Anthony R. Curmi, St Julians
The First Source and Mother Theresa (2)
John Guillaimier persists in trying to convince readers that God does not exist. He is entitled to his opinion as an atheist but by vilifying Mother Theresa of Calcutta he has gone a step too far. In a world that professes – but does not practice as is so evident in some countries – freedom of religion one cannot but accept his decision not to believe in a God he has never seen.
However, Mother Theresa was there to be seen by all in our own lifetime seeking to console and attend to the needs of the poorest of the poor. She was awarded the Noble Prize by a non-Catholic organisation. By the time of her death in 1997 her Missionaries of Charity had spread to more than 120 countries and touched millions of lives.
Mother Theresa comforted and ensured that anyone she and her sisters encountered in the gutters of Calcutta and elsewhere received medical aid and was not left to die a death bereft of any dignity whatsoever. She made no distinction between believers in God or atheists. Yet Mr Giullaimier feels justified in making disparaging comments on such a saintly soul whose mission on this earth was recognised by eminent members of various religions and even by atheists.
Another correspondent has suggested to Mr Guillaimier a number of books worth his reading. I will not add to that list but simply quote from Fr Joseph Langford’s book Mother Theresa’s Secret Fire:
“Soon after she received the Nobel Prize, Time magazine’s cover story told of a young man, an ardent atheist, who, after reading about Mother Theresa, realised, against all his long-held convictions, that there must be a God. Up until then, all the usual arguments for the existence of God had left him unmoved; but the radiance of that face, and the love in those eyes, and the beauty of that life – that was something different. He abandoned everything – friends and career and future – and entered a monastery.”
I am sure that Mother Theresa has not been offended by what Mr Giullaimier wrote about her and that she is praying for him from her heavenly abode.
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Victor Pulis
Jan 18th, 07:17
you are overlooking the fact that a number of these cures were 'sudden',
Mr. Leo Attard
One of the prerequisits for a miracle is the sudden cure so if only some of the said miracles were sudden the others were not miracles.
one cannot expect every single problem to be solved -- then we'd be in utopia, or actually paradise.
Mr. Leo Attard
I would expect god to heal everyone who shows faith in him. Why shouldn't there be paradise? That's god's plan for the human race isn't it?
but i have to admit that there are strange things that happen in association with religion / god ...
Mr. Leo Attard
All religions claim miracles by their respective gods are we to conclude that there are more then one god? The ancient Egyptians prayed to their miriad gods and sometimes got what they prayed for in fact their religion lasted almost 4,000 years that is twice as long as the christian religion so far .The Assyrians, Greeks and Romans also prayed and got their prayers answered sometimes.
Mr leo attard
Jan 18th, 21:12
you are still avoiding the issue --- explain the miracles that DID happen and which were confirmed by scientists. dont ask me why God doesn t heal everyone --- someday you might get the chance to ask him straight to his face ---- so you avoid the issue by going all the way to greeks, etc etc..... if we are going to say that one's faith / state of mind can cause these healings, like bone regeneration, then doctors should give up operations and surgery and just focus on pep-talk: you've got a brain tumor --- FEEL GOOD....THINK POSITIVE...YOU'RE CURED!.......You are so pathetic to compare recent events such as the sudden regeneration of bone, occuring at a place of religious significance, confirmed by scientists and confirmed by existing documents with mythology, with the regeneration of Prometheus's liver or whatever it was.....and, one may argue, according to our beliefs THERE IS A UTOPIA, except it's not on a physical plane...
Gerry Cowie
Jan 17th, 23:39
Ramon Casha falls straight into the trap of looking for selective quotes and articles in a vain attempt to bring a cloud over the name of Blessed Mother Theresa. So keen is he to mock that he calls her a saint when she has not yet even been beatified!
Ramon Casha should present his "evidence" to the Vatican in his humanistic attempt to have Mother Theresa's cause put to bed. But he knows that what he has dug up has already been fully examined by the Vatican who know a fake story when they see one!
It is good to see however that there is some curiosity by Ramon Casha about God and the Catholic faith in that he has gone to a lot of trouble to try to knock at the small number of miracles officially recognised by the Church. Again he helps to educate all his fellow humanists by making it clear that a miracle is not regarded as such unless or until a number of tests have been met. After all if the Church ratified every single miracle, Ramon would no doubt say that they ratified too many! Sorry, Ramon, but you cannot have your cake and eat it!
Why is Ramon trying so hard to try to make the Church and Mother Theresa look so bad? I think we should all pray for him.
Meanwhile I note that even Karl Consiglio is demonstrating yet more interest in the Catholic religion, suggesting that he might even believe in Mother Theresa. She will of course lead him to God!
Mr leo attard
Jan 16th, 21:22
@ Ramon Casha...in your letter to the Times (Jan 13) I made a comment on the lourdes miracles and you never answered it. Please do so, here. Or do you avoid issues that science has not been able to explain. Mind you, the scientists of Lourdes did not leave it at 'medically inexplicable' --- they called them 'miracles' with all the religious significance the word implies.
Ramon Casha
Jan 17th, 05:48
Sorry, I may have missed it.
There are 67 "miracles" officially recognised by the Catholic Church. There are approximately 5 million visitors to Lourdes annually, and it's been a shrine for just over 150 years. An estimated 200 million people have visited that site since 1860.
67 inexplicable cures out of 200 million is, quite frankly, disappointing. Our body has great self-healing abilities, and in fact many medical treatments merely assist the body's own defences. It's not at all surprising that 0.0000335% of people got well from an illness. You know what would be a real miracle? An amputee regrowing his/her limbs.
Karl Consiglio
Jan 17th, 08:30
@Ramon Casha,
Yes that, or if it starts raining money.
Victor Pulis
Jan 17th, 11:54
Miracles are cures or events not explainable with the limited knowledge we possess at the moment. It doesn't have to be divine intervention. Jesus himself often said "Your faith has healed you" Interestingly Jesus didn't (couldn't?) perform any miracles in Nazareth where he was known as the carpenter's son. it is against the nature of an omnipotent, omniscient, god to discriminate among believers.
Mr leo attard
Jan 17th, 20:01
@mr Casha....sorry to disagree for the following reasons: one cannot expect every single problem to be solved -- then we'd be in utopia, or actually paradise. i agree with the self-healing abilitie of the body, but there are limits -- for example the regeneration of the bone, another case of a boy with damaged ear-bones then getting his hearing back and his ear-bones...these were investigated by doctors and they didn't conclude ''the body healed itself'', they concluded 'miracle' and you are overlooking the fact that a number of these cures were 'sudden', as in the case of the man with the degenerated hip bone --- one minute a degenarated hip, into the bath and annointment of the sick, the next minute I AM CURED,,,,believe me, i love science and though i have faith, still i am not the MEA CULPA MEA CULPA type and am open-minded... but i have to admit that there are strange things that happen in association with religion / god ... just like the stigmata phenomenon; there are cases of people bleeding, but some of them are amazing -- example, padre Pio, and theresa neumann.... anyway, believe whatever you like, but God will not force himself upon you, there will be no lightning bolt experience -- it is a very personal, inner journey of discovery --- there are those who succeeed, there are those who fail. just be true to yourself.
Gerry Cowie
Jan 16th, 20:40
Sadly yet unsurprisingly the usual secularist apologist, desperate to secularise Malta from thousands of miles away, and om denial as to the majority catholicity of Malta, has added his comments. Yet we have no explanation as usual for his stance! Mr Flynn is right that Mother Theresa is dead but she has gone on to eternal life - as indeed he will. Mother Theresa is on the path to sainthood and there is nothing anybody can do to change that!
Ramon Casha is right that appearances can be deceptive. ie what he has said is in fact deceptive in itself. Mother Theresa would never have been put forward for sainthood by the Church were there any evidence of what Ramon has said. Why on earth a confirmed humanist has set out to deny the truths of the Catholic Church, in which he has no interest, I fail to understand. Where he has got his selective information he has not said - he has just generalised. I think people are more sensible than to fall for it!
Indeed if he has any firm evidence then he should present it to the Vatican. Where is his firm evidence???
Long Live Catholic Malta!
Saint Theresa of Calcutta, pray for us and for all who would deny God!
Ramon Casha
Jan 17th, 06:00
Mother Theresa was made a saint because she was popular. In fact that's why all saints are made into saints. They are popular, they have fans, so the church turns them into saints to get the fan base. The reason they put her on a "fast track" is because the former pope wanted her to be made a saint before the true stories emerged.
Here's an article from Forbes India Magazine.
http://forbesindia.com/article/on-assignment/mother-teresas-legacy-is-under-a-cloud/15932/1?id=15932&pg=1
"A report in German magazine Stern, revealed that in 1991 only seven percent of the donation received at Missionaries of Charity was used for charity." -- I think that says it all, doesn't it?
Victor Pulis
Jan 17th, 13:12
When was mother Theresa declared a saint? She was beatified by the catholic church on 19th October 2003 but I don't recall her being canonised.
Karl Consiglio
Jan 16th, 11:51
Makes me believe in Mother Theresa, not God
Ramon Casha
Jan 16th, 11:28
Appearances can be deceiving.
Many of the people who went to work in Mother Theresa's centres in India and elsewhere came back angry and disappointed by what they found. These places are not hospitals, they are places where people are brought in to die - often without being given any medication or pain relief EVEN when these were available, simply because Mother Theresa believed that "pain brings one closer to God". Her organisation collected large amounts of money but for the most part, it was used to build more monasteries for her nuns throughout the world, rather than better facilities for the poor and sick. Of course when she needed medical care for herself, she flew across the world to get the best that money can buy.
The image of Mother Theresa is that of a poor and humble old woman full of compassion. Reality seems to have been very different. I have no personal experience about this matter but information is available to those who wish to find out more.
charles caruana
Jan 16th, 18:12
'I have no personal experience about this matter but information is available to those who wish to find out more.' And yet you pontificate with the inverted dogmatism of an atheist know-all about the figure of Mother Theresa and her work? Have you PERSONALLY checked the 'information' you mention and objectively weighed the evidence for its truth, or are you just parroting Hitchens like Mr Dale below? Have you even bothered to check the work being done by the local missionary nuns in Malta? Go on, be the exemplary atheist and go gather some empirical evidence yourself if you want to be taken seriously. You know when I'll start giving people like you some credibility? When I at least see you picking from the gutter a dying human derelict who is disease ridden and stinking with pus, take him in some shelter, clean him and simply hold him while he dies. Then perhaps you may come blathering on this blog.
Andy Farrugia
Jan 16th, 19:13
"Appearances can be deceiving." (ramon casha)
Equivocation, character assassination and iniquity are pathological; and some "sappitello da quattro soldi" is loaded with all three. Endlessly hilarious.
Andy Farrugia
Jan 16th, 19:16
Hahaha! Seems like this casha guy has read "The Missionary Position" by the late whoever, and been rather impressed. Hilarious.
Ramon Casha
Jan 16th, 19:31
@charles caruana: Thank you for confirming that what I said was correct. Picking up dying people and bringing them inside while collecting millions worldwide by pretending to provide medical care when in fact you don't is what I was referring to.
William Flynn
Jan 16th, 11:01
Mother Theresa is dead. Mr Guillaumier cannot offend her; no one can.
John Dale
Jan 16th, 09:46
Mr Curmi exhibits all the expected bias of the typical knee-jerk religious apologist that we are all so used to, that convinces no-one not already indoctrinated into the particular cult under discussion, and that just goes to further reinforce the stereotype of the non-thinking theist.
Whilst he is recommending books, he might like to take a look at The Missionary Position by Christopher Hitchens. I doubt it would change a mind so resolutely corrupted by superstition and dogma, but it would be interesting to see if he dare read anything that challenges the party line.
charles caruana
Jan 16th, 17:49
Trust an atheist to quote another atheist as if he were Gospel truth. Have you personally checked the sources of Hitchens and the use he made of them? Can you personally guarantee he was not lying? Have you known at first hand the work being done by Mother Theresa's nuns? And there is no trace of 'the expected bias of the typical knee-jerk' atheist apologist in your comment?
Mother Theresa's sanctity and work will be revered and flourishing long after Hitchens and his books have become forgotten footnotes in history.
George Vella
Jan 16th, 20:00
@ Mr. Charles Caruana, I sincerely loved this one. You hit the nail on its head!
"Trust an atheist to quote another atheist as if he were Gospel truth."
I say to you let a fool stay with a fool for his hardheadedness.
Atheist philosophy is their fear in God whom we sometimes refer to as the Creator.