Le blog de la Bergerie

Of rolling fog and driving faith and Mother Teresa

In this corner of the world where I live - which is the Bay area in Northern California - there is a very interesting micro-climate that happens especially in the summer time when the fog rolls in from the Pacific Ocean and takes over the coastal lands and cities and parks, clamping down on them like a lid.

Look, the fog is coming over the hill....         The fog is here!         We are now IN THE FOG in the middle of the day.

Outside the fog bank, which ressembles a whitish wave when you are still in the "normal" world and when you can see it clearly outlined against the sky. It is an amazing local sight. Within the wave - which can arrive rather fast, cresting over the hill, which made me thinks sometimes of a tsunami of fog - you are on another planet, it is a completely different world, where the vision is extremely limited, even in broad daylight. On the road, everyone slows down, you better pay attention because of the poor visibility for you and for everyone else. And to think that right now, in Berkeley, they are dancing in the streets in the sun! It is hard to understand how a couple of miles can make such a huge difference, temperatures and weather-wise, unless you have lived through it.

A couple of days ago, I drove thru one of our own summer fog-fest. Because I am familiar with this type of fog, it did not surprise me and I just adapted to it on the spot, and I entered it as you enter a dark tunnel (although it was actually midday). But there is also another reason. Faith really allows us to see farther.
It allows us to see what there is to see and also to grasp what is not visible to the eyes and to keep going the course. Driving through the thickest part of the fog, I kept going because I knew that this road was going to take me home - even tough I could barely see it - and I found a sort of bizarre beauty in the whole experience. It got me to thank God, to praise Him for his creation, which sometimes I see clearly and sometimes I don't, but I aim to praise Him all the same.

Mother Teresa's doubts of faith have been in the news a lot recently. I read about them 4 years ago in a First Things article by Carol Zaleski here. It was insightful and respectful and quite inspiring. To think that she persevered so doggedly in her work of charity although she was driving through the biggest fog of doubts was quite a moving story. I found it very encouraging. It helps me go through my own little patches of spiritual fog. Whether some people in some circles are actually using these most intimate details of her spiritual journey to distance themselves from her - and to distance themselves from God - is a misguided reaction, in my view.

But that is how we are, us humans, we are pitiful and pathetic most of the times. But I am not worried, Blessed Mother Theresa is in the best place nowadays to actually pray for us and help us all, believers and doubters and scoffers alike, and I have complete trust that she will!

Blessed Mother Teresa, please give me some of your compassion and charity;
some of your courage and perseverance under adversity;
give me some of your force, your inner-drive and energy;
and especially share with me the source of your energy I greatly need it…