A Roman Catholic bishop responding to a forthcoming book on Mother Teresa said that even though she had spiritual struggles and personal doubts, the most important lesson was to trust and depend on God which she did throughout her life.
The Philippines bishop, Carlito Cenzon of Baguio, told the Ecumenical News International news agency that although the Nobel peace prize laureate had doubts about God existence but nevertheless she trusted in the same God which made her sanctity even more extraordinary.
"Mother Teresa may have doubted God's existence, but she showed in her life that she trusted and depended on this very God. This makes her sanctity all the more extraordinary," he said.
Reverend James Martin, a Jesuit priest who wrote the best-selling book, entitled 'My Life With The Saints,' told Christianity Today that this revelation made the Catholic nun even more accessible to everyday believers since it showed even saints faced struggle in their spiritual life.
"I think that this is a real treasure for not only believers, but even doubters and skeptics," Reverend Martin said. "I think it also makes her much more accessible to the everyday believer. It shows that even the saints struggle in their spiritual lives and that they don't have it easier than we do," he said. "They sometimes have it harder than we do."
Despite the difficulties she faced, Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in an online column in 'On Faith,' a project of The Washington Post and Newsweek Magazine, that the faith which save is not faith in our ability but rather the faith in Christ.
"But the faith that saves is not faith in faith, nor faith in our ability [to] maintain faith, but faith in Christ," he emphasized. "Our confidence is in Christ, not in ourselves."
Chuck Colson, Founder and Chairman of Prison Fellowship Ministries, wrote on the Breaking Point website that the essence of faith is to believe even in the absence of evidence. It is only through this way that people can know Christ and without this leap of faith they can never know God personally or accept His will in Christ, he wrote.
"The very essence of faith, you see, is believing even in the absence of evidence. And it is the only way we can know Christ. We can conclude rationally that God exists, that His Word is true, and that He has revealed Himself. But without that leap of faith, we will never know God personally or accept His will in Christ."
Those letters, written by Mother Teresa over more than 60 years, form a new book called Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light