Throughout history, Christians have been called by God to active engagement in society on behalf of the poor and oppressed. Christian leaders have been instrumental in caring for people who are poor, fighting injustice and advocating for social change. But they have never done so on their own power. Their energy and zeal were fueled by inner spiritual practices that propelled them forward into the world.Activist and historian Mae Elise Cannon explores the direct connection between Christians' personal relationship with God and outward actions of kindness, mercy, compassion and advocacy. She looks at how notable Christian leaders were able to face societal challenges because of the rich depths of their spiritual practices. For example: - Mother Teresa's practice of silence compelled her to service.- Dietrich Bonhoeffer's prayer life equipped his discipleship.- Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community empowered his proclamation.- Oscar Romero's discipline of submission prepared him to face martyrdom.Biographical profiles of these and other key figures from around the world give us concrete examples of how activism and advocacy can be sustained over the long haul. Cannon also describes modern-day activists who embody the synergy of faith and action, with practical lessons for our own lives.Find yourself spiritually transformed by these examples, and follow in their footsteps in just service to the world.
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Silence is at the root of our union with God and with one another.
Mother Teresa[1]
Today I woke up very early at my parents’ home in rural southern Maryland. The rest of the house is quiet (which is unusual!), and I am entering into the silence of the morning. The view from my parents’ living room overlooks the Patuxent River, one of the largest estuaries of the Chesapeake Bay. The water is rolling gently. The sun is just starting to make its mark on the cornfields across the river. I can see the trees along the shoreline gently blowing in the wind. There are soft sounds of birds in the distance and other outside creatures making noise to greet the day. The sounds are soothing. In the stillness of the morning, my heart enters into silence. As I do so, I am reminded of how much one is able to hear when the mind and heart are stilled.
“If we face God in prayer and silence, God speaks to us.”[2] Mother Teresa, minister to the poor in Calcutta, reminds us of God’s desire to meet with us in deep silence, alone with him. Silence fosters relationship as we are stripped of everything and enter into the intimate presence of God. Mother Teresa says: “In silence He listens to us; in silence He speaks to our souls. In silence we are granted the privilege of listening to His voice. Silence of our eyes. Silence of our ears. Silence of our mouths. Silence of our minds . . . in the silence of the heart God will speak.”[3]
God desires to speak to all people. Silence provides the opportunity to hear the words that God speaks when we are still, quiet and listening. At times it may seem that only mystics of the faith or people called to monasticism embrace the spiritual practice of silence. But professionals, clergy and others specifically called to religious life are not the only ones who should embrace the discipline of quiet. Regardless of one’s stage of life or vocation, silence is a gift waiting to be opened and explored.
Mother Teresa: Servant to Calcutta and the World
Mother Teresa regularly practiced the spiritual discipline of silence while being an example to the world of life-giving service. Hoards of books have been written about the life and ministry of Mother Teresa. I found few, however, that focus specifically on the connection between her personal relationship with Jesus, developed through spiritual disciplines, and her actions as a servant with the poorest of the poor in Calcutta. These questions intrigue me: “How did Mother Teresa develop her heart and love for the poor? And where did her strength of character and passion for service come from?” The answers are found in the actions of her daily life, particularly in her regular devotion to prayer and entering into the presence of God by practices of the faith, most remarkably silence. Silence fueled Mother Teresa’s social action, which manifested itself through her overwhelmingly powerful ministry with the poor.
At eighteen years old, Mother Teresa joined the Catholic Loreto order in Ireland and took her name from Thérèse of Lisieux. In 1948, she founded the Missionaries of Charity Sisters in Calcutta, India.[4] When asked about her personal history, Mother Teresa said: “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.”[5]
Through sacrifice and endurance, Mother Teresa reminded Christians and nonbelievers that God is the God of love. She is a profound example of how the love of Christ for all people compels us to respond to the deeply troubling needs of humanity through social action. Professor Mary Poplin tells of her personal discipleship serving alongside the Sisters of Charity for two months: “For Mother Teresa, everything was one person at a time—‘one, one, one, one’ she would say.”[6]
Mother Teresa had a deeply intimate relationship with Jesus that was fostered by silence during her life as a monastic. Her practice of silence created room for prayer and space for her relationship with God to grow. For Mother Teresa, silence was a prerequisite to prayer and the ability to meet with God. Prayer, through the means of silence, took upon itself the form of deep intimacy with God and with Jesus. “And when the time comes and we can’t pray it is very simple: if Jesus is in my heart let Him pray, let me allow Him to pray in me, to talk to his Father in the silence of my heart,” she would say. “If I cannot speak, He will speak; if I cannot pray, He will pray.”[7]
One of Mother Teresa’s most recognized prayers came to be known as her “business card”: “The fruit of silence is prayer; the fruit of prayer is faith; the fruit of faith is love; the fruit of love is service; the fruit of service is peace.”[8] She started to distribute this prayer after it received international recognition, and many view these words as the secret to her success in ministry and care for the poor.[9]
Mother Teresa believed the presence of God transforms souls in silence. “Silence gives us a new outlook on everything,” she said; “We need silence to be able to touch souls.”[10] She recognized and exemplified the powerful connection between silence and service, regularly teaching of their interconnectedness in her conviction to care for the poor: “I shall keep the silence of the heart with greater care so that in the silence of my heart I hear His words of comfort and from the fullness of my heart I comfort Jesus in the distressing disguise of the poor.”[11]
Dark Night of the Soul
In many ways, silence is a pathway to what St. John of the Cross called the “Dark Night of the Soul”: a time in which one intimately connects with Christ’s death on the cross through personal struggle and internal darkness. Years after Mother Teresa’s death, her own inner struggles became a hot topic in global media. For Mother Teresa, prayers in the silence were not without great pain, sorrow and struggle. The world was surprised to learn that Mother Teresa, beloved activist, leader and servant to the poorest of the poor, wrestled with a profound inner darkness during her Christian journey. Mary Poplin writes that this period of darkness occurs when one experiences “deep longing for God”; she believes it is in this dark night of the soul that Mother Teresa found the true love of God.[12]
As Mother Teresa delved into the dark hollowness of internal suffering, she used Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a model in the hope that “God would intervene in His own time and way.” Brian Kolodiejchuk, biographer of Mother Teresa, tells of the way she inspired the virtue of silence in the sisters around her: “To envelop in silence God’s work within her soul, as Mary had at the Annunciation, was for Mother Teresa an expression of reverence and trust,” he writes.[13] In her silence, she maintained a serene disposition while at the same time carrying the pain of Calvary. While she went about her daily responsibilities with joy and vigor, “her radiant smile hid an abyss of pain; it veiled the Calvary within.”[14]
For Mother Teresa, silence provided a place within which her internal suffering and darkness could be expressed. Her religious training taught and encouraged “silent suffering in union with Jesus Crucified.”[15] Kolodiejchuk describes her quiet suffering as a “sacred silence,” which concealed her inner struggles as God continued to outwardly bless her ministry: “She believed that His showering so many graces on her work was His way of disguising her secret!”[16]
In the Silence, God Speaks
Intimacy with God undergirded Mother Teresa’s ministry with a spirit of love. Prayer and silence provided the means for that intimacy. Mother Teresa described God as “the friend of silence” and believed that in one’s quiet and stillness, God would always be present—even if at times he, too, might be silent.[17] She rested her practice in the tradition of contemplatives and ascetics who also met God in the silence of the desert, forest and mountain. Mother Teresa believed silence was a means of stripping away people’s distracting thoughts and worldly influences in order to “dwell lovingly in His presence—silent, empty, expectant, and motionless.”[18]
Silence was both literal and figurative for Mother Teresa. She believed it was necessary for one’s tongue to be silenced, but also for the other senses to experience deprivation as well. One’s eyes could not be distracted by seeing things out in the world; one’s feet must be still in order to provide an emptiness of noise, movement and action: “For this we need silence of the mind, silence of the heart, silence of the eyes, silence of the hands.” This would provide space for one to “listen to God speaking in your heart.” She promised her disciples: “If you are hungry to hear the voice of God, you will hear. To hear, you have to cut out all other things.”[19] Silence before God means ridding one’s surroundings of “all other things” to make room for God to speak. Silence allows one to open one’s heart to hear and discern the whispering voice of God. Mother Teresa saw silence as a means to prayer and prayer as a means to the final destination of “the presence of God.”[20]
Oneness with God: Love Enters In
Jesus was the center of Mother Teresa’s life and ministry. She taught that silence is a means of learning and knowing the love of God through the person of Christ. In addition, silence was modeled for her by Jesus. She said, “In the tabernacle Jesus is silent. I can understand the majesty of God, but I cannot understand the humility of God. A little piece of bread! Jesus created the whole world and Jesus, whose Precious Blood washed away my sins, is in the tabernacle . . . This silence in the tabernacle, this perfect silence.”[21]
Silence provides a means by which one can talk with Jesus and be intimately connected, made one with Christ. “The more silent we are the closer to Jesus we become and the more we are like Jesus, the more holy we become,” Mother Teresa said. “So deepen your union with Him by your prayer life.” Mother Teresa believed that without silence there could be “no good prayers.”[22] Rather, one experiences intimacy with Christ when the presence of God intermingles with the silence, which creates space for conversation between the soul and its Creator. This intimacy culminates in the form of the Eucharist. The tabernacle was a source of energy for Mother Teresa’s extensive and demanding activities, giving her strength to work daily among the poor and the dying. Each day she celebrated mass in the morning and observed the Eucharist in the afternoon. Her love and intimacy with Christ were expressed through her care for the poor.[23]
Silence as a Manifestation of Humility
Mother Teresa also admonished silence as a means to humility. When directing young women in her order, she challenged them to not only keep silence in their hearts but also to exhibit the spirit of silence in conflict with one another. Silence provides space for self-examination and reflection. If someone criticizes, silence is a way of practicing humility and not responding directly to the insult. Mother Teresa saw this practice of silence as an act of love.
She encouraged that one should not make excuses but rather “keep silence with a humble heart,” taking advantage of opportunities to acknowledge truth when others point out fault. In this encouragement of personal reflection, Mother Teresa did not mince words: “Have you heard the voice of God? Is my heart silent? If bitter words, angry words come out of your mouth, then your heart is not full with Jesus. From the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks, and in the silence of the heart God speaks.”[24]
Mother Teresa taught that humility, through the acknowledgment of weakness and mistakes and by keeping silence, is a manifestation of Christlikeness. She believed that humility is not possible without silence: “Both humility and prayer grow from an ear, mind, and tongue that have lived in silence with God.” In the silence of body, mind and spirit, God speaks and reveals himself. “If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you,” she said. “Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself.”[25]
Finding Calcutta: The Determination of One’s God-Ordained Purpose
Silence is a means of hearing God within us and of sensing God’s heart for us and God’s heart for the world. Mother Teresa believed that every person carries God’s love and is called to his or her own unique mission of charity. For Mother Teresa, as God speaks in the silence of the heart, the fruit of love is manifested in service.[26] What greater things has God prepared for each of us? Over the past several decades, followers of Christ have longed individually and collectively for a clear sense of purpose. If the sales numbers of Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life are any indication, people are desperate to know and better understand God’s purpose for their lives.
Mother Teresa acknowledged that every person has a unique call on her or his life. We are each called to be ministers of the gospel, but the specific expression of what that looks like will be unique. Nonetheless, she regularly called the church to action and to taking responsibility for the world’s poor through acts of service and love.[27]
What does it mean to hear the call of God upon our lives? How do we intentionally pay attention to the Holy Spirit so that we might be ready to act when called? Mary Poplin asked similar questions during her two-month pilgrimage with Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity. After becoming a Christian, Poplin wrestled with the integration of her f...
