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| Mother Teresa's Courage |
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Can you imagine having the courage and commitment to be faithful and obedient to a cause when your feelings and emotions are constantly telling you to quit? It appears that Mother Teresa did that for 50 years.
Mother Teresa’s private letters reveal that for the last 50 years of her life she couldn’t feel the presence of God. This lack of awareness of God’s presence greatly troubled and tormented her because she always longed for the closeness that she had felt with God in her earlier years.
Yet, Mother Teresa didn’t surrender to her feelings and she did not allow them to control her behavior. This is what she wrote to Jesus about her tormenting spiritual dryness: “If this brings You glory — if souls are brought to you — with joy I accept all to the end of my life.”
A collection of her private letters was published in a book called Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light. It was compiled and edited by Brian Kolodiejchuck, a senior member of her Missionaries of Charity order.
In our day of publicly celebrating the surrender to self-destructive feelings, tendencies, and compulsions, Mother Teresa’s half-century of inner torment brings a strong message: You can show others great love even if you feel empty. You can keep going when everything inside you says give up. You can do the right and moral thing when your feelings, cravings, and orientations are yelling against you. With all the fame, honor, and glory lavished upon Mother Teresa by the world, her inner dryness kept her humble.
Her friend, Brian Kolodiejchuck, said this:
“The tendency in our spiritual life, but also in our more general attitude toward love, is that our feelings are all that is going on. And so to us the totality of love is what we feel. But to really love someone requires commitment, fidelity and vulnerability. Mother Teresa wasn’t ‘feeling’ Christ’s love, and she could have shut down. But she was up at 4:30 every morning for Jesus, and still writing to Him, ‘Your happiness is all I want.’ That’s a powerful example, even if you are not talking in exclusively religious terms.” |
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| To add a comment to "Mother Teresa's Courage" |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Amen |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| That is a beautiful example of doing what is right and being obedient even when we don't see or feel God in all of it. What a blessing! |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Wow, what a beautiful and amazing soul... |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Thanks for sharing that story, Steve. The way she conducted her life and her love of God is truly inspiring, even after her death. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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I love these words "You can show others great love even if you feel empty. You can keep going when everything inside you says give up. You can do the right and moral thing when your feelings, cravings, and orientations are yelling against you. With all the fame, honor, and glory lavished upon Mother Teresa by the world, her inner dryness kept her humble."
What a beautiful truth to know that Mother Theresa had a certain level of emptiness, maybe even doubt, just like the rest of us sometimes. Thanks for sharing |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Good post. Mother Theresa's example is also instructive to all those considering a religious vocation. Especially when one is embracing a charism which is based on active participation (as opposed to contemplation) it is much harder to hear God's voice. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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Thanks, Patti.
Mother Teresa is indeed a beautiful example, Todd.
Amen, TickleMe.
Mother Teresa has inspired me for years, Birdie.
Joe: Even in her doubt, she remaind faithful. What an example. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Malleus: Active participation does distract sometimes from the inner voice. Someone put it this way: "We get so caught up in the work of the Lord that we neglect the Lord of the work." |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Thanks this speaks to me of late ,for once (what seems like an eternity ago) I was told by God that-- If I could give up men, sex, and mydreams of being a wife with thirteen children-- I would Do great things like Joan of Ark and Mother Teresa. Now celibate over 2years and trying to get the ministry together while feeling as if I'm losing it. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Hang in there Valerie! Your faithfulness will be rewarded. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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Thanks again Steve!
I have a sister who is "letting it get to her" and I'm going to share this with her cuz I really want to tell her to suck it up! Well said my brother....keep it coming cuz sometimes I can't find it
~Veronica |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| We can't let it get to us, Veronica, because wheter we feel it or not, God is working on our behalf. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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Our walk with God is not based on feelings...but on FAITH in His WORD....JESUS!!!! |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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Steve, My favorite Mother Teresa quote? "Lord I wish you didn't trust me so much." She wished the Lord had not trusted her to do the things that she did. She says she was so worn out at times but had no other choice but be obedient to his direction. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Great blog, Brother! At the risk of sounding trite, "Fake it till you make it." |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Amen, Mar Jay. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Wow! Talk about selfless commitment & devotion to One Love! |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Good quote, Jerry. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Lee: Another way to say that is: "Act like God's Word is true whether you feel it or not." |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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| Mother Teresa led her life by being a blessing to many souls who were around her. She literally followed the commandments of Jesus in her life. In short she imitated Jesus in the most literal sense in her life. Many street children and uncared people saw Jesus in her life in my country. |
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| September 15, 2008 |
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Uh... yeah I wish all of us could have the courage of MT.... I have the heart
Just not the courage. My fear gets in the way, but that again is of the devil!
So chew chew chew on the bible and fear is out the door....
God is Courage and I dont have to fear no more
Maybe I can be the MT of the Raleigh NC area?..... Whatcha think Steve? |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| Amen on this Steve! |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| Now that's commitment, Denise. |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| Ragland: She did a great job imitating Jesus in the way she lifved her life. |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| Rebel: I think you can indeed be the MT of the Raleigh area. Start simple and small. Go to a poorer neighborhood for an hour a week and walk around and show the folks some of God's love. You will be amazed at the results. |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| Thanks Steve you have given me strength to go on |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| I am so glad my blog post helped you, Sheree!!! Hang in there. |
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| September 16, 2008 |
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| And thank you Cyn! |
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