Quote from Mother Teresa
I recently stumbled upon a blog post where they were talking about a quote of Mother Teresa’s. It comes from the book Where There Is Love, There Is God compiled by Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C.
Here is the quote:
“And there can be no real silence in my heart if there is something I don’t forgive, if there is something that I don’t forget. I am busy with that one – so I cannot hear… How can I hear what God is saying if something is there in my heart?”
So let me get this straight; if I am struggling with forgiving someone then I have filled my heart with that and thus I cannot hear God? Isn’t this completely backwards? Aren’t you supposed to deem strength, guidance and support from God when you are struggling with such things? Thus how can you get strength to overcome if the very act of not forgiving is making it so you can’t hear him?
Just thinking out loud here but I just have to say that this defies all common sense and baffles me as to why this would seem like such wise words. It would seem to me that at the very time you are struggling with such an issue is when you would need God the most and this quote implies that you would somehow find silence in your heart without the help of God, so that then you could hear him? Well if you were able to silence your heart on your own then you wouldn’t need God anymore.
November 5, 2011 @ 3:47 pm
I am seeing this quote 2 different ways. I think when you need to forgive someone, or forget something, you DO need to ask God for help in doing that. My guess is that Mother Teresa was saying that holding onto grudges and bad feelings in general, will keep you from hearing what God wants you to hear regarding other areas of your life. For example, if I am constantly thinking about a hurt that a friend caused, I may not hear God trying to direct me to help someone else or to pursue another path in my life, totally unrelated to the person that I was hurt by. Does that make sense? I believe we need to deal with hurts in a timely manner so that they do not overtake our hearts, minds, and lives, and therefore, we are more open to God. Of course, I also believe we need God to help us deal with this hurts.
November 5, 2011 @ 5:05 pm
Danielle thank you for your thoughts on this quote. The way you say it does make sense, and I know what makes sense. I just think this quote is not full of wise words of wisdom and it irritates me when people blankly take such things and ohh and ahhh over how thought provoking and inspiring they are.