Mother Teresa’s struggle

Who is Mother Teresa?

She was a Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary who lived most of her life in India.
She founded the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic religious department which was
active in more than 100 countries. The aim of this congregation was to serve the poor, needy and
ill people in the light of catholic faith.

Faith of Mother Teresa

Agnes Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa) experienced major doubts and struggles over her polytheistic
beliefs which lasted nearly fifty years until the end of her life, during which "she felt no presence
of God whatsoever", "neither in her heart nor in the Eucharist" as said by her postulator Brian
Kolodiejchuk, he was the postulator of the Cause of Beatification and Canonization of Mother
Teresa of Calcutta.

Mother Teresa’s famous biography, Come be my light, consists of numerous letters which
Teresa exchanged with her church superiors, she wrote:

“Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there
be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting
emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful
is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, and no zeal ... What
do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also
are not true.”

Reason for these doubts

Only God knows the real causes for these struggles and doubts in person’s faith. However, here
we will acknowledge some genuine causes for these kinds of doubts in the light of the last
scripture of God (Qur’an). God Almighty says:

Soon We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they joined others
(in worship) with God, for which He (God) had sent no authority. [Qur’an 3:151]

Associating others with God or making others equal to God or worshipping others along with
God is the worst sin on the face of this earth according to all the scriptures of God revealed to all
those messengers from the time of Adam (Pbuh). In Arabic this sin is called Shirck (association).

Associating others with God

Believing Prophet Jesus (Pbuh) or any other Prophet as God or the son of God also comes under
this form of sin. God Almighty says:

They have certainly disbelieved who say, “God is the Messiah, the son of Mary” while (in
reality) the Messiah has said (to his people), “O Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord
and your Lord.” Indeed, whoever associates others with God (in worship), then God has
forbidden him Paradise, and (Forever) his abode is the Fire (of Hell). And for the
wrongdoers there are no helpers. [Qur’an 5:72]

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How could a human soul achieve spiritual satisfaction through worshipping the creation
(Prophet) rather to its Creator (God)? For sure Mother Teresa used to associate partners with
God by assuming Prophet Jesus as her Lord and savior along with God. Even in the Bible
Almighty God has prohibited to make images or to associate partners with Him:

You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the
form of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I am the Lord your (only) God.
(Deuteronomy 5:7-9)

God rewards according to the intention of each and every individual.

False intention
Some people expect to be rewarded for their deeds in the present life because they doubt or deny
the existence of the life after death. If this is the case, then such people are not given additional
reward in the Hereafter because they never truly worked for it. God Almighty says:

Whoever desires the life of this world and its adornments – to them We shall pay (the price
of) their deeds therein, and they therein will not be deprived. They are those for whom
there is nothing in the Hereafter but the Fire. And vain are the deeds they did therein, and
worthless is that which they used to do. [Qur’an 11:15-16]

Believer’s intention
The believers are not just concerned with the compensation in this life because they are striving
for the greater eternal reward of the Hereafter. They do so by worshipping God as commanded
by Him even when no one appreciates their efforts. Almighty God says:

And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it, with the necessary efforts due for it
while he (or she) is a believer – then it is those whose striving shall be appreciated (by God).
[Qur’an 17:19]

Now what we find from Mother Teresa is that her deeds are eagerly praised in the world, her
works are immensely appreciated and publicized by many of her lovers. She received many
noble prizes from different countries. She has died but her name and her deeds are still living.

Is Mother Teresa a Heavenly person?

For certain no one has any right to assign others (especially the deceased) as dwellers of paradise
or hell as this is not the purpose of our life. Nobody knows about the person’s life after death
except God. So what we can do is to supplicate for the deceased if he or she is a monotheist and
to inform the living about the harms and dangers of worshipping others along with God in this
present life. GOD Almighty says:

Indeed, God does not forgive that anything (else) should be associated with Him (in
worship) but He forgives everything except that (sin) to whomever He wills. And whoever
associates anything with God, then verily he has strayed far away from the truth. [Qur’an
4:116]

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