Dark Night of the Soul (Wednesday, Advent 3)

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According to St Theresa of Avila, St John of the Cross and other giants in the spiritual life, the “DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL” is an unavoidable stage in spiritual growth. As we all know, darkness is very depressing! Darkness spells gloom and doom! No one sees in the dark. Darkness is dangerous. Darkness connotes negativity. From the above description of darkness, it is not a sweet experience for a soul to experience a “dark night”. What is the “dark night” of the soul? It is that point in one’s spiritual journey when he or she cannot but ask, “Christ, are you the one who is to come or should I expect another?” It is that inauspicious moment in one’s spiritual journey when one can’t help but ask, “Is God really alive? Is He with me? Is He actually the God who saves or is there another?” When such questions begin to pop up in your mind, know that you are going an unavoidable experience needed for growth and maturity in the spiritual life.

Isaiah knew that such moments are unavoidable. And at that most critical and depressing moment of Israel’s history (during the Babylonian exile), there is every likelihood that such crisis-induced questions about God’s whereabouts must have been on everyone’s lips. It is not surprising then that Isaiah’s prophecy of hope (cf. Isa. 45:6b-8.18.21b-25) which was released during that time was heavily punctuated with the expression: “I AM THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER”. The expression is mentioned four times in the passage above (cf. Isa. 45). The pains and ugly experiences of the Babylonian exile must have pushed the suffering people of Judah (or Israel) to the brink of hopelessness. At that painful moment, they were having their own experience of the “dark night of the soul”. And so, it was very timely for God to speak to them and remind them of the great things He did in the past and to reassure them that “HE IS GOD, HE IS THE LORD, AND THERE IS NO OTHER”.       

Even the great man John the Baptist, who was described by Jesus as the greatest of all born of women, went through the experience of the “dark night of the soul”. As he (John) languished in the prison before he was finally executed by Herod, he sent two of his disciples to go and ask Jesus, “Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (cf. Luke 7:19-23) When such question came to Jesus, Jesus gave a response, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind now see; the lame walk; lepers are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised up; and so on”. In other words, the works which Jesus did should be enough to convince John that He is the Messiah and the Savior.

From time to time, just like John the Baptist who was in prison and the suffering people of Israel in exile, we will surely be hit hard by painful and unexplainable experiences in life. At those times, let us keep calm. When we see ourselves journeying through the darkest of valleys, let us not forget that the God who was with us on the mountain is still with us in the valley. When the night seems to be becoming darker, gloomier and more threatening, let us not forget that the God who was with us during the day is still with us during the night. Often, such experiences are meant to help us grow in faith, not to make us stunted in growth. When we GO THROUGH them, we GROW THROUGH them.    



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