I just heard that Mother Teresa’s letters were published and they prove that she didn't believe any of this stuff and that she was a fraud.  I heard it on television so it must be true!  Can this be the case?

Signed,

E. Z. Kahn

How often must I tell you not to get your theology from the television? 

Perhaps you heard Christopher Hitchens.  Hitchens is a notorious anti-religionist.  He absolutely hates Christianity and would love it were Mother Teresa a fraud.  I have mentioned Mr. Hitchens before in my letter “Was Pope Pius XII an anti-Semite?” (published on June 6, 2007). 

In my opinion, Mr. Hitchens is wacko.  You are free to ignore him. 

My suggestion, TURN OFF YOUR TELEVISION AND READ THE BOOK YOURSELF!

Mother Teresa was a nun in the order of the Sisters of Loretto.  She worked as a teacher in India in a school for young Indian women of some means.  In 1946 she began to hear Christ speaking clearly to her that she was to found an order of Indian nuns who would serve the poorest of the poor.  For her, it was time of great intimacy with Jesus to whom she had given her life.  With the confirmation and permission of her confessor, her bishop and her mother superior she did exactly that. 

About two years after she had successfully begun the work she stopped hearing what she called the “Voice,” and never heard it again. 

This is the opposite of doubt.  It is the very definition of faith.  She heard the Lord clearly. She confirmed the word and she obeyed without having to feel anything.  Her letter reflected a long life lived in faith and the assurance that she was obeying her Lord, the bridegroom of her soul, even when He seemed far way from her. This is faith, not doubt. 

Christopher Hitchens is the very definition of modern shallowness.  If I don’t feel it, it can’t possibly be real. 

Do you remember the Gospel a few weeks ago?  In the gospel of Luke the 12th chapter, the 35th verse and following, Peter asks if a parable is directed at him and the other disciples.  Jesus replies that the servant will be happy whom the master finds on his return distributing the proper food allowance to the other slaves, but woe to the one who, in his master’s absence gets drunk and beats the other servants. 

Well, Theresa of Calcutta spent her life feeding the poor even though she didn't feel the presence of the Lord.  I think it is safe to say that Christopher Hitching doesn't feel the presence of the Lord either, but in his own words, quoted in an interview with Oliver Burkeman in The Guardian, October 28, 2006, he says that he drinks because it makes other people less boring, and he has a great terror of being bored.  Mother Theresa didn't seem to find others boring. She loved them because she loved the Lord who had asked her to feed them. 

I marvel that Mr. Hitching would call her a fraud.

(Check for yourself and see, just Google....: The fanatic, fraudulent Mother Theresa) 

Christopher Hitching is certainly not a fraud.  In the absence of God’s presence he has quite sincerely found relief from boring people in his prodigious consumption of alcohol. 

Mother Theresa has fed the poor. 

Take your pick. 

Rev. Know-It-All