{"id":27290,"date":"2014-09-18T02:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T07:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=27290"},"modified":"2017-10-21T20:51:20","modified_gmt":"2017-10-22T01:51:20","slug":"viewpoint-mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/18\/viewpoint-mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Viewpoint:<\/i> Mother Teresa of Calcutta’s Dark Night of the Soul"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Msgr. M. Francis Mannion<\/em><\/p>\n

I have just finished reading a fascinating and engaging book that is both theologically profound and simple in style–a book I recommend highly to all readers. It contains previously unpublished letters of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and is entitled, Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. <\/em>The book is edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk, postulator of the cause of Mother Teresa\u2019s canonization. The book made it to The New York Times <\/em>best-seller list.<\/p>\n

The book reveals a side of Mother Teresa\u2019s spirituality that was not generally known while she was alive, that is, that she experienced for much of her life what has historically been described as a \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d (an expression most notably associated with St. John of the Cross). Mother Teresa lived for long periods with an agonizing sense of God\u2019s absence and emptiness of soul. This experience of divine absence accompanied her extraordinary mission which constituted one of the most remarkable ministries among the poor in Calcutta and throughout the world.<\/p>\n

In one of her letters, Mother Teresa summarizes her experience as follows: \u201cThere is so much contradiction in my soul. Such deep longing for God\u2014so deep that it is painful\u2014a suffering continual\u2014and yet not wanted by God\u2014repulsed\u2014empty\u2014no faith\u2014no zeal. Souls hold no attraction. Heaven means nothing\u2014to me it looks like an empty place.\u201d<\/p>\n

This may shock people of a sunnier spiritual disposition, and has led some atheists (like the bombastic Englishman Christopher Hitchens) to accuse Mother Teresa of hypocrisy and to feel vindicated in their own lack of belief in God. She was, after all, they said, an atheist just like them.<\/p>\n

However, the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d Mother Teresa experienced was as far from atheism as one can imagine. Atheists typically feel quite comfortable in their disbelief in God and are in no way troubled by it. Their sense of God\u2019s absence is undergirded by the more fundamental belief that God does not exist and that religion generally is the source of the worst evils of the world.<\/p>\n

The Christian (or other religious believer) who experiences a sense of God\u2019s absence in his or her life is often highly committed to the life of faith, has a strong belief in God\u2019s existence, and\u2014in the case of Mother Teresa\u2014practices a demanding life of self-sacrifice and service.<\/p>\n

Do Christians generally share in Mother Teresa\u2019s experience? Certainly not everyone does. My own experience as a confessor and spiritual director for over 40 years tells me that more people feel this way than is often admitted. To have doubts of faith, to experience periods\u2014even long periods\u2014of spiritual emptiness, is the lot of more people than we might think. More likely people who share Mother Teresa\u2019s state of soul do so for briefer periods of their lives.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned, some people will look upon Mother Teresa\u2019s self-revelations as an exhibition of hypocrisy. But, of course, they are not. To be a hypocrite is to say one thing and to do something else, to lack coherence between inner conviction and outward action.<\/p>\n

Mother Teresa\u2019s extraordinary charity was driven by a deep commitment to finding Jesus in the poorest of the poor. Her prayers were profoundly sincere and represented a constant struggle to find Christ in the Eucharist and the other sacraments.<\/p>\n

Those who find spiritual darkness in their lives will benefit greatly from reading this collection of Mother Teresa\u2019s touching and heart-searching letters (available from Doubleday<\/a>, $15.99).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Msgr. Mannion is pastor emeritus of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Salt Lake City. Reprinted by permission of Catholic News Agency.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To have doubts of faith, to experience periods\u2014even long periods\u2014of spiritual emptiness, is the lot of more people than we might think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,3125],"tags":[2824],"class_list":["post-27290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liturgical-spirituality","category-viewpoint","tag-mother-teresa-of-calcutta"],"yoast_head":"\nViewpoint: Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Dark Night of the Soul - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/18\/viewpoint-mother-teresa-of-calcuttas-dark-night-of-the-soul\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viewpoint: Mother Teresa of Calcutta's Dark Night of the Soul - 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