Pope Francis cleared a major obstacle to officially naming Mother Teresa a saint when he approved a miracle attributed to her on Friday.
Everyone knows about Mother Teresa and her selfless work for the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. But it's worth looking at why she was not just a model person, but the model of a Catholic saint.
1. Total self-gift
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This is the most obvious of the three. Christian morality has a lot in common with modern humanistic ethics, such as a belief in the intrinsic dignity of every human being and a special concern for the poor. But one key way in which Christianity departs from other ethical systems is through the sheer absolutism of its demands. Give everything you own to the poor. Turn the other cheek. If someone presses you for a mile, go with him two.
In Christianity, God's very nature is what's called self-gift. The seemingly abstract and very mysterious doctrine of the Holy Trinity means that God is a lover, a beloved, and the love that links them — all at once. And in Christianity, of course, God's self-gift finds its supreme expression in his totally free decision to become a human being (via Jesus), live a human life, and die on a Cross out of love for His creatures. Total self-sacrifice is the Christian meaning of life.
This is what Mother Teresa embodied. She didn't give a little bit of money to charity. She gave her entire life to others. In Catholicism, clerical orders embody this divine call to self-gift in a special way, since through their lifelong vows of celibacy, poverty, and obedience, they give away essentially their entire selves to others.
2. A seamless ethic of life
Mother Teresa shocked many during an address to the United Nations when she refrained from simply giving a feel-good speech about the importance of helping the poor. Instead, she condemned evils such as abortion equally forcefully. She saw this as an integral part of her mission.
Christian morality is a seamless whole, where every part is connected. In the secular world, people divide "economic issues" and "social issues," but Christianity connects them. Poverty and abortion are linked in Christian ethics for obvious reasons, like the fact that children in the womb are the ultimate poor — utterly defenseless and without resources — and that poverty drives many abortions. But there are less obvious reasons too, such as the fact that each child unborn leaves the whole world poorer.
Mother Teresa didn't see herself as focusing on one aspect of the ethical life, but instead she sought to embody all of it.
3. The dark night of the soul
It has been revealed through her writings that Mother Teresa wrestled with doubts about her faith for most of her life. You would think that would make her "less" saintly, but in fact it makes her an even better saint.
First, because she's not alone. The "dark night of the soul," as St. John of the Cross memorably called it, is a path traveled by every saint. They each go through trials, including spiritual ones.
Secondly, because it's an important message, one that is sometimes obscured. When the memoirs of St. Therese of Lisieux, another great saint, were first published, her religious order redacted the passages where she wrestled with doubt, seeking to preserve her image of holiness. But saints are human beings like you and me — the whole point of having them is to show that everyday people can imitate Jesus. Normal people struggle with their faith, and so do great saints. By canonizing saints who have struggled with their faith, the Church tells us to, in Jesus' words, "not be afraid."
And thirdly, because she shows exactly how to deal with doubt: by persevering. Do we want God, or do we just want the nice, pleasant feelings that are sometimes associated with a personal relationship with Him? The only way to know the answer is to remove the feelings and see if we still chase after God. This is why He does it, not to "test" us, but to help us know ourselves and to help us grow into a fuller, more gratuitous relationship with Him.
Faith is a gift, but it is also a choice: the choice to believe, even when we don't feel like it. Someone who goes to Mass every week even if they don't "believe" has a much stronger faith than someone who has very strong spiritual experiences each time they go to Mass, because it's harder for the first person. Mother Teresa did have faith, even when she believed she didn't, because only someone carried by the Holy Spirit could have done what she did.
And that is an important lesson for all those who struggle with faith.
