Joseph LangfordCríticas

"St. Teresa of Calcutta was a woman known and loved for her tender work among the poorest of the poor. Behind her drive and desire to serve Christ's poor was a profound understanding of the thirst of God for man, and man's thirst for God. This guided meditation on Scripture and the teaching of Mother Teresa will lead those who read it into the heart of the mystery of God's thirst for souls, and how man can meet the Lord's thirst. Fr. Joseph Langford, an intimate friend of Mother Teresa's and a co-founder with her of the Missionary of Charity Fathers, leads the reader into Mother Teresa's love of God, and helps foster the love of God in the heart of the reader"--Cover,

J-4

Whatever you thought you knew -- about God, about life, about the world -- Mother Teresa's extraordinary message will take you deeper still!

Written by the co-founder of her priests' community
Published at Mother Teresa's personal request to share her message with the world
Revealing insights
Personal stories

Gain unprecedented access to and understanding of Mother Teresa's secret source of passion, spirit, and impact!

As it was for Mother Teresa, so it can be for the rest of us. By standing close to Our Lady we can find the grace and courage to overcome our own personal trials and crosses. Summon the same powerful presence and aid of Our Lady by following the example of Mother Teresa.

You know Mother Teresa,don't you?
I thought I know her,but there are unknown things in this books.For example Mother Teresa is not her true name.
Her true name is AgnesGonxhe Bojaxhiu.If you didn't know her name,you may not know her.Read it.

very factual account of the work that she did. A poinent read

When I picked this book up to read I was expecting a review of Mother Teresa's life and mission as covered by other authors. However, this book is of a quite different stripe altogether. There is a brief section retelling her beginnings as a religious worker and her life changing encounter on a train to Darjeeling, but the core of the book is on the religious experience itself. This is what was missed by previous reviewers and why they were disappointed. Joseph Langford has taken Mother Teresa's comments and revelations and combined them with insights from other Church authorities and Saints to provide a clear and concise explanation of her primary message: Jesus's statement on the cross, "I thirst". He contends that her interpretation of this statement was the "secret fire" that sustained her in her work and can be used by us as well.
I found the book to be a fountain of knowledge and a clearer explanation of religious devotion than I have ever had before. This is one ARC that will remain in my library for future review and inspiration.

This book came across as tryin to "sell" christianity to me. It was easy to read and the sections about Mother Teresa's life and call were interesting. However the tone of the book was too pushy for my taste. I have to ask myself if Mother Teresa herself would have wanted her message portrayed in that manner. Overall I was rather disapointed.

I'm afraid to say that I did not get very far into this at all. I was hoping for a biography of sorts but there was very little information on her life and far too much theology and I found it far too "preaching" for my tastes.

This book is far more of an analysis of a spiritual life than a biography, even a spiritual biography. As others have noted, Langford fails to give enough biographical context for those who are not already familiar with Mother Theresa's biography to fully grasp the significance of her spiritual life.

When he turns to the details of Mother Theresa's spiritual life, Langford is on better ground, biblically astute, and occasionally providing some relevant references to Catholic mystics. He provides sound insight into Mother Theresa's spiritual life and insights, although his conclusions as to the profundity of her insights are debatable, and probably influenced by his status as a member of the Missionaries of Charity.½

I couldn't really get into this, unfortunately. I expected to find rather more generalised information and biography, but the book was way too preachy and I felt it 'shoved Christianity down my throat' to be honest. I'll be passing it on.

I think that my biggest issue with this book was that when I requested it from the ER selections, I believed that it was a biography of the life of this woman who did much to help the most forgotten members of society. Unfortunately, I did not find this to be very biographical in its scope and felt that it dealt more with one man's interpretation of what the life of Mother Teresa was and what this could mean to a practicing Catholic today. I wanted to know more about the woman behind the legend. What was her childhood like, were her parents religious or did she come to religion on her own? What were her views on broader issues outside that of her main focus? Answers to these sort of questions were not found here. There is much on meditation and what the author Joseph Langford believes were calls from God to embark on the life she chose. This made it hard for me to read through the book because in some ways it felt like a devotional. I learnt much about her theology or at least Langford's idea of what it was but I got little on the person of Mother Teresa.

I can't say I enjoyed reading this book but I am not sure that that is the author's fault. I expected one thing and got another but that may be more my mistake than the author's.

I wanted to like this book – I really did. But it was off to a bad start with a subtitle like "The Encounter that Changed Her Life, and How it Can Transform Your Own." I had thought this was a biography, not a self-help book. Perhaps if I were Catholic, perhaps if I were a close follower of Mother Theresa, perhaps if I were more intimately interested in the goings-on of Fr Joseph Langford or of the Mother Theresa Center I would have enjoyed this book. More likely, though, I would still have found it annoying to be reading what are essentially Joseph Langford's very personal interpretations of what he sees as Mother Theresa's message, complete with instructions for meditations on the saint at the end of each chapter.

For some, this may be the right book to guide a spiritual journey. For me, it was a burdensome, polemical, and ultimately boring book that I struggled through and could not finish.

I got this book as an Early Release--my first one. I appreciate the free book and I want to be a good member. That's why I continued to try to read this book for as long as I have. But I am giving up. As another reviewer noted, the author, Joseph Langford, seems to presume that the reader knows more about Mother Teresa than I do--by far. I found the effort to get into the meat of the book tedious and frustrating as we continually referred to attitudes and events in Mother Teresa's life about which I had no knowledge. I'm sorry I lost patience because I really did want to like this book.

Reading Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire by Joseph Langford has been hard. I had expected a biography about Mother Teresa and instead received one man’s beliefs on her inner drive. Joseph Langford does seem to have had the close connections needed as a Priest to know Mother Teresa. Joseph Langford is/was a priest that was involved with the Missionaries of Charity Fathers, an order that Mother Teresa created, he seemed to have had personal conversations with Mother Teresa on several occasions during the last 30 years of her life. He has definitely has dedicated his life to reading, learning everything he could about Mother Teresa and her motivation.

Rev. Langford makes many assumptions about the reader that I had a hard time overcoming. He assumes that the reader knows something about Mother Teresa beyond her name and he assumes that we know and have pre-judged Mother Teresa about her “Dark Hour. “ He seems to be making an argument that she was divine herself. Rev. Langford kept approaching and circling the events of Sept. 10, the day that Mother Teresa was inspired to change the direction of her life and start helping the poor of Calcutta. He did not know what actually happened that day but felt that it must have been a miraculous event.

I have felt very lost while reading the book. I never could understand what was happening not understanding the basics about her life. I wish there was an introductory chapter that gave us a brief outline of her life. I still do not know all that she did or what exactly the dark hour is.

That said, Mother Teresa is an inspiration, she took the words of Christ “I thirst” to be her inspiration. She worked to see the Christ in all. Mother Teresa worked tirelessly to help others and inspired others to do the same. Prayer, looking for the spirit of God in all people, dedicating your life to God is all very powerful ideas. I believe that for some people this book will be a powerful book and an inspiration. This book has inspired me as well. I plan on reading a biography about Mother Teresa and then possibly reading this book again to see if I understand it better.

This book was far from the sort that I usually read and I wasn't really looking forward to reading it. I was happily surprised that it wasn't a rambling and dull biography of Mother Teresa's life, but focused more on theology and prayer.

As someone who knew very little about Mother Teresa before reading this book, it was interesting to hear about her period of religious darkness and how she moved through it. Her theology of Jesus' thirst was fascinating and the brief meditations and prayer advice was a lovely was of varying the book.

For someone interested in Mother Teresa's life, this book provides an insight into her theology. However, by far the more interesting parts were prayer techniques and application of her theology, which are valuable sections for any Christian looking to improve their relationship with God.

I requested this book expecting it to be a biography of Mother Teresa, and have to admit that the bi-line ‘The Encounter that Changed Her Life and How it Can Transform Your Own’ did put me off a little when it arrived. I’m not particularly religious and was concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy a book that was seeking to preach to me.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The book isn’t really a biography, but it does focus on Mother Teresa’s motivations, what made her choose to live the life she did. In her case, it was a spiritual encounter with God. However, whatever your feelings about religion, it has to be said that Mother Teresa’s is a truly inspiring story and that she herself is a truly inspiring figure.

I found it fascinating to have a glimpse into what led Mother Teresa to the life she lived. I think there is something for everyone in this book regardless of your religious motiviations. I’m not sure that the book has transformed my life, but it has certainly inspired it.

The author, Rev. Joseph Langford, is co-founder of Mother Teresa's priest's community and spent much time in Mother Teresa's company. Most people are aware of what Mother Teresa has done in her ministry that spread to encompass the whole world. What we learn in this book is the calling that leads this small nun to leave her convent and go out and minister too and live with the poorest of the poor.

Fr. Langford shares with us, at the previous request of Mother Teresa, that encounter she had with God on the Darjeeling train that was her call to her new vocation. Written more to try and help us understand her calling and how all Mother Teresa accomplished was through the grace of God. Everyone, whether believer or not, felt the true love and compassion of Jesus Christ when in her presence and some of these moving stories are shared; as well as meditations that we can reread and reflect on.

Though the book was not the biography I expected, it exceeded my expectations with what we learn by reading this book. I think anyone who reads this book will be moved and understand how much God truly loves each and every one of us. Mother Teresa lived her life wholly for Jesus Christ and through her His love and compassion was shared with us. And now I have a whole new perspective of the words "I Thirst" spoken from the cross by Jesus Christ that reinforces my faith. Regardless of your religion or faith I suggest you read this book. It is a book you will pick up again and again.

God speaks into the heart of every man, woman and child, asking us to be the instrument of His grace…reminding us that when we look into the eyes of every single person we encounter, we are seeing the face of God. Some refuse to hear the call; some hear but refuse to believe; some do what they can, inevitably falling every once and a while; many hear Him, but are too overwhelmed and don’t know how to answer.

Mother Teresa did none of these. Instead, she made herself the living embodiment of that call, obeying her Beloved with ever fiber of her being. She lived her entire life showing the poorest of the poor the power of God’s love. For the rest of the world, she lived her life showing us how to do the same.

When she died, I was just so sad. There seem to be fewer and fewer ‘teachers’ as time goes on, and losing her created a huge void…Or, so I thought. Thanks to the generosity of those who called her friend, like Father Langford, Mother Teresa continues to be a beacon, and teacher, a selfless instrument of God’s grace. We have been given vivid proof that we can put all our trust in God, even in our darkest moments. When sorrow, fear and heartache are screaming for us to just stop, to give up, to just lay down and never move again, we know how to continue loving, continue helping, continue trying.

I am so grateful to Father Langford. This book is so clearly the product of love--Langford’s love for God and for his friend, Mother Teresa’s love for God and every single one of His children and, most of all, God’s love for all of us. All that love…….Of course, everything going to be all right.½