Her Son’s Life Gave Her an Action-Driven Faith

When the official biography of Mother Teresa was published what captured the public was more than her service to the “poorest of the poor.”

She joined the ranks of those spiritual leaders among us who confessed that their faith journeys were weighed down with doubt and even darkness.

She once said, “When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul.”

She would experience times of “renewed faith” but she also had periods of “spiritual dryness.”

I have known people like myself who have struggled with their faith. I have also known people whose faith has come as easy and gently as the sun rising brightly on a summer morning and people whose faith was shaped by actions that became the center of their lives.

Such a person was Anne McCormick who I knew at Trinity Cathedral in Easton, Maryland.

Anne’s faith story became action-driven some 40 years ago. She writes:

“Previous to 1981, my spiritual journey was insular. I was born into a family of Roman Catholics and thus my faith was daily Mass and communion, daily rosaries, humility, and strict adherence to the faith requirements taught by years of Catholic schools and modeling my Dad’s observance, including Mass in Latin.

“As I stepped out of the family cocoon and began my teaching and writing career, I…