, trying to articulate the thoughts it causes swirling about in my head and I can't quite. Partly it's relief and a feeling of kinship that someone so revered can struggle but it's also heartbreak that she had to struggle on in darkness for so many years.

I don't know if you ever look at the christianity community, it can be a not very nice palce at times but there is a post discussing this article and I found it (and more to the point the comments) very thought-provoking. One of the regular posters there is really struggling with this new view of their hero and there are some great suggestions as to further reading on the subject of prominent christians who have experienced that disconnect between feelings and what they believe their actions should be.

[pegkerr]

Thanks for the pointer; I will definitely check it out.

[joelrosenberg]

While you're thinking about it, you might want to consider Hitchens' take on Mother Teresa. Hitchens being Hitchens, it's not particularly gentle, but you might find it interesting, and if you found it persuasive (I'm not saying that you will or should) it would resolve any issues in comparing yourself to her; you're a much better person than he thinks she was.

[kokopoko]

I've read that a lot of saints have gone through a long period of time where they feel nothing from God. That it's like He's abandoned them. They've all determined that they were being tested.

So her letter doesn't mean she was lying to all of us, but that she was going through that kind of a period.

[skylarker]

One of my main quibbles with Christianity as a religion is summed up in the disparity between the two statements:

"Love your neighbors as yourselves." and 'love your neighbors instead of yourselves.'

It seems to me that all too many Christians, including Mother Teresa take the message of the second statement, and this leads to some natural sense of self-neglect. It's not surprising if that also leads to depression, and in some cases even resentment against the others one feels obliged to love.

I think the original message intends a general practice of compassion, toward one's self and others alike.