Looking for a good book?

Last evening, in an effort to slow the effects of rain on my joints, I went for a swim, which is always accompanied by a visit to the hot tub.

At any rate, on the way there I realized I forgot to bring a book with me to read while relazing and comforting old joints. So I did what any sensible fellow would do and stopped by a book store, which is always risky. With a bit of self-control I left with only three books.

Among them is Father Paul Murray's I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of Calcutta, A Secret Revealed (Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2008). This little book is a real gem, so much so that I read half of it last night in the hot tub and, when I returned to the rectory, did not want to put it down for bed. I hope to finish it this afternoon.

The Dominican priest and one-time spiritual director to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, examines her felt absence of God for so many years. He asks:

Was there, as some commentators have recently suggested, so utter and complete a split here between image and reality, that her life in the end, in spite of its acknowledged virtue and sheer goodness, assumed almost the form or a deception, a kind of hypcrisy? Was the joy which, on the outside, brough manifest blessing and encouragement to so many people across the world, a false joy, a forced joy? Or was there, in spite of the darkness and coldness within, something of light and warmth there also, a hidden joy, a fire of love unseen, unfelt - even by Mother Teresa herself - an emotion not of the heart but of the spirit, and yet something so strong and so alive, if found expression, and over and over again, in the simple, unaffected radiance and warmth and joy of Mother Teresa's presence (64-65)?

Run out and grab this book and keep it on your bedstand. It is an excellent book on Mother Teresa, pray and the spiritual life.