July-August 1997
ONE PILGRIM'S PROGESS
Mother Teresa and Me
Is it possible for a Catholic to be Christian?
by J. Michael Feazell
During a conversation among a group of evangelicals, the subject of college football came up. Speaking of a certain coach, one church leader asked, "Now he's a Christian, isn't he?"
"Oh no," came the reply. "He's a Catholic."
Guardians of the true faith, we conservative evangelical Protestants. Just ask us.
There are some things many of us "true Christians" just take for granted. One is that I and my friends are true Christians.
And Catholics aren't.
But what about Mother Teresa? Although I've never met her, I feel, like so many people, that somehow I seem to know her. Somehow, she seems to be on "our side," even though she's awell, you know, the C word.
Every time I read about this woman, I'm moved, I believe by the Holy Spirit, to tears.
Tears of joy for what our Lord is doing in her. Tears of praise for what our Lord is doing in the world through people who love him more than their own lives. Tears of pain for the poorest of the poor to whom she ministers the grace and peace of our Savior.
Becoming Christlike
We all know Jesus lives in his people. And we all know that when Jesus lives in his people, they begin to act like him.
With that in mind, it's pretty clear that some of his people let Jesus call the shots in their lives a lot more than others do. And it's pretty clear to this Protestant that Mother Teresa hears and obeys the voice of my Savior a whole lot better than I do.
Maybe that's why I feel like I know her somehow. Because Jesus is at work in her, the same Jesus I read about and pray to every day.
Jesus said: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35, New Revised Standard Version).
I love theological precision. But do I love Jesus? And do I love the people he loves?
I want to say yes. But what about Mother Teresa? Do I love her? And if I do, do I love her as a sister in Christ?
Like it or not, Jesus lives in a little Catholic woman. What am I to make of that?
I'm a conservative evangelical Protestant, and we know that Catholics are the bad guys. So how could she be a real Christian? Doesn't she worship Mary? Doesn't she pray to idols? Doesn't she worship the saints? That's what Catholics do, isn't it?
Shattered Stereotypes
Through this one precious life of a Catholic nun, Jesus has shown me that I can never again say that Catholics aren't Christian.
Yes, I know there are Catholics who are not Christian. But, then, I know there are Protestants who aren't Christian, either. I think I used to be one.
I guess it's not whether you're Catholic or Protestant or Eastern Orthodox that determines whether you are a Christian. It's Jesus. And Jesus lives in that little Catholic woman, just as he lives and works in a lot of other folks all over the world.
For me, Mother Teresa breaks the Protestant paradigm. Jesus, at work in the heart and hands of Mother Teresa, has reached more than the poorest of the poor. He's reached me. And maybe that's the same thing.
"Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them."
-- Mother Teresa of Calcutta