Seeds of Silence:finding space with God​
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Quoting Silence

Monday 4th October, 2021
Picture

Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light (Riding, 2007), 310.
Image: Chelsey Schweitzer, Wisconsin, watercolour, chelseyscweitzer.com


Thiss quote is from Mother Teresa, from Come Be My Light: the revealing private writings of the Nobel Peace Prize winner (Rider, 2007), 310 (see here). Mother Teresa was heralded in her lifetime for her work amongst the poorest in India and, perceived as a woman of deep faith, was eventually sainted by the Roman Catholic Church. Yet, after her death, her private journals revealed that for decades she perceived that she lived in a state of internal spiritual emptiness: she had not had any sense of God's presence for approaching five decades. Whilst these revelations shocked many, they perhaps should not have been so surprising. Many of the Mystics report similar lengthy periods of spiritual darkness and a sense of God's absence. Her descriptions bring to mind St John of the Cross's depictions of the 'long, dark night of the soul'. For more about Mother Teresa's encounter with this dark and dry period in her spiritual path, see here. If you'd like to understand more about the 'dark night of the soul', you could listen to this podcast by James Finley, renowned scholar on John of the Cross and one of the main teachers at the Centre for Action and Contemplation, here. It is just one in a great series hosted by Finley, called 'Turning to the Mystics'.

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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • SILENCE
    • What is Seeds of Silence?
    • What does SoS offer?
    • What else does SoS offer?
    • Who is SoS for?
    • WHO is the SoS team?
    • Spiritual Accompaniment >
      • Spiritual Accompaniment query
    • COMMENTS about SoS
    • Safeguarding
  • SILENCE QUOTES
    • This week's quote
    • Voices from Silence
    • The Voices Collection
    • A month with ...
    • The Quoting Silence Collections
    • In silence, waiting: Advent 2024
  • EVENTS
    • Meditation: online groups & teaching
    • In person events
    • Virtual events
    • Virtual retreats
    • Residential Retreats
  • RESOURCES
    • Organisations
    • Podcasts and recordings
    • BLOGS re silence & contemplative life
    • Poems & prayers for silence & meditation
    • Virtual, self-guided retreats
    • Virtual courses: self-guided or streamed
    • Books & DVD suggestions
    • New books
    • 50+ Poems for hard times
    • Documents to download
    • Covid Resources
  • WRITINGS & Talks
  • CONTACT
    • CONTACT Seeds of Silence
    • Quoting Silence email Request Form
    • Voices from Silence request
    • Donate to Seeds of Silence
    • Unsubscribe