Reading Mother Teresa: A Calvinist Looks Lovingly at ‘The Little Bride of Christ’ by James C. Schaap

In the 72 meditations that comprise this delightful book, James Schaap reflects on what he learned about Mother Teresa while reading Come Be My Light: The Private Writings of the Saint of Calcutta. He especially focuses on Mother Teresa’s decades-long dark night of the soul, when she had a sense that God had abandoned her despite the calling he had given her to care for the poor of Calcutta.

Schaap contrasts Mother Teresa’s faith journey with his own, revealing how much they are alike and how they are different. Throughout, he shows Mother Teresa’s humanity, concluding, “She was a saint, not because there was something about her that made her greater than others, but because she listened to the Lord and did extraordinary things in his name out of obedience. She was not an angel and in no way divine.” (Dordt College Press)