The Dark Night of the Soul: When even saints feel separated from God

Even the holiest of saints can feel a lack of spiritual consolation from God. Often temporary, it may endure for a long time – even one’s whole life. Called “noche oscura del alma” by the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, “the dark night of the soul” is one’s spiritual state after the withdrawal of God’s illuminating grace. St. John of the Cross coined the term when he wrote a poem that narrated the journey of the soul to mystical union with God. A form of purification for those called to a high degree of sanctity, the soul is put in the “obscure night” or the “great desolation.” Its “dark” nature emphasizes the normal condition of spiritual sight, dimly lit by the light of Faith, whereas a person in this purification is deprived of much of this light.

The Catechism explains it as a form of spiritual dryness:

God’s love in the luminous darkness

So many people find this time of year quite difficult. The days are short and cold, and the nights seem endless. The anxieties of this world become louder in our ears, and the glare of social media is blinding. Sleep can be a difficult friend to find at these times. She may come for a while but always seems to leave at 3 a.m. Why 3 a.m.? I don’t know. But I think she is reminding me to speak to Our Lord, who had a difficult 3 o’clock hour as well. Lying awake in the inky pitch of night can feel lonely and disconcerting, but then I ponder the words of Gerard Manly Hopkins as he considered the “luminous darkness.” What is the loving presence that surrounds me? The love of the Father who never leaves my side. The love that even consoled the fevered mind of an artist like Vincent Van Gogh, who could see in the luminous darkness a beautiful starry night.

reparación, y terminando con la oración de exorcismo de San Miguel Arcángel.

PRAYER SERVICES

ANOINTING OF THE SICK 10 a.m.

Saturday, Feb. 18, St. Luke Church, 13700

Lawyers Road, Mint Hill. Includes a special Mass for those who wish to receive the sacrament of anointing of the sick. For details, call Mary Adams at 704-545-1224.

HELPERS OF GOD’S PRECIOUS INFANTS

8 a.m. Mass followed by 9 a.m. Procession for Life and prayer, St. Patrick Cathedral Family Life Center, 1621 Dilworth Road East, Saturday, Feb. 11. Father Ernest Nebangongnjoh will lead a procession by car to the abortion facility. For details, visit www.charlottehelpers.com.

PRO-LIFE ROSARY After 9 a.m. Mass every third Sunday at Mother Teresa Pro-Life Memorial, St. Vincent de Paul Church, 6828 Old Reid Road, Charlotte.

HOLY APOSTLE AND EVANGELIST

LUKE MISSION (UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH) Divine Liturgy (Mass) at 3 p.m. Sundays at St. Barnabas Church, 109 Crescent Hill Road, Arden. For details, email ucmcanton@gmail.com. belief that Jesus was not God. The pope also is said to have built a church in honor of St. Valentine. Ask St. Julius to intercede for us today in guarding the Church against false teachings.

— Annie Ferguson

“Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in His agony and in His tomb. ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if dies, it bears much fruit.’ If dryness is due to the lack of roots, because the word has fallen on rocky soil, the battle requires conversion.” –Catechism of the Catholic Church 2731

Safe Environment Training

PROTECTING CHILDREN Protecting God’s Children (Protegiendo a los Niños de Dios) workshops educate parish volunteers to recognize and prevent child sexual abuse.

For details, contact your parish office.

Upcoming workshops:

GREENSBORO 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, St. Paul the Apostle Church, 2715 Horse Pen Creek Road (virtual session)

Talks

‘THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SAVED MY MARRIAGE’ 8:30 a.m. Mass and 10 a.m. conference Saturday, Feb. 4, at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 1400 Suther Road, Charlotte, with Dr. David Anders, host of the EWTN program “Called to Communion.”

‘THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF SUFFERING’ 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, St. Ann Church, 3635 Park Road, Charlotte. A talk by Elza Spaedy, director of the Healed and Restored ministry in Huntersville. RSVP to Sister Luicia at 704-523-4641 or email stanncharlotte@rcdoc.org.

Upcoming events for Bishop Peter J. Jugis:

FEB. 4 – 11 A.M.

Mass for World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life St. Vincent de Paul Church, Charlotte

FEB. 6-7

Diocese of Charlotte Colloquium of Priests Catholic Conference Center, Hickory

FEB. 19 – 10 A.M.

New Church Dedication Mass & Blessing St. Luke Church, Mint Hill

Many famous saints have gone through these spiritual crises, even enduring for most of their life. St. Paul of the Cross endured for nearly 45 years before recovering. Doctor of the Church St. Thérèse of Lisieux was in the dark night over doubting the existence of eternity, famously saying to other nuns at her convent, “If you only knew what darkness I am plunged into.”

The dark night of St. Teresa of Calcutta may be the most extensive such case on record. She endured from 1948 almost until her death in 1997.

Mother Teresa described, “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me – of God not being God – of God not existing. I find no words to express the depths of the darkness.”

GEORGE RYAN writes a blog for www.uCatholic.com.

Daily Scripture readings

FEB. 5-11

Sunday: Isaiah 58:7-10, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Matthew 5:13-26; Monday (St. Paul Miki and Companions): Genesis 1:1-19, Mark 6:53-56; Tuesday: Genesis 1:20-2:4a, Mark 7:1-13; Wednesday (St. Jerome Emiliani, St. Josephine Bakhita): Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17, Mark 7:14-23; Thursday: Genesis 2:18-25, Mark 7:24-30 Friday (St. Scholastica): Genesis 3:1-8, Mark 7:31-37; Saturday (Our Lady of Lourdes): Genesis 3:9-24, Mark 8:1-10

St. Paul shares a secret of enduing the darkness of this season with the Philippians. He tells them, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your request known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:6-7). The peace of God in our hearts and minds – isn’t that what we long for when we are in the darkness?

St. Paul continues, “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about those things” (Phil 4:8). The secret is to reject the fears exaggerated in our 3 a.m. minds and look up to the skies to see the brilliance of our Creator’s work, of the luminous darkness, of stars and planets, of the moon and perhaps even fog or rain, and all created by the loving hand of God our Father.

As we surrender ourselves, our fears and anxiety, our sadness and needs to His Divine Will, we will begin to see the truth of Zachariah’s canticle. “In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

FEB. 12-18

Sunday: Sirach 15:15-20, 1 Corinthians

2:6-10, Matthew 5:17-37 Monday: Genesis 4:1-15, Mark 8:11-13; Tuesday (Sts. Cyril and Methodius): Genesis 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 10, Mark

FEB. 19-25

Sunday: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18, Corinthians 3:16-23, Matthew 5:38-48; Monday: Sirach

1:1-10, Mark 9:14-29 Tuesday (St. Peter

Damian): Sirach 2:1-11, Mark 9:30-37

Christians must not “put pressure on others” to convert or induce in them “feelings of guilt,” but take a weight off their shoulders through joyfully sharing the Gospel, Pope Francis said. At his general audience Jan. 25, the pope explained that Jesus frees people from all forms of oppression and that this freedom is cause for joy.

“Oppressed is the one who feels crushed by something that happens in life: illness, struggles, burdens on the heart, feelings of guilt, errors, vices, sins,” said Pope Francis. “Let us think, for example, about feelings of guilt. How many of us have suffered from this?”

“If someone feels guilty about something they did and they feel bad,” he said, “the good news is that with Jesus this ancient evil of sin, which seems unbeatable, no longer has the last word.”

“God forgets all of our sins, He has no memory of them,” the pope said. Even if someone repeatedly commits the same sins, God also “will always do the same thing: forgive you, embrace you.”

Pope Francis added that Christians must be joyful in sharing the Gospel, since “the faith is a stupendous love story to be shared.”

Bearing witness to Jesus, he said, involves communicating “a gift so beautiful that words cannot express it. But when joy is missing, the Gospel does not come through” since the Gospel itself is a proclamation of joy.

“A sad Christian can speak about beautiful things, but it is all in vain if the message he or she conveys is not happy,” he said.

Christians are called to be guides who lead others to accept God’s love.

For Christians, he said, “life is no longer a blind march to nowhere” determined by chance, health or even finances, but an invitation to love.

8:14-21

Wednesday: Genesis 8:6-13, 20-22, Mark 8:22-26 Thursday: Genesis 9:1-13, Mark 8:27-33; Friday: Genesis 11:1-9, Mark 8:34-9:1; Saturday: Hebrews 11:1-7, Mark 9:2-13

Wednesday (Ash Wednesday): Joel 2:12-18, 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18;

Thursday (St. Polycarp): Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Luke 9:22-25

Pope Francis urged Christians to joyfully share the message to the poor and said that God calls on each person to make themselves interiorly poor.

Friday: Isaiah 58:19a, Matthew 9:14-15

;

Saturday: Isaiah 58:9b-

14, Luke 5:27-32

The quickest way to encounter Jesus, he said, is to “put yourself in need: in need of grace, in need of forgiveness, in need of joy, and He will come to you.”