The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

[Klash]

In more than 40 communications, many of which have never before been published, she bemoans the "dryness," "darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she is undergoing. She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her inner state and her public demeanor. "The smile," she writes, is "a mask" or "a cloak that covers everything." Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal deception. "I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God — tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'

[Klash]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

It is sad, someone would endure so much, willingly, because she believes her god desires it.

[kite]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

This makes me admire her that much more. To doubt God's existance yet still dedicate her entire life to helping others is just amazing. She was one of the most selfless people to have ever lived.

[T-Man007]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

This makes me admire her that much more. To doubt God's existance yet still dedicate her entire life to helping others is just amazing. She was one of the most selfless people to have ever lived.

Agreed!

[BigDawg]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

After reading about this in the paper yesterday i can relate to her so much more. I always had a problem with stories of the church's faithful who submitted to the worst conditions and suffering for God without so much as a second thought or a question regarding their faith or devotion. Knowing she was questioning and feeling lost in the darkness wondering why she couldn't feel Jesus' presence makes m e relate to her on a whole different level and i'm hoping she is cannonized a saint very soon.

[kite]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

After reading about this in the paper yesterday i can relate to her so much more. I always had a problem with stories of the church's faithful who submitted to the worst conditions and suffering for God without so much as a second thought or a question regarding their faith or devotion. Knowing she was questioning and feeling lost in the darkness wondering why she couldn't feel Jesus' presence makes m e relate to her on a whole different level and i'm hoping she is cannonized a saint very soon.

True, this also reminds me of St. John of the Cross. He wrote "The Dark Night of The Soul" which is about this very thing. He felt alone, abandoned and distant from God's Grace, yet perservered.

[Klash]

Re: The dark saint. Mother Teresa a new perception.

This makes me admire her that much more. To doubt God's existance yet still dedicate her entire life to helping others is just amazing. She was one of the most selfless people to have ever lived.

I admire her for living what she believed; most people don't live by what they "proclaim" to believe. But when she started doubting her god - she maintained the lifestyle she built around him and deceived those around her about her commitment and love for her god. That is why I think it is sad. She wasn't selfless - she believed that god desired altruism and rewarded it - so she just didn't believe her religion she lived it, selfishly. What do you do when you sacrifice your whole life for others, because you believe it is gods desire and then realize, you erred?

Your choices are to admit you erred and live the remainder of your life to your own best interests or deny you erred and endure the rest of your life sacrificing it for others just to maintain the idea your altruism meant something to a god you no longer have faith in.