Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

My best friend just spit something at her computer over that title. With luck, she even called me a name. Now I know you don't know her, or me for that matter, but take my word for it. This is fun. Let's just lean back and enjoy it for a moment shall we?

Ok. Moving along. This last week the topic of conversation that drew my participation on that Protestant homeschooling forum I hang out on was Mother Teresa's "Dark Night of the Soul." Apparently the imminent publication of her letters to her spiritual directors has sparked all sorts of speculation on the state of her soul. I won't attribute the following quote to anyone in particular because as I understand it, the sentiments expressed in it are pretty common of late.

I wonder what was going on with her? She had such a heart for the poor and downtrodden, yet she was apparently faithless and miserable for the past 50 years. What could she have done differently? What could those in whom she confided her struggles have done differently to have helped her through her agony?

So many questions have run through my mind, such as: Was she reading her Bible most days? I know that daily reading of the Scriptures strengthens my faith. Did she take some time each day to seek the Lord's face in worship and prayer, or was she so overwhelmed with caring for the sick and dying that she never took time for this vital discipline.

What Mother Teresa experienced and is described in her writings wasn't burnout or ordinary discouragement is called the "Dark Night of the Soul." This is a phenomenon experienced by many of the strongest and greatest of saints in Christian history and in Mother Teresa's case lasted approximately the last 50 years of her life. It is not a true crisis of faith but rather a spiritual state in which the feelings of consolation that many of us rely on....that God allows to remind us of His Presence and His Love....are withdrawn. It is in that state that great spiritual growth can occur because faith becomes a complete act of will and a total act of trust in the promises of God. It embodies the scripture "even though He slay me, yet will I serve Him." It allows us to make the act of faith, the act of will in favor of God. When a soul has no feeling of hope but acts on the promise of it anyway. It allows the soul to completely empty of the self and make rooom for more Jesus. Mother Teresa had reached a place of spiritual growth where she could say and mean, "Even though I have no feeling of hope. I will serve You completely, totally, and utterly, because I trust in Your Promises and Your Love."

As for Bible reading and prayer. What is not commonly know is that the order founded by Mother Teresa is a contemplative order and NOT a service order. That means that these nuns who DO so much consider their primary purpose and task to be prayer. Mother Teresa commonly spent 8-10 hours a day in prayer. She read her Bible daily....a lot. Just in case you are unaware of the amount of scripture considered to be the minimum daily requirement for all Catholic clergy and religious I will direct you to this blog post of mine and this one. Her order and the rule that governs it, reflect this priority in her life.

The reason my best friend is calling me names is because she has experienced a "Dark Night" in her own spiritual walk and would hasten to tell you all that this spiritual trial is not just for the "Great Saints." I beg to differ. We are ALL called to be great saints. Our Lord may put some of us in the limelight as examples but the obligation to be a great saint is no less for any of us supposed lesser souls. The Dark Night of the Soul is a difficult trial and perhaps the full manifestation of this trial is best reserved for those souls of great strength, but just as I believe the stigmata is a spiritual sign that is useful even for us weak souls, I think the Dark Night is a sign for us all as well. For those who endure the trial of the Dark Night, faith becomes an act of will. There is no feeling of comfort and consolation. There is no hint of "Well done, thou good and faithful servant", but only perseverance and trust in the promises of a loving God that seems far away. But what about some of the other virtues? could it be that some of us called to trials that may be less obvious that a dark night to help us to cultivate other virutes such as charity and hope? The soul enduring a dark night develops a powerful faith because trust in our Lord comes from a voluntary act of will; thus, rooting faith to the deepest and most important part of ourselves. Could we not apply the same principle to situations of hopelessness and lovelessness in our lives? It is when we chose to love or hope in a situation where there is no hope and no love returned, that we begin to truly move from the shadow of hope and love fueled by natural inclination and feeling to the light of real hope and real love that is rooted in the deepest parts of our soul.