Bringing Light Out of the Darkness

Reading this book is like reading some one's personal diary or a protected personal blog. I feel very uneasy especially when I knew that Mother Teresa had no intention of having her personal diary and correspondence published.

The books contains extracts of letters, personal notes and observations with commentaries giving the context, time and place of these writings.

It reminds me of reading the writings of another Teresa, St.Teresa of Avila. The greatest impression this book has made on me is that here is a woman in love with Jesus. After she embarked on her mission, she suddenly lost the sense of Jesus' presence. Although there were a few occasions when she did feel His presence, it never lasted long. Mother Teresa calls these periods of His absence as the 'darkness'.

In spite of her personal 'darkness', Mother Teresa resolves to keep her pain to herself and present to the world a face of one called by Jesus for a special mission. She hides her suffering behind a smile of encouragement.

Reading her writings does not reveal a person who is suffering from depression or burn out due to chronic stress working in the Calcutta slums. All these has been postulated as reasons for her 'darkness.' Personally, I believe her 'darkness' is what St. John of the Cross described as the dark night of the soul. It is in the absence that is the Presence.

I finished it with my respect for Mother Teresa increased. She is undoubtedly a woman of courage and strength. That she sacrificed so much, including the support she could have received from her sisters is a miracle indeed. Here is a life built on service to Jesus Christ, her Lord.

sli deo gloria