My Yahoo home page
headlines anti-Christian articles almost as often as it does accounts of
scantily clad women attending entertainment award ceremonies. The latest was
from a scientist who in addition to the usual atheist diatribe against God saw
fit to slam Mother Teresa on the occasion of her canonization as a saint by the
Catholic Church.
Not only did the scientist
claim that the two miracles credited to Mother Teresa were bogus, but he also
believed that her whole life’s work in serving the poor and the helpless was
bogus. He claimed that she was a religious fanatic and suspected that she
misused the millions of dollars donated to her and her order by religious
dupes.
I am not one of those who
believe that miraculous healings are necessary to establish the saintliness of
someone’s life. I also know that the Catholic Church today is very careful when
it comes to evaluating claims of miracles. I do believe that many people, even
though they will never be canonized, could be called saints because of the life
they led, the work they did, and the way in which they did it.
As far as I can tell,
Mother Teresa not only talked the talk but she walked the walk. Just one
incident from her life was enough for me. At the very outset of her work in
Calcutta, she happened upon an elderly man left for dead in the street. His
body was covered with maggots that she removed herself. She continued to care
for the man although he did not live long. Before he died, he said that for the
first time in his life someone had treated him like a human being.
The religious order she
founded carries on her work of ministering to the poor. Strangely, some of her
critics blame her and her sisters for their volunteer work. They believe that
such private, volunteer work detracts from the work that should be done by the
state. They also claim that states can do it better and that their facilities
are superior.
Some critics actually
complain that the hostels run by the sisters are sub-par. They even went so far
as to hire a doctor to conduct an investigation, but must have been
disappointed with his evaluation.
So the most important features of the regimen are
cleanliness, the tending of wounds and sores, and loving kindness.
Such complaints remind me
of the remarks made by a Roman Emperor way back in the fourth century. He
complained that Christians were more active in helping the victims of the
plagues that repeatedly struck the Empire.
• The
impious Galileans support not only their poor, but ours as well, everyone can
see that our people lack aid from us….
• I think
that when the poor happened to be neglected and overlooked by the priests, the
impious Galileans observed this and devoted themselves to benevolence.
For the Emperor, the word
Galilean meant Christian. Despite the fact that the Christians were doing the
work that government officials (pagan priests) were supposed to do, the Emperor
still felt it necessary to persecute the Christians. This same fate is being
shared by Christians throughout the world today.
Perhaps the most
scandalous charge against Mother Teresa came from the posthumous public
disclosure of thoughts she confided in her own diary or journal. She claimed
that early in her career she ceased to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
A few years ago I attended
an exhibition of the materials that had been brought together by those
promoting her canonization. The exhibition did not try to hide Mother Teresa’s
frank admission. Some have claimed that she had experienced a “dark night of
the soul” that is not uncommon with mystics. Others believe that her feeling of
abandonment by Jesus mirrored the abandonment felt by those she ministered to.
However, at the exhibition
I came to see that Mother Teresa’s door to Jesus seemed to close when she first
began to care for the sick and hopeless on the streets of Calcutta. It seemed
to me that she came to see Jesus in those she helped. After all, He had said in
the famous passage in Matthew’s gospel, “When I was hungry, you fed me, when I
was thirsty, you gave me drink, and when I was naked you clothed me.”
For most of her life Mother
Teresa felt that she did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. I can
understand her feeling and believe it is shared by most people today. In fact,
I tend to be suspicious of those who claim they do, but won’t give you the time
of day.
But she did the work and
found Jesus among the poorest and most helpless. In that sense, I believe that
she is truly a modern saint. Most of us will not be able to attain her heroic
saintliness but whether we consider ourselves religious or not, we should be
able to heal the wounds and lessen the burdens of those we know. We can work to
make our spouses, our children, our parents, our neighbors, our friends, and
our workplace associates feel like human beings.
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