Darkness/Light
Darkness/Light
Richard Rohr’s Meditations this week engage “The Dance of Darkness and Light”. Medieval mystics and contemporary spiritual thinkers remind us that darkness, the “Dark Night of the Soul”, opens our hearts to the true light and love of God.
Sister Joan Chittister invites us to ponder:
“There is a light in us that only darkness itself can illuminate. It is the glowing calm that comes over us when we finally surrender to the ultimate truth of creation: that there is a God and we are not it…. The clarity of it all is startling. Life is not about us; we are about the project of finding Life. At that moment, spiritual vision illuminates all the rest of life. And it is that light that shines in darkness.”
The 16th Century Spanish mystic St John of the Cross writes:
“When the dark night descends on the soul, its radiance blinds the intellect. She can no longer formulate concepts; she doesn’t even want to. It is tempting to consider this inability to engage the intellect as a failing. It is easy to assume that you are wasting time.
Do not force it. Stop trying to figure it out. Drop down into a state of guileless quietude and abide there. This is no time for discursive meditation, no time for pondering theological doctrines or asserting articles of faith.
Your only task now is to set your soul free. Take a break from ideas and knowledge…. Content yourself with a loving attentiveness toward the Holy One. This requires no effort, no agitation, no desire to taste her or feel her or understand her. Patiently persevere in this state of prayer that has no name. “
Even some of the lyrics from The Phantom of the Opera’s “Music of the Night” hint that darkness can open our senses to new worlds:
“Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation; darkness stirs and wakes imagination. Silently the senses abandon their defenses…”
As the song progresses, we realize that the Phantom is trying to lure and control Christine, but the idea of a certain “music of the night” is intriguing.
I find these reflections comforting in this dark time of natural and manmade disasters, this dark time with friends struggling with emotional and physical issues. We all suffer dark moments. These spiritual guides invite us to embrace the darkness, to settle in with the unknowing, to rest in the silence. God is there. His warm embrace will assure us. His light will shine. Clarity will emerge.
The darkest hour truly is just before the dawn.
The liturgies of Evening Prayer and Compline engage us to savor this rhythm of the night.
The New Zealand Prayer Book offers this prayer in their Night Prayer liturgy:
We have wounded your love. O God, heal us.
We stumble in the darkness. Light of the world transfigure us.
We forget that we are your home. Spirit of God, dwell in us.
A Collect from Compline (BCP, p. 133)
Be our light in the darkness, O lord, and in your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
God’s peace,
Judy Q+
