Sometimes I get ahead of myself…I think we all do at times, projecting what we want to see over and against the reality of what is, just as I do in the title of this piece: Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Patron Saint of Doubters. Therefore let me be clear, that eponym belongs to someone else, and the Church in its wisdom has declared Theresa to be the Patron Saint of World Catholic Youth Day, which is fair; the wise mother inspired many young people through her life of austerity and selflessness. She inspired many of us to emulate her and to do good things, to want to be good people…but this title eponym and its saintly office hardly gets to the core of her—self.
Theresa of Calcutta was a tiny woman, but she was strong; people gravitated toward her because of the strength she exhibited in her commitment to her ideals, despite the painful realities she experienced and despite her understanding that the suffering she sought to ease would continue here on earth…for as long as the world endures.
Like the wise mother we must pray for strength, wisdom, understanding and perseverance, both for ourselves and for everyone. We must pray for these things without the expectation that God will deliver them. We pray, like the wise mother, because the act of prayer fortifies us…each and every day.
Theresa of Calcutta was beatified for her life-long commitment to the good, in service to the poor, and for exemplifying patience and endurance while she was engaged in her work.
If the rest of us were able to approximate a small degree of her commitment to justice, mercy and compassion, to give a small part of ourselves over to humble task of healing of the world…the world might stop spinning in its spiral of violence, and in that moment we might see a glimmer of the divine.
Know this!
It is right and good to praise God in prayer, because God is the first source and center of a mysterious and miraculous creation, the universe it ultimate structure and purpose are beyond the scope of human comprehension; give praise to the divine for forming it.
Understand this: while it is right and good to praise God, it is not a sin to doubt God’s purpose in the world.
Theresa taught us this as well; she taught us that doubt is a natural movement within the beating heart of every person, especially of those who lovingly confront the pain and suffering we encounter in the world.
It is not sinful to doubt God or God’s intentions for the world, neither is it sinful to doubt the traditions of the Church, its doctrines and decrees and decretals; far from being sinful, or emblematic of a disordered heart, far from being a sign of disobedience, it is normal and good.
The wise mother taught us this, and so let us be clear about a few things:
God has no enemies.
God does not grant victory in human contests.
In God, within whom all things exist…there is no conflict or division.
We do not exhibit God’s justice through human law…our systems of justice represent the limits of the human being to care for their neighbors, and to love them selflessly. Our modes of justice only approximate divine justice when they are expressed in humility, when we demonstrate mercy and compassion…it is then, and only them that we may call the justice we deliver good…the wise mother taught us to aspire to this, even in the midst of misery and despair.
Pope Francis, canonized Mother Theresa on September the 4th, 2016, on the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, her feast was celebrated for the first time, and from that day forward, on the 5th of September, which is today.
Christians of every stripe, and non-Christians alike, remember Saint Theresa of Calcutta for her desire to embrace all people, no matter how flawed or marginalized they might be.
Let me say this:
God chose her from the beginning to receive the sanctifying spirit, just as God chooses all of us; God created her in the divine image, placing within her a seed of the eternal Word to enliven her. God made her this way, in the same way that God makes everyone, but what made the sainted mother different from most of the rest of us was that she saw the truth of it clearly, and in seeing it she understood her purpose in the world…she heard the call, and she answered it.
The wise mother was able to see the divine-image in those she bent to serve, she saw the face of God in the poor and the sick, in the blind and the leper, she saw God suffering in them and she responded with the love God asked her to bear…the same love God asks all of us to bear.
Theresa listened.
The wise mother is famous for her service and her impressive life, famous for the inspiration she gave to millions upon millions of people, but when I reflect on the life of Saint Theresa of Calcutta, it is her memoirs, published after her death, which had the greatest impact on me.
Theresa struggled, like all of us do, with the sense that God had abandoned her; she even felt at times as if God had abandoned the world. She managed to do the good works she did, to serve the Church and all its members, to fulfill her commitment to her order and lead them; to make of her life a daily sacrifice even in the midst of her own profound doubt and great personal anguish.
She experienced the suffering of other’s…she shared it with them.
Theresa lived with a deep-felt-sense of alienation from God, and yet the wise mother persevered in goodness even in the context of this feeling of abandonment; she acknowledged the pain that she brought to others, even as she tried to serve them; she confessed her faults and asked forgiveness, and for her humility her order asked her to lead them.
Theresa bore witness to the suffering of the world, she held God accountable for it in her heart, and yet she still followed her calling, despite her indictment of the divine, and that is why she will be known as the Patron Saint of Doubters in generations yet to come.
