Don't be unnerved by what you'll be hearing about Mother Teresa

Seen today on the DrudgeReport:

SECRET LIFE OF MOTHER TERESA: Newly Published Letters Reveal 50-Year Crisis of Faith ...

Which links to this article in Time magazine: "Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith."

The article is a review of a new book that Doubleday is releasing on September 18th, entitled "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light." The book "consisting primarily of correspondence between Teresa and her confessors and superiors over a period of 66 years."

I should be receiving a review copy of this book from Doubleday soon.

Suffice it to say for the present that the Time article looks to have missed the mark severely re: the spiritual draught in Mother Teresa's life that the book describes. I would recommend reading the book itself instead, or, in place of that, a competent review of it by a Catholic spiritual master once it has been published.

The Time article, on the other hand, certainly in its title and first few paragraphs, falls into the temptation of trying for shock value rather than honestly addressing the deep spiritual issues that the book discusses. And sadly, article titles and the first few paragraphs of those articles are the most often read, and generally contribute most to the public's general perception of an issue, the "knee-jerk" response of a media-soaked culture to a topic.

A clear error from the first page: the author frames Mother Teresa's request that her personal writings and correspondence be destroyed (a common act, which she shares with people like Pope John Paul II), as a decision that was motivated by embarrassment about her spiritual trials. This kind of mistaken conclusion tells me that the Time author is reading the book through an incomplete secular perspective and simply does not have enough knowledge of the long tradition of Christian spiritual experience/writing that he needs for insightful analysis.

You can bet, however, that Time's take on this topic will become the party line for the mainstream media; a state of affairs which could leave many folks confused about Mother Teresa's saintly character and legacy.

So be prepared.