St. Teresa of Calcutta and Her Endurance in Faith
The 20th century was one of great upheaval, one where we saw incredible advancements in medicine and technology, but also tremendous suffering through modern warfare and totalitarian dictatorships. Secularism continued its march, creating prime conditions for modern-day saints. Few saints of the 20th century have made as large of a cultural impact as St. Teresa of Calcutta, more commonly known throughout her lifetime simply as Mother Teresa.
Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in current day North Macedonia, but what was then part of the expansive Ottoman Empire. After her father died, her family struggled to make ends meet, and as a teenager, she felt the call to serve the poor. She joined the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (also called the Loreto Nuns) in Ireland at age 18. She eventually ended up in India, where she made her final vows, officially becoming Mother Teresa.
In 1946, Mother Teresa received a mystical vision in which God called her to "serve Him in the poorest of the poor." Over the next two years, she discerned this call, which she understood to mean founding the Missionaries of Charity, until her archbishop gave her the go-ahead. By the end of 1948, she was living among the poor in Calcutta, India, and within a couple years, 12 women had joined her. In addition to the three traditional vows of religious (poverty, chastity, and obedience), the Missionaries of Charity took a fourth vow - “to devote themselves with abnegation to the care of the poor and needy who, crushed by want and destitution, live in conditions unworthy of human dignity.”
Mother Teresa's work in the slums of Calcutta was revolutionary. Still burdened by the caste system, the poor and sick in India were cast aside by the rest of society; their condition was seen as a result of misdeeds in a previous life. Mother Teresa and the sisters not only provided them with medical care, food, and shelter, but also showered them with compassion and love. For those whom they ultimately could not cure, Mother Teresa helped to wed their sufferings to Jesus, and made their final moments one of comfort and peace.
Mother Teresa's order spread across the globe and she herself became something of a celebrity. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and famously called out the growing sin of legalized abortion across the West in her acceptance speech, calling it "the greatest destroyer of peace today". Though her public influence grew with each passing decade, she always remained humble and dedicated to her original calling.
Despite her early religious fervor and continued commitment to her mission, Mother Teresa experienced a long "dark night" in her spiritual life, much like the one described by St. John of the Cross. For decades after founding her mission, Mother Teresa felt an absence of God in her interior life. Her letters, published posthumously, show to us a tortured inner life - one that never quite lost faith and was always longing for God, but was denied His comforting presence. In 1957, she wrote, "There is so much contradiction in my soul. — Such deep longing for God — so deep that is painful — a suffering continual — and yet not wanted by God — repulsed — empty — no faith no love — no zeal... Heaven means nothing — to me it looks like an empty place... yet this torturing longing for God." Her writings over the years often mirror this sentiment. She even wrote to a friend, "If I ever become a saint — I will surely be one of 'darkness'"; how surprising to a world who only saw a woman who was always smiling, who radiated God's joy and peace!
We cannot know God's reasoning, but one explanation is that His perceived absence allowed her to actively choose to serve God through the poor not because of any satisfaction it gave her, but because He willed it. Through this test, her soul became purified, and she felt, as she described it, "a very deep union with the will of God. I accept not in my feelings but with my will". Later in her life, Mother Teresa came to accept her dark night, and even embrace it as her opportunity to suffer for love of Christ. As she wrote, "I have come to love the darkness — For I believe now that it is a part, a very, very small part of Jesus' darkness and pain on earth".
Mother Teresa died in 1997; at the time of her death, there were Missionaries of Charity working in 123 countries. Pope Saint John Paul II quickly opened her case for canonization and she was canonized in 2016. Let us ask for St. Teresa of Calcutta's intercession to bear our own crosses with the same humility and diligence that she did.
By Anna Neal