Astin's review
status:
Read in December, 2007 — I have a copy to sell/swap
In this book, I encountered the private writings of somebody that I've always admired, and touted as my personal hero. Through this book, I discovered the specific reasons why Mother Teresa has always been a person who resonates with my personal ethos. Her deep devotion and love of Jesus is a recognition of her depravity as a human being, her complete devotion to the concept of servent, and her embodiment of the command to love one another. The result is somebody that you can't help but admire, even if your experience of or belief in Jesus is non-existant or negative. You discover a person who is completely authentic to her belief. Centered on the love and sacrifice of Jesus, Mother Teresa recognized the great disparity for love and service for the poor of Calcutta, and responded to the call that each person is intimately loved by God, and deserved to be loved by Him through the example and service of fellow beings. Through her lifelong devotion to the poorest of the poor, she be...more
In this book, I encountered the private writings of somebody that I've always admired, and touted as my personal hero. Through this book, I discovered the specific reasons why Mother Teresa has always been a person who resonates with my personal ethos. Her deep devotion and love of Jesus is a recognition of her depravity as a human being, her complete devotion to the concept of servent, and her embodiment of the command to love one another. The result is somebody that you can't help but admire, even if your experience of or belief in Jesus is non-existant or negative. You discover a person who is completely authentic to her belief. Centered on the love and sacrifice of Jesus, Mother Teresa recognized the great disparity for love and service for the poor of Calcutta, and responded to the call that each person is intimately loved by God, and deserved to be loved by Him through the example and service of fellow beings. Through her lifelong devotion to the poorest of the poor, she became an icon of compassion to people from all walks of life and faith. What this book discloses is the interior darkness that permeated her life from the moment she began her work with the poor and created the Missionaries of Charity. Leading up to her break from her religious order, Teresa was so intimate with her God and with Jesus. She was consistently feeling His loving guidance and presence in her life, and enjoyed and benefited this love from her 'spouse.' Following His guidance, and through years of prayer and devotion to His voice, the Missionaries of Charity were born. Immediately, that close relationship was gone. The object of her devotion was no longer accessible or present, and the joyful light in her heart was replaced by the sensation of darkness. Only in her service of the poorest of the poor - and in their lives - did that light exist. What Mother Teresa endured has been compared to St John of the Cross' Dark Night of the Soul...except that this endured for the rest of her life, with only rare exceptions. And although she missed the personal presence of her beloved, and struggled with this loss, she recognized that her call was to serve the poorest of the poor, to do all these things with great joy, and to be an example of Christ's love in their lives. Her darkness became her mainstay, and her everlasting devotion to the poor all the more remarkable given her interior state. Truly, I don't know of a better example of giving of oneself. She became a light of love because she made herself so little. What affects me most profoundly is the concept of being little. There is so much we do as humans that gets in the way of listening and loving. I am too weak to bear the interior darkness under which Mother Teresa suffered. But I aspire to increase my devotion to the service and love of others. To do so, I must decrease my own self, and allow the presence of the mysterious Verb that authored life and commands us to love one another. I must become more little....less
Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light 
