[.ca] Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light (ISBN 0385520379)

REVISED REVIEW: 'I Have No Faith' in the National Post: "Come be by Light" Reviewed by ChurchMouse.Bz:
A fellow reader found my "one" star rating problematic. I agree. Blessed Teresa's writings deserve more than 5 Stars!. My problem is that she requested the letters be burned not published. If that's her request, then what kind of respect is that for her? Correct me if I'm wrong. No star to the National Post. The journalist and Editor need a theology lesson before they attempt to write about something they no nothing about. The Editor of the book should be ashamed of publishing words that were meant to be between her and God, confessions under the seal of secrecy (even though she is "dead") Saturday Morning: I stepped out of the elevator to go to work at C.I. Religious Supplies in Toronto. Someone had left a copy of the National Post on the counter. I saw Mother Teresa's photograph and read the quote above it: 'I have no faith'. Yes, it caught my eye and I picked it up. The National Post had done its job of catching my attention. I had the feeling it would be slanderous yet I read on. Out of 224 pages, the NP chose 4 words to sum up Blessed Teresa of Calcutta's life. Of course, what made it eye-catching is that a woman of "great faith" said 'I have no faith'. If it was a photo of me or the journalist it would not have that impact. What immediately jumped to my mind was "the Dark Night of the Soul" experienced by all Saints, including Christ Himself when He said, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" To keep it short, the "Dark Night of the Soul" is what EVERY Saint experiences in their journey towards God. God seemingly abandons the soul in order to bring it closer to Him and increases the soul's faith and trust in Him. This was affirmed by many renowned theologians who said the same thing. Do a Google search and read about St. John of the Cross. The NP succeeded in catching my attention but it failed to serve its main duty: to present the truth for the common good. The NP may have no faith but to tamper with another's is a grave injustice. Jesus said, "What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world but lose his own soul?" Yes, the NP did an excellent job in dissuading anyone with a love for Blessed Teresa from buying the book. In conclusion, I quote the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Everyone sincerely seeking the truth and increasing their faith should have a copy!): "The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant.... The information provided by the media is at the service of the common good. Society has a right to information based on truth, freedom, justice, and solidarity: The proper exercise of this right demands that the content of the communication be true and - within the limits set by justice and charity - complete. Further, it should be communicated honestly and properly. This means that in the gathering and in the publication of news, the moral law and the legitimate rights and dignity of man should be upheld." As an Advertising Designer, I know that people rarely read the body text. When they see that story, they see Mother Teresa and 'I have no faith' -- a justification for their own lack of faith. Wishful thinking! It's funny but when I mention "Truth and the Media", I get a laugh! Thank you. Charles M. Rizzo, www.ChurchMouse.Bz

There are Many Mother Teresas:
There is hope in this book for anyone who has ever felt despair especially in yearning for contact with God and not finding it except perhaps in the goodness (Godness?) of others. Despite a darkness and dryness which seems to have persisted for all but one month of her adult life as a woman religious, Mother Teresa admits to this kind of loneliness, while still putting on a "happy face". I'm identifying. The reality is that the world would likely not know of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta apart from the work of Malcolm Muggeridge who found her and who then produced the film, "Something Beautiful for God". When I was a secondary school teacher I showed this film to my classes year in and year out. I still wonder what happened to that tiny baby girl to whom Mother talks at one point and tells Muggeridge that there is a light in the baby's eye and she thinks "she will make it". I have had the opportunity to visit the motherhouse of the community in Calcutta. I had hoped to see the babies there but couldn't because "The children are having chicken pox", the sign outside the orphanage said. I was offered the chance to wait to meet Mother Teresa herself as she made her way to the chapel but decided I wasn't up to that. I might actually have been afraid to meet her and I still don't know why. Would she have seen the progressive version of Christianity which is now my own approach to the tradition? And would she perhaps not have approved? I'm glad the book was written. I could do without the pious language of the priest who is her postulator. I can deal with it in terms of Mother Teresa herself because it was the language of the spirituality of the Roman Catholic Church when I was growing up. I know that she insisted on that language and those practises for her Missionaries of Charity long after Vatican Council II. I have been in their convents in India and they are by and large happy places. Or at least they seem to be. Maybe the sisters are following Mother's rule to go with joyful faces to those whom they are sent to serve. There are many women religious in India in particular who long before Mother Teresa were doing what she did. She was right, though, when she pointed out that many of them were asked to become Europeans rather than stay Indians in their formation process. And for that she is to be given much credit. I do not think, as some of her critics do, that she was dishonest in presenting one face to her spiritual directors and another to her community and the world at large. When I am feeling hopeless, I don't want to spread that sadness. When I am joyful, I do want to spread that gift. Perhaps it's my age. Perhaps it's my anger at the contemporary penchant for turning every encounter into some kind of psychotherapy session, but I admire the woman's stamina and am inspired by the book to do the same in my life. For more details on Mother Teresa readers might want to consult www.bishopbhai.org and look for comments there about her.