December 14 2021 - St. John of the Cross - "O night more loving than the rising sun"

 In the course of the Christian life, there are times when the brightness of God’s closeness sustains us and strengthens us—when it is easy to pray and a delight to pray—when God’s will is relatively easy to discern and follow, when God’s presence is unobscured by our anxieties. But there are also times in the spiritual life—in the Christian life—of inevitable dryness, where the God seems far away, distant, even absent.  

Today’s Saint St. John of the Cross understood darkness. After joining the Carmelites, it became clear that many of his brother monks were not all that interested in prayer, penance, and spiritual growth. They became so annoyed with John that they imprisoned him in a tiny cell.

John took advantage of the darkness and the quiet and the solitude of imprisonment to seek Christ, and composed some of the most beautiful mystical poetry in history. 

And though I suffer darknesses
in this mortal life,
that is not so hard a thing;
for even if I have no light
I have the life of heaven.
For the blinder love is
the more it gives such life,
holding the soul surrendered,
living without light in darkness.

For when once the will
is touched by God himself,
it cannot find contentment
except in the Divinity;
but since his Beauty is open
to faith alone, the will
tastes him…which is so gladly found.

What a wonderful saint to honor and imitate during Advent. For during Advent when practice a sort of spiritual solidarity with Ancient Israel, waiting and longing for Christ in the darkness. For centuries, many thought that God had abandoned his people. The faithful remnant, kept the hope allowed, continued to pray and meditate on the Scriptures and the promises of the Messiah.

St. John of the Cross helps us to look for God in our own experience of darkness and isolation. When God seems distant, when hardships grow great, when the brokenness of the world seems beyond repair, when so many seem to be falling away from the Church, instead of losing hope, we must recommit to seeking God in the darkness. God in fact allows us to undergo spiritual darkness, spiritual trial, that our faith, hope, and love may be grow. 

For spiritual night can lead to an ever deeper experience of God; as John of the Cross wrote, “O night, that was more loving than the rising sun, o night, which joined the lover, to the beloved one” for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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We raise up our prayers of petitions, as we await with longing the Advent of Christ the Lord.

That through self-denial and embrace of the cross the Christian people may experience ever-deeper union with Christ this Advent.

For the members of the Carmelite Order, that their life of prayer and penance will be for the Church a source of renewal and strength.

For an increase in vocations to the priesthood and religious life and a strengthening of all marriages in holiness.

That Christ may banish disease, drive out hunger, ward off every affliction, and strengthen all who suffer persecution for the sake of the Gospel. And in a special way we pray for all victims of natural disaster and adverse weather, especially the victims of the recent tornados in our country.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.