In the past week, we learned that Mother Teresa questioned God's presence, and a U.S. Senator got caught soliciting sex in a public bathroom.

I'm going to borrow a phrase here: "Orthodox Christians are not surprised."

First, the nun.

Her diaries reveal that soon after she answered God's call to begin ministering to the poor in Calcutta, Mother Teresa wondered (in her diary) if God was really with her after all. She continued to express doubts throughout her tenure, even after the world came to admire her.

This made the news because secular types—and even many who purport to be Christians—think that someone up for sainthood shouldn't think such things. They're supposed to be confident in God's presence. Wasn't God, as the bumper sticker says, her co-pilot?

The histories of the saints suggests the opposite.

After Jesus himself interrupted Saul's trip to Damascus, we have no record of any further interdictions. Saul/Paul was on his own after that. He had to keep reminding himself of that moment when God spoke to him, even as people lashed and imprisoned him for doing so. There were no follow-up memos along the way.

And that is the difference between us and the saints. They keep going, while we make excuses for ourselves every time we think God has stepped out.

So it's no surprise that even Mother Teresa questioned her commitment. What makes her a candidate for sainthood is, she stuck to her mission anyway.

Next, our deviant from Idaho.

He was observed behaving the same way police have observed others as they looked for sex in an airport bathroom. They charged him with several counts, and he pleaded guilty to one. Now he's claiming he wasn't really looking for sex in the airport's bathroom.

He is only fooling himself, and probably not effectively.

As a Republican, married man, and father, his acts are supposed to be surprising. But again, not to Orthodox Christians. We may eventually learn that he suffered a poor relationship with his father, or was himself the victim of a molester, and these would explain his behavior today. As for his apparent hypocrisy in publicly embracing the straight-and-narrow, that's just what some people do when they refuse to acknowledge their own broken foundations: They lash out at others' poor appearances. It's easier, and who doesn't choose the easy route whenever possible?

He's still behaving out of bounds, and although I hate to see another (R) drop out of the Senate, he should give up his post now. You don't do your party and your positions a service by leading a double life, any more than a cop should take bribes. There might be redemption in repentance, but so far all he's shown is defiance.

So, were these events not really news? In a sense, no, unless we see them as manifestations of the ordinary. They are reminders of the complexity and profundity of human psyches.

What cracks in our own foundations have we not tried to fix?

Which calling from God have we dismissed lately?

Posted by: Michael Rittenhouse at 05:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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