The “spiritual darkness” that Mother Teresa describes in her writings can be difficult to comprehend, but this feeling of emptiness was not caused by either depression or a loss of faith, according to a lecturer at an academic conference organized by the Mother Teresa Institute.
St. Teresa of Calcutta’s “dark night of the soul” was a distinct charism that helped her build her faith and serve others rather than a mere chemical imbalance that induces depression or an abandonment of the Catholic faith, said Loyola University Maryland philosophy professor Derek McAllister at a Sept. 6 symposium held at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., one day after the saint’s feast day.
“If it’s a mental emotional problem, they do not of themselves promote virtue or increase depth of relationship with God,” McAllister said. “Whereas we know with the dark night, the nights do of themselves greatly increase love, humility, patience, and the like. And they decidedly prepare one for deeper prayer.”
The lecture focused on some of Mother Teresa’s letters, which describe an emptiness and a spiritual darkness — essentially an inability to feel the presence of God. St. Teresa, who founded the Missionaries of Charity, was an Albanian sister who spent most of her life serving the poor in Calcutta, India. She was canonized in 2016.
“The darkness is so dark, and I am alone,” St. Teresa wrote. “Unwanted, forsaken. The loneliness of the heart that wants love is unbearable. Where is my faith? Even deep down, there is nothing but emptiness and darkness. My God, how painful is this unknown pain? It pains without ceasing.”
St. Teresa wrote that “the place of God in my soul is blank, there is no God in me” and “I just long and long for God and then it is that I feel he does not want me — he is not there.”
McAllister noted that other saints have had such feelings and referenced St. John of the Cross’ 16th-century poem “Dark Night of the Soul” and his subsequent commentaries on that poem. It describes the Spanish mystic’s crisis of faith and an inability to feel the presence of God even though God was truly present and guiding the experience.
“In darkness and secure, by the secret ladder, disguised — oh, happy chance! — in darkness and in concealment, my house being now at rest,” St. John’s poem reads.
McAllister cited St. John’s descriptions of his experience, noting that “he identifies, by name, melancholy and says that’s not what I’m talking about.” McAllister argued that an “affective condition that overwhelms people” does not accurately describe those experiences, but rather that the experience actively pushed St. John to grow closer to God….
From Catholic News Agency
I believe this so called darkness of the soul brought Saints like Mother Teresa and Saint John of the Cross closer to God. St. John of the Cross once said, “In the dark night of the soul, bright flows the river of God.” On one level I have understand his statement to mean that until one has suffered, one cannot know hope. I also believe this darkness of the soul gives these special saints the courage, faith and obedience to fulfill their earthly missions entrusted to them from Almighty God.
There is also low-grade depression, which many people experience while fully engaging in daily life but would not necessarily be detected by others. Mother Teresa’s “darkness is so dark” thoughts and the sense of lonely abandonment could very well have been an entrenched low-grade form of depression, if not actual clinical depression.
Mother Teresa’s devotion to the suffering, the poor, the abandoned, the dying, the unborn, even amidst her own emotional and spiritual struggles, shows us that she is our mother “coming to us in the dark night of our times to give us comfort, and to prove to us that we have not been orphaned by God”.
As noted in the full article (linked above), the dark night of the soul is a charism. That is different than depression. Spiritual directors are trained to refer directees out for therapy, if they’re experiencing severe or long-lasting depression. The dark night of the soul should also be distinguished from spiritual desolation, which many experience and, according to St. Ignatius of Loyola, should be resisted.
Yes, I read the entire article. Mother Teresa was also very human and could therefore have suffered human spiritual and mental frailties, possibly including a mild depression over an extended period of time. Her beautiful charism was in directing her mental suffering outward and upward to God. I think she would not have wanted to separate her own mental suffering from the suffering of others. I believe she is also a powerful intercessor and a great hope for those who walk among us with the burden of mental illness, because she knew it all too well.
Of course, she could have. My point is that the dark night of the soul, spiritual desolation and depression are often confused. They are not the same things.
After COVID, it seems most have experienced some depression and anxiety. Yet, I don’t think you can diagnose Saint Teresa with mental illness (“the burden of mental illness, because she knew it all too well”). I’m not a therapist. Yet, I have no problem referring persons to therapists when they need mental health care. Some are dealing with issues that are properly spiritual issues (desolation and consolation, as well as the relatively rare dark night of the soul). Readers may want to learn from Fr. Timothy Gallagher about the dark night of the soul at:
https://www.discerninghearts.com/catholic-podcasts/sd5-understanding-the-dark-night-of-st-john-of-the-cross-spiritual-desolation-be-aware-understand-take-action-with-fr-timothy-gallagher-discerning-hearts-podcast/
Fr. Timothy Gallagher and Kris McGregor continue their discussion on spiritual desolation and introduce the concept of the “dark night”. They distinguish between the two, with desolation being a common experience and the dark night a specific phase in the spiritual journey.
Well, it seems that all the great Saints, and even Christ Himself, and Our Blessed Mother, had times of great sadness and sorrow. That is very human, a part of the human experience. We will soon have the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, on Sept. 15th. Mary had Seven Sorrows, according to our Catholic Tradition. A great Saint, or Christ, or His Most Blessed Mother, could endure times of much sorrow and terrible suffering, while on earth. Yet, the souls of the Saints were very holy, and still in union with the Divine. Christ was like us in all things but sin. He was Divine, but shared our human joys and sorrows. Our Church teaches that it is only beyond this world, in Heaven, that full and complete union with God can be fully experienced, by the Saints. That is when their true Eternal Life, in full and complete union with God, actually begins. As for the “darkness” of St. Mother Teresa? I bet she must have been just simply tired and exhausted at times, with her very difficult and challenging work! Her tremendous Faith in God was unshakeable, no matter what she experienced. She was solid as a rock, in her Faith. By contrast, there are regular, worldly people, going through times of clinical depression, perhaps because they are deeply hurt, can’t make sense of life, and feel overwhelmed, discouraged and abandoned, and are perhaps suicidal, and wonder if God exists. No doubt, St. Mother Teresa was probably just tired, and wondered when this “darkness” would pass, and she would know the great experience of union with God. God is a great Mystery! I think that she must have known very well what was going on. I now am wondering if any of the trials and sorrows of the great Saints have been studied by experts, to reveal any possible clues, any links to their spirituality, and what it all might mean, so that we could better understand them. I have wondered about the mental state of Saints like St. Louis Martin, the father of St. Therese of Lisieux, who reportedly suffered greatly after his wife died of cancer, could scarcely bear the eventual loss of his five daughters to the convent, and finally was afflicted with cerebral arteriosclerosis, possibly a form of Alzheimer’s Disease, and was placed in a mental hospital. Perhaps the physical brain, like other organs, can be afflicted with illness, in a Saint– yet, this does not affect their state of great holiness. St. Louis is a Patron Saint of Mental Illness. I do not have enough knowkedge, to understand much about this phenomenon. No doubt, the souls of all the Saints are pure, in full union with God, in Heaven, including those afflicted on earth, with a brain disease. All our earthly trials are meant to hopefully prepare us for Heaven. Perhaps there are some knowledgeable posters out there, who can explain more about all of this. The experience of God is a great Mystery, anyway.
Was St. Mother Teresa just maybe tired, exhausted? The month of September is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, a title given to Mary as she suffered alongside Christ during the passion. A wonderful prayer to recite during this month is the Rosary of the 7 sorrows of Mary.
From what I know, the Saint seeks a total purification of sin, and a total emptying of self, to prepare to be filled more and more, with God. The Saint gives up everything, for God. It is all a great Mystery, far beyond what we can understand. The spiritual “dark night” must indeed be dark, as the Saint goes along, all alone, all by themselves, on Faith alone, very still in prayer and meditation, bravely in the “dark,” yet trusting, led by an unknown Light of Faith, with God at one’s side, unseen, the whole time– though one cannot see the God Whom they seek. God is the One Who acts in the human soul, a human being cannot possibly do anything on their own, but prepare, purify, and empty oneself. And the sudden descent of God into the Saint’s empty, purified soul, very quiet, still, and patiently waiting for the Bridegroom, in prayer and meditation– is compared to a Divine Lover suddenly, in His own right time– descending, and rapturously seducing His Bride– the human soul, totally surrendered to Him! (OMG!!) God is referred to as the “male” part, and the human soul is referred to as the receptive “female” part, in the rapturous Divine Union. The Divine Experience is reported to be absolutely ecstatic, overpoweringly blissful! Similar to a human, romantic Man-Woman love, which is, of course, on a much lower level. But God created all of this– the human, conjugal, married love, sanctified at His altar in church– a holy Sacrament– and the much higher, far purer love relationship of a Saint with God. So, human love and the Saint’s Divine Union with God, are both holy, but in different ways.
It serns that we, on earth, may have some confused or mistaken notions of God. Those who have deep experiences of God, are sure to have new (and maybe scary?) spiritual experiences that they may never have had before. They may be very surprised! We know so little about all of this! It is a great Divine Mystery! Who knows exactly what was going on, in the soul of St. Mother Teresa?
From what I understand, there is absolutely nothing a Saint can do, to “control” spiritual experiences of God. They have to be very patient, and do all they can, for their soul’s purification, and to be as humble and empty of self as possible, very bare, fully surrendered to God in all things. Renouncing all worldly things, taking a risk and waiting, hoping and praying for God. Patience, endurance of all trials sent by God, enduring times of darkness and confusion, gratefully accepting in Faith whatever God may send, pleasant or terrible. And waiting on God, patiently. That is what the Saints do. They “never know the day nor the hour that the Bridegroom may come”– but they are ready for Him! They are totally committed to Him, surrendered to His holy service, no matter what– even ready to die for Him, if they must! We have so much to learn, from all the holy Saints!
Well, perhaps I have misunderstood all of this. Maybe St. Mother Teresa died just perfectly, and whatever she experienced, or wrote or thought, does not matter at all. A Saint exists only to glorify God. Their experiences in life may seem great– but they only exist as tiny, humble instruments of God’s Love in the world. “I am nothing, God is All.” So what, if St. Mother Teresa had her times on earth, of “darkness,” or whatever she called it? I bet that to her, that “darkness” would now just seem silly. Now, she is a Saint, living in union with God, in Eternal Life!