Why Is This Surprising?

Telegraph.Co.UK: Mother Teresa’s diary reveals her crisis of faith

Refer to title for question. The management thanks you.

Seriously… she was a broken human being like the rest of us, born into sin and baptized into the death of Christ, which was her redemption. Unlike many of us, she chose willlingly to work among those who were forgotten, fulfilling Matthew 25:34-40. For that reason, she should be canonized — she lived a life in service to others and it’s an example of AMAZING spiritual fruit that should be considered and emulated inasmuch as is possible by her brothers and sisters in Christ.

There’s a quote that Jan Karon used in Patches of Godlight that sticks out:

Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.

I don’t believe in purgatory or the power of the cult of the saints — I believe that I am saved by grace through faith. This means that I accept that I am a broken, sinful human being who cannot come to God through my own understanding, but instead am enlightened by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Yes, I’m paraphrasing the answer to the question about the Third Article of the Creed in the Small Catechism. I *am* Lutheran after all, even if I am pondering becoming Antiochian Orthodox or returning to being an Anglican.)Â? I also believe that saints don’t have magical powers — they were people who did amazing things with the talents given to them by the Lord and said things were done in the name of bringing about the Kingdom of God.Â? That is why they are saints.Â? All of us have that potential but not many can make the sacrifice to give up what we have in this world to bring about the next.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the Vatican does with this startling revelation.Â? Hopefully,Â? whoever is involved in the beatification procedure (the terminology escapes me at the moment) willÂ? see that this is part of what made her human.Â? What she chose to do (i.e. living her life in the service of Christ regardless of her doubts) is what makes her holy and perhaps worthy of being canonized as a saint.

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About Jen

Jen isn't quite sure when she lost her mind, but it is probably documented here on Meditatio. She blogs because the world needs her snark at all hours of the night... and she probably can't sleep anyway.