July 17, 2020

When we have nothing to give, let us give him that nothingness.
- ST. TERESA OF KOLKATA
 
What a beautiful reminder we have today from St. Teresa.
 
Only after her death was it revealed that St. Teresa experienced “…a deep, painful and abiding feeling of being separated from God, even rejected by Him, along with an ever-increasing longing for His love. She called her inner experience, the darkness. The "painful night" of her soul…” (https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=5611)
 
According to catholic.org, this ‘darkness’ for her began around the time she started her work with the poor and lasted until the end of her life.
 
We all have experienced times of darkness in our own lives; times when we have felt alone, misunderstood, abandoned, afraid, lost, and far from God. In many ways, we could call these days a time of global darkness.
 
Yet, Jesus calls us to be children of the light. As St. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:5, “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” I love that so much!
 
Even though there may be times of darkness in our lives and feelings of being far away from God, we don’t belong there. We can acknowledge our sadness, our darkness, our nothingness, and bring it to Jesus. Then we can ask Him to take us by the hand and bring us back to the light; His light, His warmth, His love. May we feel the light of God’s loving embrace today.
 
Jesus, we trust in you.
 
 
©Mary V. Pribbenow