Quotes and
Excerpts
Mother Teresa:
: A Complete Authorized Biography
by Kathryn Spink.
"In an ashram in the sought of India, on the banks of the
sacred Cauvery River,
Dom Bede
Griffiths, an English Benedictine monk [actually a close
friend of
C. S. Lewis], had adopted the life of a sannyasi. In
the temple there, Christian worship was expressed in forms and
symbol meaningful to the Indian culture and potentially
enriching to Christianity itself.
The ashram had become a centre of prayer and meditation to
many who
sought the universal and eternal truth at the heart of all
religions.
Mother Teresa sometimes sent her sisters there for brief
retreats.
I once chanced upon a group of them, after a Christian service
in which, as in Hindu temples throughout India, the worshippers
had marked their foreheads with sandalwood paste. Sandalwood, a
very precious wood which spreads its fragrance even when cut
with an axe, had been used to signify the grace of God. The
Sisters were at first, at least, taken aback, even confused, for
it was not Mother Teresa's way to use the symbolism of Hinduism
to express the Christian message.
Yet her orthodoxy and her insistence on disciplined adherence to
the "rules" coexisted with an emphasis on the primacy of love
and the assertion that
religion was a matter for individual conscience.
"My religion is everything to me, but for every individual
according to the grace God has given to that soul." 154
In 1978 a bill entitled, with shades of Orwellian "doublespeak",
"the Freedom of Religion Bill" was proposed in the Indian
parliament., Its ostensible aim was to prevent conversions to
Christianity by "force, fraud, inducement or allurement." These
terms were so loosely applied, however, that Christian worship
and usual church activity might well be taken as contraventions
of the law. 154
It provoked a strong reaction from church leaders. .... Mother
Teresa ... wrote an open letter to the elderly Prime Minister,
Morarji Desai:
'...This new move that is being brought before Parliament
under the cover of freedom of religion is false. There is no
freedom if a person is not free to choose according to his
or her conscience. Our people in Arunachal are so disturbed.
All these years our people have lived together in peace. Now
religion is used as a deadly weapon to destroy the love they
had for each other, just because some are Christians, some
Hindus, some Tribals. Are you not afraid of God?
" You
call him ISHWAR, some call him ALLAH, some simply God,
but we all have to acknowledge that
it is He who made us for greater things:
to love and to be loved. Who are we to prevent our people
from
finding this God who has made them
— who loves them —
to whom they have to return?"
156-157
I took the letter from page 157, Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography
written by Kathryn Spink.
http://books.google.com/books?id=cTIiakYrwWcC&pg=PA154&lpg=PA154&dq=%22dom+bede+griffiths%22+teresa&source=web&ots=b7miKCru1c&sig=UPhkY5I4K9_75Sth0B4q38S9nKg#PPA155,M1
The whole letter:
The Freedom to Choose
Jun 25, 2007 in Religion
In 1978, 'the Freedom of Religion Bill' was proposed in the Indian parliament,
with the aim to prevent conversions to Christianity by 'force, fraud, inducement
or allurement'. The bill was part of a government led campaign to discourage the
activities of foreign missionaries.
In this particular situation, the late Mother Teresa, herself an outspoken
activist and a leader for the church, wrote an open letter to the Prime
Minister, Morarji Desai:
Dear Mr Desai, and Members of Our Parliament,
After much prayer and sacrifices, I write to you, asking you to face God in
prayer, before you take the step which will destroy the joy and the freedom of
our people.
Our people, as you know better than I — are God-fearing people. In whatever way
you approach them, that presence of God — the fear of God, is there. Today all
over the country everybody feels insecure because the very life of freedom of
conscience is being touched. Religion is not something you and I can touch.
Religion is the worship of God — therefore, a matter of conscience. I alone must
decide for myself and you for yourself, what we choose. For me the religion I
live and use to worship God is the Catholic religion. For me this is my very
life, my joy and the greatest gift of God in His love for me. He could have
given me no greater gift.
I love my people very much, more than myself, and so naturally I would wish to
give them the joy of possessing this treasure, but it is not mine to give, nor
can I force it on anyone. So also no man, no law, no Government has the right to
prevent me or force me, or anyone, if I choose to embrace the religion that
gives me peace, joy, love.
I was told that Gandhiji had said, 'If the Christians would live their lives
according to the teaching of Jesus Christ, there would be no more Hindus left in
India.' You cannot give what you do not have.
This new move that is being brought before Parliament under the cover of freedom
of religion, is false. There is no freedom if a person is not free to choose
according to his or her conscience. Our people in Arunachal are so disturbed.
All these years our people have lived together in peace. Now religion is used as
a deadly weapon to destroy the love they had for each other, just because some
are Christians, some Hindus, some Tribal's. Are you not afraid of God?
You call him ISHWAR, some call him ALLAH, some simply God, but we all have to
acknowledge that it is He who made us for greater things: to love and to be
loved. Who are we to prevent our people from finding this God who has made them
— who loves them — to whom they have to return?
I took the letter from page 157, Mother Teresa: A Complete Authorized Biography
written by Kathryn Spink.
http://www.minishorts.net/2007/06/
See also UNESCO's
Declaration on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace
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