Was Mother Teresa Ever Really Alone?

One of Mother Teresa’s Closest Co-Workers Reveals Who Consoled Her Through Her Long Dark Night of the Soul

HUNTINGTON, In., Nov. 13, 2007 -- The publication of Mother Teresa’s private correspondence with her confessor has caused a sensation in the media and confusion among religious believers. Did Mother Teresa lose her faith in God? Were her works of charity just an act? Did she hoodwink everyone from Pope John Pail II to the Nobel Prize committee? And if she did not lose her faith, how could she write such anguished letters?

The answer lies in an experience common to many Catholic mystics—it is called “the dark night of the soul,” and it afflicted saints ranging from St. John of the Cross to St. Therese the Little Flower. Some great mystics have known moments of intense spiritual connection with God; then, for reasons known only to God, He suddenly withdraws and the favored soul no longer experiences that intimate relationship. The loss of such spiritual intimacy can be very painful emotionally, psychologically, and spirituality. It is this dark night of the soul that Mother Teresa experienced. But in her case, when God drew away, Our Lady drew closer.

In Mother Teresa; In the Shadow of Our Lady (Our Sunday Visitor, 2007), Father Joseph Langford draws upon his first-hand knowledge to reveal the consolation Mother Teresa received everyday of her life by living in the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mother Teresa’s bond with Mary was not “a peripheral devotion,” as Father Langford puts it, but “an integral part of her spirituality and mission.” And Father Langford should know—he knew Mother Teresa for 30 years, and at her invitation served as co-founder of the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, the priestly branch of Mother Teresa’s community.

Within the pages of this literary antidote, Father Langford shows readers the depth of Mother Teresa’s confidence in Mary and how, like Mother, we can draw close to Mary for perseverance through the spiritual trials in our lives. Fr. Langford reminds readers that it is a privilege “to stand with Our Lady near the Cross.”

Here then is a hope-filled book that explains what Mother Teresa experienced while offering consolation to all those who are suffering their own Calvary. It also reveals Mother Teresa’s secret—the one constant that overshadows all the other shadows of our lives is the loving presence of Mary, the Mother the Redeemer.