Reflection from one year ago:

Today, I read a few Psalms, a few inspiring religious feeds, an interesting article from Bishop Robert Barron about Mother Theresa and tonight after work, I watched 45 minutes of the movie The Help and saw the picture of Jesus hanging on a wall in the background of a scene.  Throughout the day as thoughts persisted, there were certainly a few prayers whispered along the way. I thought about these palpable ways that Jesus is with us whether we proactively seek him, like in the Psalms, or without much effort, like seeing His framed picture during a movie.   

In contrast, it was the article from Bishop Barron though that haunted me.  How could a Saint so dedicated to prayer, so involved in His ministry on earth and so enraptured with Christ Himself, ask “Where is Jesus?”  “Mother Teresa experienced the pain of the absence of God. The living saint often felt abandoned by God or even that God does not exist.”

Was it perhaps she was so intertwined with Jesus that she was blinded to His presence or because she was so human?

Bishop Barron explains: “To be a saint is to allow Christ to live his life in you. Indeed, St. Paul said, ‘It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me;’ and this means the whole Christ. Jesus was a person of service to the poor and needy, and Mother certainly embodied this aspect of his life; Jesus was a person who prayed intently and for long periods of time, and Mother participated in this dimension of his existence. But Jesus was also the crucified Lord, who said, at the limit of his suffering, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To allow Christ to live his life in you is, therefore, necessarily to experience, to one degree or another, the absence of God, to undergo the agony of the crucifixion in all of its dimensions. St. John of the Cross, the greatest mystical theologian in the Church’s history said, quite simply, that there is no path to holiness that does not lead through the cross. Though it is a high paradox,the fifty-year darkness that Mother endured is, therefore, one of the surest indicators of her saintliness.”  

May we all be so close to Christ that we lose our perception of His whereabouts as He ultimately leads us through the cross.

Kyrie Eleison,

Paula

Excerpt: https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/article/saint-of-light-saint-of-darkness/5042/ February 8 2017