Mother Teresa experienced 'emptiness' at some stages of her life as a human being of flesh and blood, not as an angel made of fire. I wonder why people the world over have raised an uproar on such human and natural feelings of void and uncertainty on the eve of making public a collection of letters Teresa wrote to her friends, colleagues and superiors over 66 years!
Teresa bowed to the inevitable by her candid admission of human fallibility when perhaps her mind at some moments, unaware of her vulnerability, was too frail to reconcile with scorching realities of life: groans of pains of lepers, blank expressions of orphans etc.
We respect our parents and at times frowned at their words too; that does not mean we ever jettisoned an ounce of our filial respects. We revere God and might also wonder why and how HE could afford to remain silent at human miseries; that does not disqualify us from praying at our mosques.
Our conjecture on the mystic silence of God at human tribulations is out of our unflinching faith in HIS kindness to humanity the way we wrinkle our brows in wonder why and how our mothers could be so rude to her beloved sons.
It is now clear that Mother Teresa was tormented when she failed to reconcile God's generosity with humanity's vulnerability. In one of her letters written in 1956 a few words and phrases like 'such deep longing for God'……'empty'……'no faith'….'no love'…..'no zeal' speak volumes about her begging tones to the Providence seeking HIS relief. Many more such begging prayers of Mother Teresa to God we will come to know from the book "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" due out on September 04 next.
"I don't believe in your existence, God", if Teresa wrote in any of her letters, should be interpreted as "You can't compel me to believe me in your existence, God, if you don't extend your hand just now to salvage this child from the clutch of death.
You have to forgive my audacity because you know how deeply I rely on you when my heart bleeds and how affectionately you have always loved me."
Maswood Alam Khan
General Manager
Bangladesh Krishi Bank
maswoodalamkhan@gmail.com
Why did Mother Teresa feel empty?
FE Team | Published: August 28, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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