Ann: Btw, Mother Teresa,…
Mother Teresa: Call me Agnese. That was my given name and the name of an ordinary soul, not the persona that I became. And you want to ask me something…
Ann: Yes. Did you get rid of the gremlins that were putting nasty thoughts in my head earlier?
Mother Teresa: Yes and no. Your decision to turn away banished them. They creep in through the cracks that doubt creates when it starts to contaminate faith. I come to you now, woman to woman, soul to soul, because, though through prayer and supplication we can receive help, we each have to want to banish those gremlins and live in faith. As women, given as we are to roles which of necessity involve subjugation, we are sitting targets for thoughts that seek to degrade us in our own eyes. And if that is accomplished, the victory is theirs.
Ann: It sounds like you fought this fight.
Mother Teresa: Every day of my life. A woman in a man’s world, in a man’s institution and one moreover subjugated to some extent by the corruption of power and wealth, I became a target. To become effective, I had first to fight off my own sense of unworthiness, and this I did by concentrating on my mission, on those who had no one else, and, yes, I knew how to shame the powers that were into letting me have my way.
I have mentioned before that I was not immune to the same ego inflation that infected my “betters,” as they thought of themselves, but I can tell you now that no one is better than anyone else, that the holiest cause can support the lowliest intention, and that the highest magnate can bow down before God.
It is for us to choose to banish those gremlins such as those who tried to put one over on you today. I have been there, I have triumphed and I have succumbed, as we all do. The main thing is to stay awake so that you can call them out every time you see your traitorous ego rising like a cobra from the shelter of your holy soul.
Then is the time to bring all of your weapons to bear, the most effective being laughter, for, when you think of it, how silly is it of them to challenge the reality of a God who is the creator of everything in the universe included their own shriveled souls?
Wish them light and redemption, and send them off to play in their own sand box until they too can come round into the light.
It happens to everyone so even they need not despair.
January 28, 2021