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| Mother Teresa. (Image by Evert Odekerken, CC) |
Canonization is a celebrated event in the Catholic Church. Most recently a very public, internationally known "Mother Teresa" was granted Sainthood. While this was received with joy by many Catholics, it was stunning to hear harsh and negative criticism of Mother Teresa.
Several years ago when Christopher Hitchens published his book "The Missionary Position" I was astounded at the negativity hurled at this saintly figure. Today I have had time to think and approach the subject with a little more objectivity.
At the end of the day it is a personal choice we make to believe in someone's goodness. I have never met Mother Teresa or visited her homes. I have never even seen the streets of Calcutta. Instead I chose to believe what I had been told about the subject and what I had read and seen in the media.
Today I have read many articles both favorable and unfavorable, and have come to the conclusion that Mother Teresa was indeed human. She was not a God or a Saint in her lifetime on earth, but she left an impression that has moved many hearts. Keeping in mind her humanity, I was able to understand she could not live up to every body's standards or expectations, not even her own. Her humanity also has to include her moments of darkness when she felt alone and abandoned by God as she outlined in her many letters to her confessors.
In the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light in which her personal letters of confession have been published (although she asked that they be destroyed), the following excerpt reveals her struggles with spirituality
"If I ever become a Saint—I will surely be one of
'darkness,'" she wrote. "I will continually be absent from Heaven—to
(light) the light of those in darkness on earth."
Faith is a choice. Belief is a choice. However, I have come to understand that we do not have to deny a person's vulnerability because of our innate desire to believe they were supernatural. Mother Teresa has become for me an astounding figure of endurance, tenacity and courage. A courage to carry on even though she herself had lost faith and even hope in her many moments of darkness.
My understanding of Mother Teresa's ambitions was that she felt called upon by God to give dignity to the poorest of the poor, the abandoned, the sick and dying. I can only imagine how over a period of over sixty years this kind of ministry would be dark, depressing and overwhelming. However, she carried on till the end.
Although she has been criticized for becoming a celebrity of sorts, this was our doing not hers. We, the masses put her on a pedestal, spoke of her as a living saint and were moved by her presence. She continued in her ministry, living humbly and working alongside her helpers. I remind myself that Mother Teresa started off on her own. She left the comfort of teaching at a Loreto Convent to begin her works of Charity single handed and without any funding or support. A humble story that starts with a little known nun with a vision and ends with her world wide status as a saintly figure to many.
I look at Mother Teresa as a symbol of endurance. Her haunting religious doubts and dark days serve to remind me that not only was she human, she made a super human effort to carry on with the work she believed in, even though she did not see light and joy in her daily efforts of reducing the suffering of the poor. It is to this end that I see her humanity, and it is her humanity that moves me.
Mother Teresa's life and death can be summed up in these words written by Kent M. Keith and published in 1968..... ( often misrepresented as being said by Mother Teresa)
People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
