She never told us, did she? The piety that Mother Teresa publicly professed, apparently did not touch her heart. She passionately asked others to believe the "truth" that she herself did not recognize. She served her church and followed her mission under the banner of a divine message that she was agnostic about. Does that tarnish or enhance the sainthood that may be bestowed upon her? Her all encompassing compassion notwithstanding, with her wobbly faith, could she have achieved what she did if she hadn’t ridden the borrowed chariot of unwavering belief, the only vehicle we imbue with unquestionable goodness, humanity and spirituality? What I found remarkable and very sad is not that Mother Teresa struggled with a spiritual vacuum and search for a moral anchor, but that we, the observers and recipients of her mercy would probably not have accorded her an "earthly" venue to express and spread her compassion – forcing her therefore to adopt a painful subterfuge. Is it time we learnt to value humanity, compassion and morality as human qualities rather than gilding the lily with divine inspiration?
I am not going to debate the issue here because we have gone over this territory before. Do read the article.
Accidental Blogger 
2 responses to “A Crisis of Faith”
Interesting article. If nothing else, it shows the woman was human after all. Somehow I am not surprised. I think a lot of people who dedicate themselves to others are bound to have their internal sufferings that they keep from others. Given the type of work she did, it is admirable she carried it on in spite of her own personal suffering.
Best, and keep on blogging.
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Its the story of a missed opportunity and blind allegiance to a patriarchal hierarchy she seemed unable or unwilling to set straight.
I think her truly selfless work with the poorest of the poor forced her to realize you can’t change their situation without changing the moral foundations of societies. So often that means insisting there is no inherent male right of dominance over females. No cultural right, no traditional right, no religious right, and any ancient books, sacred or otherwise, are simply wrong in the parts where they enforce this. If you believe in a divine Creator you can’t seriously believe he/she/it created half of all humanity dumber and in need of dominance by the other half, unquestioningly. Most wordly poverty is borne by women and children, which tells you all you really need to know about how successful class and gender discrimination is in our world. Mother T saw this up close and personal – she just couldn’t for some reason bring herself to reject her training, even with her significant doubts.
Love isn’t enough. Clean sheets and some nice soup aren’t enough. Do something. Change yourself and change the world. What a headline it would have made if she’d only used her platform of fame to stand up and speak out against the real causes of poverty. To criticize every institution that perpetuates it, whether religiously, culturally, legally, or traditionally. Starting with the inability of millions upon millions of women and girls to control what happens to their own bodies. If only she’d spoken out against class discrimination, “honor” killings, genital mutliation, lack of female education and literacy, churches that forbid contraception, blame-shifting onto the victim in cases of rape, and every other unjust crime against women that contributes to their great poverty. Instead she went along on the outside. No wonder she died conflicted.
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