I heard the lead-ins this morning. It seems perhaps she suffered from depression. But on the other hand, I think having doubts is part of having faith. If we never doubted there would be no faith-belief and trust in that which we do not see. But God calls us to be obedient, not always to understand, and she was obedient to that call even in spite of her doubts and torments. It would be a far worse place if we only obeyed and served when we felt good about it.

Read Paull Tillich’s The Dynamics of Faith!!!!!!!!!

I caught this on the NBC Nightly News and the Today Show. The first thing that struck me is what a shame it is that Mother Teresa felt she had to cover up her doubts and could not be honest about them.
Everyone has doubts, and it seems to me that only control freaks pretend that having doubts is a sign that one is in danger of losing one’s faith, or even of becoming an apostate. The idea that “the flock” is incapable of a more sophisticated understanding of faith and doubt just seems flat wrong to me.

I believe you can certainly have great faith and also have doubts. An analogy that is frequently used is likening our faith to the wind. We can’t see the wind but we know it’s there, so too with our faith. We can’t see God but we know he’s in control by witnessing the things he does in our lives every day and also in the miracles he continues to perform. We can see the effects of his working in our world today. People will sometimes refer to a “dry period” in their faith by calling it “the dark night of the soul”. I believe that, if we are honest, we have all experienced “dark nights” when we doubt our faith but then something will happen or someone will share a faith experience with you and you realize that God is truly in control and it will rekindle your faith. I think we all have to have doubts, this is what gives us reasons to read the Bible, other faith based books, talk with fellow believers, attend worship services, explore our own beliefs and in the process our faith grows and becomes stronger.

There is a great song by Sara Groves that says something like, “My faith is like shifting sand, changing with every wave.” (just off the top of my head, but that is the idea). Sometimes those things that roll in are easy to deal with, and some are quite rough. Rough times can produce doubts and faith testing moments. For most faithful people, it is the rough times that tend to build a much stronger faith.
When you serve in the ministry, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to be perfect – in faith and all of life – as if there is such a thing. Ministers are supposed to have the most spirit-filled, faithful, prayerful, kind and gentle people on the planet with perfect children, perfect spouses, perfect houses and perfect belongings – all the while living on a very modest income and not dare being flashy or tacky in spending – at least in the eyes of the congregations. What we often forget is that clergy or ministers are still human with human struggles.
Many draw on their weaknesses and the healing that God has performed in their lives for their ministry. When this is done well, congregations often benefit from someone who has been through a rough time and has come out ahead. However, since we are dealing with humans, sometimes there is a tendency for people to be critical of ministers or church leaders and want to be rid of any weaknesses. It is a very stressful position we put our ministerial leadership in. I think it is valuable to hear these struggles. I am sorry she didn’t want to share them.
All of that being said,I think it is sad that her wishes were not honored, and these very private moments are being published. It is sort of like treating her like a movie star or politician. We expected her to have this higher standard in her life, but we are not willing to uphold that standard by honoring her wishes. I am sure Mother Teresa wanted a good light portrayed for her ministry and her church. Heaven knows the Catholic Church has had enough bad press to last for a while.

There’s a fantastic passage in Karen Armstrong’s autobiography, where she, as a very young nun breaks down and asks a more senior sister whether or not she really truly believes that Jesus was resurrected. The senior nun said something like–”heavens no, but don’t tell them that.” Moreover, some of the comments posted here sound a bit like Dostoyevski’s Grand Inquisitor–the “people” need these beliefs or they’ll surely succumb to despair.” Kind of like D’s–given a choice between God and truth, I’ll take God. Finally, the release of these letters is probably one of the most genuinely honest and humble and spiritual actions that the Catholic Church has made in a long time. And it paves the way for discussions of genuine religion and spirituality.

The Book of Job has a line: “If I go to the East, He is not there; or to the West, I cannot perceive Him; Where the north enfolds Him, I hebold Him not; by the South He is veiled, and I see Him not” (23:8-9).
And in a moment of crisis of faith and losing hope, Job repeats: “Perish the day I was born, may the night be barren..(Job 2:3,7).
And Christ’s own cry: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” is significant.
Feeling of the absence of God is part of the package of Christian Faith. There is nothing dogmatically inaccurate or fallacious about it.
To doubt, question and along the way to feel a sense of “desert” is fine and well. It means that things are on right track. People of Faith do not keep their “gods’ in their pockets!
Neither Faith nor the detailed subjective practice thereof are a sort of well-cut pre-fabricated brickwork with set calendars or scheduled timetable; it’s rather a daily unfolding before His presence. Even when He is hidden, He is so fully present; and conversely, even when He is so present (I’m with you – the Emmananuel), He is always hidden.
To me, the stature of Mother Teresa gets nobler, richer and more Christian…, as I see her progress in her spiritual journey. She is now a better example to me than what she used to be. I cant emulate her activities and apostolate; I can relate to her Faith and feelings.
The starry glitter of a Taj Mahal and the dark gutters of Calcutta mesh happily and marry each other in wholistic spirituality! That is Mother Teresa. That’s any believer!!!

Doubts can be increased by over work, emotional burnout, and unrelieved negative circumstances. Christians are supposed to be able to overcome such things. But, are most Christians able to utterly transcend negative circumstances? People have tried to make a legend out of Mother Terese, but she was an ordinary human being with a functioning autonomic nervous system. She showed pride in declaring that she would love Christ like no other had. Her life was lacking in rest, relaxation, and spiritual regeneration. If someone wants to over work themselves, most people will stand aside and let them do it. But, they shouldn’t be surprised if the person’s attitude deteriorates. And, if the person tries hard to compensate for their decline in enthusiasm with greater self denial, a personal belief crisis can ensue. That’s what I see in this situation.

“Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith.” -Frederick Buechner

Mother Teresa wanted to suffer with Christ. She said so many times, she want to feel the pain and rejection he felt to be his acceptable bride. Well her prayer was answered- her desire to be be tortured to make her self more acceptable to he bridegroom is an idea Catholics have struggled with for along time. I think when Christ said “it is finished” on the cross it was finished!! For us to look for suffering, to ask for it, to show that we are worthy of his love, misses the whole point of the cross and diminishes (if possible) Jesus gift to us.
Martin Luther went through that suffering phase and decided God’s grace was better, we are saved by grace it is a gift from God- not of ourselves lest some should boast about their good works. What does God gain from our suffering?? Do you think he is a sadist that enjoys his children’s misery? God is good all the time, he is merciful to his children. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice! Don’t ask for pain- plenty will show up all by it self! Ask for his grace to see you through the test don’t challenge him to make your life hard He may grant your request!

Can you have faith and have doubts?
That’s really a silly question.
You can’t have faith without doubts!
People continually and dangerously confuse knowing with believing. They are the dogmatic ones filed with a bloody self-righteous certainty that allows them send planes crashing into buildings…or troops to invadenations based on lousy intelligence.
Belief is a matter of proceeding on partial evidence that requires you to extrapolate what it ultimately means. True faith requires humility to admit that we do not and cannot know everything with certainty.
In the face of her uncertainty, Mother Teresa chose to continue to care for the poorest of the poor in miserable conditions. That is noble, and I dare say, saintly.

Wow I went really fumble fingered there.
I meant to say “invasions based on lousy intelligence.”

If she didn’t have doubts about the world (including the Catholic one she was born into), then it would be perfect wouldn’t it?

Given how badly women are treated within the Catholic church and how devalued she was by those “in power”, I am not surprised she had doubts – I know I do. Growing up Catholic and trying to maintain my faith in Catholicism (not in the hierarchy, which is broken beyond repair and getting worse but in the faith as it was given to the Apostles) can be very trying in a world where our “spiritual leaders” are more interested in their own aggrandizement and in maintaining a lock on their perceived power than in serving the Body of Christ and truly ministering to those in need. I am awed by what Mother Teresa accomplished and believe that God was standing right next to her all the time – she was just so caught up in despair that she often didn’t see Him. I am sure that He welcomed her with loving arms and reassured her that He was there – very like the story of the footprints in the sand.

Faith is no guarantee against doubt. Faith is strength even in the darkness of doubt. One doesn’t believe because he understands, but because he has someone’s word upon which one rests assured of what is being believed. In the case of Mother Teresa, Christ’s words were enough to base her life and her work upon them. “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me” (Mt 25:40). I repeat, this was no guarantee that so many obstacles that were to come by, and so much suffering in the world, would not prop up endless questions. And they did. They always do. Her faith, sometimes without her knowledge, was getting stronger, which is why she never gave up – repeating so often that the work she was doing was not hers but that of Jesus himself. She did believe that it was He who was doing it through her.