Sponsor

wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

The Life and Death of Father Mychal Judge

Friday, January 02, 2009

Franciscan priest Father Mychal Judge, who worked with the FDNY, is listed as the first official casualty of 9/11. Michael Daly’s recent biography of him is The Book of Mychal: The Surprising Life and Heroic Death of Father Mychal Judge.

Guests:

Michael Daly

Comments [1]

Ed Helmrich from Larchmont

Dear Leonard Lopate,
This was an excellent show, of course, but your comment about Mother Teresa needs a small comment. You said, in asking about the doubts of Father Judge, that in the recent publication of the letters of Mother Teresa that 'even Mother Teresa had doubts'.
You have to be careful about this statement. It's clear that Mother Teresa did not feel the Presence of God for many years. She identified this with the experience (called the dereliction) of Jesus on the Cross: "Why have You abandoned me?"). And then it's a question of desperation because you miss God so much. And you wonder if what you're doing has displeased Him.
This 'desert' experience is common to the mystics, see St. John of the Cross, but it lasted a long time with her. She took her inspiration from this moment of abandonment in Jesus' Life, when He said on the Cross: "I thirst" (for souls).
But to imply that Mother Teresa had doubts about the existence of God or the truth of the Catholic faith, in a speculative or intellectual sense, is not so. All through her work, she said that she did it for Jesus, and that she only could do it because of His grace and power behind her, that He was the one doing it, she was just cooperating.
Statements like that about Mother Teresa can trouble people if not explained.

Jan. 03 2009 12:13 PM
Vote this comment up Vote this comment down Score: 0/0

Leave a Comment

Register for your own account so you can vote on comments, save your favorites, and more. Learn more.
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. We reserve the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the Comment Guidelines before posting. By leaving a comment, you agree to New York Public Radio's Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use.







URL

If you enter anything in this field your comment will be treated as spam
Location
* Denotes a required field