{"id":162,"date":"2007-09-11T08:58:14","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T08:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/09\/mother-teresa-continued.html"},"modified":"2007-09-11T08:58:14","modified_gmt":"2007-09-11T08:58:14","slug":"mother-teresa-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/09\/mother-teresa-continued.html","title":{"rendered":"Mother Teresa, continued"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several links:
\nFr. Benedict Groeschel, in today’s First Things<\/em> blog<\/a><\/p>\n

The unfortunate publicity and distortions to the point of calumny that have surrounded the publication of the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light<\/font><\/a><\/font><\/em>, edited by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., the postulator of her cause, have caused confusion to many and much pain to the Missionaries of Charity and their close friends. One leading newsmagazine even published a long article by Mother Teresa\u2019s most severe and profane critic without any other commentary. The author attempted to psychoanalyze Mother Teresa\u2019s experiences, which is both insulting and absurd. He never knew Mother, never had the chance to observe her behavior or life, and he has no serious training in psychology. As a psychologist who knew Mother Teresa for thirty years, I feel I must make some response to this absurdity and offer some helpful explanations for those who were surprised by the darkness revealed in Mother Teresa\u2019s personal letters.
\nAlthough I was not privy to her spiritual darkness, and I never received the kind of letters from her that her spiritual directors received, I was well aware that there was a seriousness, even a somberness, about her. I assumed that this sorrow was occasioned by what happens every day in the world. When there were tragedies, she would talk about them and encourage us to turn trustingly to God to bring good out of evil.
\nMORE<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Protestant New Testament scholar and blogger Scot McKnight is blogging his way through the book, and has three entries so far: Part 1<\/a>, then Part 2<\/a> and most recently, Part 3.<\/a>
\nMichael is also reading the book and blogs his first impressions here.<\/a>
\nFr. John Kavanaugh, SJ of Saint Louis University and author of the excellent\u00a0\u00a0Following Christ in a Consumer Society: The Spirituality of Cultural Resistance<\/a>, remembers his encounter with Mother Teresa here. <\/a><\/p>\n

The year was 1975, and it was time for Kavanaugh to spend year in prayer, service and humble ministry. He traveled to India where he hoped to get a new perspective on his own life while learning firsthand more about poverty around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
John Kavanaugh, S.J., professor of philosophy, talks with Mother Teresa in 1975 during his month-long humble ministry in Calcutta, India.<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

After arriving in Bangalore, where he would spend much of the year, Kavanaugh was asked to select a site to spend his month of humble service. Although Mother Teresa had yet to reach the iconic status she had at the time of her death — she won the Nobel Peace Prize four years later — Kavanaugh still was very familiar with her ministry and work.
\nHe wrote to Mother Teresa about spending a month at her House of the Dying in Calcutta. Wanting to be fully immersed in the experience, Kavanaugh asked to live with the Brothers of Charity, who like the Missionary Sisters of Charity, live a rigorous life of poverty.
\n“She told me wanted me to live with Jesuits not with the brothers,” he recalled. “She said the last Jesuit who had stayed with the brothers had died,” immediately ending Kavanaugh’s desire to live the really frugal life of the brothers.
\nSo in December 1975, Kavanaugh flew to Calcutta. Mother Teresa met him at the airport and made quite a first impression.
\n“She was small, but kind of like a dynamo,” he said. “She was very business-like, very intense and fast moving.”
\nThe House of the Dying was a former temple converted to a home for women and men found dying on the streets. Among them was a Bengali man whom Kavanaugh’s transport picked up on his first day of work. As part of his service, Kavanaugh would wash and feed these “patients,” most of whom would never leave the facility alive.
\nIt was during this period that Kavanaugh saw Mother Teresa in action. She had arrived home after a short trip, and as usual, her first stop was the House of the Dying. She immediately went to a man who was very close to dying. For days, workers had not been able to get him to eat. He had hardly opened his eyes.
\n“She sat right down next to this man and took his face in her hands,” Kavanaugh said. “His eyes opened, and she was able to engage him in a way we had been unable to do.”
\nThere was something else remarkable about the scene. It reminded Kavanaugh of something he had witnessed while saying daily Mass at the Sisters’ motherhouse.
\n“When Mother Teresa started feeding (the dying man), it struck me that it was just like the way she received communion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several links: Fr. Benedict Groeschel, in today’s First Things blog The unfortunate publicity and distortions to the point of calumny that have surrounded the publication of the book Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light, edited by Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., the postulator of her cause, have caused confusion to many and much pain to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-saints"],"yoast_head":"\nMother Teresa, continued - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/09\/mother-teresa-continued.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mother Teresa, continued - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several links: Fr. 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