In my previous posting (Analysis of Deep Joy) I talked about the fact that Mother Teresa has had her own faith crisis, as was lastly revealed through the publication (in 2007) of some of her letters to her superiors. But also how she wrote about the deep joy she found in Jesus - in spite of these moments of spiritual crisis. Of course it cannot be easy all the time - not even for Mother Teresa.
This well-known catholic nun went through long lasting periods that everything looked dark, the sky was silent, God seemed far away. 
Some atheists have enjoyed this. I heard Sam Harris poke fun about it in some debate about religion. Another atheist, Hitchins, already attacked Mother Teresa during her lifetime, accusing here of anything he could come up with. But what was it about, really? What was the reality? An attack by atheists you may call a 'reality' too, but you must be kidding, then. After all, atheists usually make believers the authors of their own problems - that is something you cannot disprove, it is strange, has little to do with real life. Mother Teresa had worries, but atheists were not among her worries, they were the least thing to worry about. Reality was about a women who saw all this suffering of people out in the field, and having a strong desire to do something about it with the help of God. Reality often has little to do with technical attacks or discussions based on someone's ideological view on what another person does. Reality is where people see the dire needs of others and realize that God wants us to act in some way.
Reality in his case came to us in a person who in the end had established missionaries of charity in 123 countries (totaling 610 missions posts) by the time she died, and who was never at rest as long as she did not have the idea that she had done everything that could possibly be done. Who cares what an atheist thinks about that?
Okay, there is the fact that she got through spiritual troubles. That tells something about her reality of course. It probably confirms that indeed Christians need one another, as we already know. We are one family, we need to be more aware of that. Maybe mother Teresa has done too much on her own. We don't know exactly, but this is a very comprehensible, and a very common mistake among Christians. The Catholic Church may have made mistakes too. But, frankly, there are certainly cases where a Christian may really be on his own for a while, or at least feel like that. This is what being called for a particular task may mean. When things become difficult, it sometimes means a challenge you have to face, and face it together with God alone. This is biblical stuff so to speak. What worried mother Teresa was: not experiencing this inner relationship with God anymore. But the longing for God was not gone. Her struggle confirmed the reality of this deep longing for God.
The fact that an atheist does not understand this is, of course, no surprise, but it seems to me that this kind of attitude is also linked with secularism in a more general way. Particularly the tendency to think about humans in terms of a materialistic world view: societies as well as the people in it are machines that must be improved. Everything can be solved through a 'system', by rules. It is one of the many ways to describe the difference between Europe and America (be it simplified somehow) - America's 'liberal' spirit has, of course, often led to an amount of decadence in many of their citizens (I mean: it is often more visible in America); but it is this very same liberal spirit that leaves room for bringing aid to people in a way which is not dependant of political institutes. Social political systems are not necessarily bad - that's not the point. But in America, it is still considered perfectly normal that religion is another source of social care, a parallel system. They do not feel ashamed of that, they do not think that only a political system is the right answer to human problems. This source remains entirely open, it is an inherent part of the entire concept of liberty. It is, in fact, very Jewish and very Christian. America's social model and spirit is, in this respect, still close to how things were at the time of Jesus. Of course this does not impede any improvements that come with modern developments. But this spirit of doing what your hand finds to do represents a rich aspect of liberty.
Many secularists and atheists don't like that idea. It is low, or shabby, in their eyes. Humanism (read: idealized systems of human origin) can do much better. Not so in God's eyes. God gives no priority to utopian considerations, he gives priority to the old love-your-neighbor-as-yourself thing.
For Mother Teresa, God was never out of the picture. She may have felt like she was out of Gods picture, for whatever personal reason, but there was no anti-supranaturalism on her mind of course. She new that there is more about life than what we see. And she didn't give up.
Christians must realize that trouble can cross their path. Troubles exists, it is part of the reality. We are humans, so we are weak. And there is much suffering in this world, but too little people actively being involved in doing something about it. There you have a challenge. You could take that as a potential source of dispiritedness, but taking it as a challenge is what those people do who become examples for us. This challenge means a responsibility, and believers see this responsibility as one given by the Maker of all creatures and all creation. This is also exactly what the revelation - the books recorded by the Hebrews, later the Jewish people, then the apostles) is about: the revelation of a challenge. The Western world has taken up this challenge, but in secularized form it often tends to become a 'technical challenge' - which is in fact a degenerated (but not necessarily useless) response to the challenge. Technical solutions can be very helpful - but the are so much unlike Mother Teresa. That is why great examples make such a great impression on us. Great things are always done through great human beings.
Jesus gave arguably the most influential example how we can deal with this challenge by giving ourselves, and let God push us to the limits. Nothing has changed about that today. This is about suffering people, a world in need, and what is needed is my and your loving and caring hands. It is about becoming the hands and feet of God in this world, and make sense of this life we are living. This is what Mother Teresa's struggle was about. That is what reality is about. That is what being a Christian is about. Being Christian may be a lot more than this - but certainly nothing less.
A difficult task? You bet! That's why I need examples too.
Tip: Hebrews chapter 11 - Wonderful piece of reality.
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