Divine Love

I have slowly been imbibing Mother Teresa's letters in the new book - Mother Teresa - Come Be My Light - not wanting them to end.

These letters remind of the times I did a few silent retreats with my friends at the Convent of the Visitation Monastery in St. Paul, MN. On those occasions, I had the grace to sleep in a room that Mother Teresa had stayed in. The nuns would tell the story that she asked for a bucket to wash her sari, and never slept on the bed. That is as close to Mother Teresa as I got - praying in the same place.

There is a certain power in praying or being in spots that saints have been in. You can be in their energy field and feel them and be graced by their presence. I had an incredibly moving experience meditating in the garden that Yogananda often meditated in at Mount Washington, in Los Angeles - not unlike the experience I had years before sitting in the cell of the medieval mystic, Julian of Norwich, who seemed to whisper in my ear, her oft quoted adage:

All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of things
shall be well!

But going back to this collection of letters...

I know Mother Teresa did not want them published - but they truly are a gift to all of us - and such a window into her soul. The letters are a source of comfort to anyone who has experienced a dark night of the soul. She was able to do the incredible work she did while enduring the stinging absence of the Divine's Presence in her life for over 50 years! If that is not love - I don't know what is!

I wrote this poem a few weeks back while reading this book:

In the Stillness of the Heart

Mother Teresa often reminded
That God speaks--
In the stillness of the heart

I dive deeper into
The stillness of the heart
And like this saintly mystic
I too, seek to make of my life
Something beautiful for God

Mother Teresa withheld nothing--
And refused God nothing,
Because she heard His Voice
In the stillness of the heart

Much is asked
And all is given
When we truly dwell
In the stillness of the heart