THE DARK NIGHT
OF THE SOUL
GOSPEL: A READING FROM THE GOSPEL
OF JOHN 13: 21-30
After he had said this, Jesus was
troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you
is going to betray me.”
His disciples stared at one
another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One
of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to
him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he
means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he
asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is the
one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the
dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son
of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into
him.
So Jesus told him, “What you
are about to do, do quickly.”
But no one at the meal understood
why Jesus said this to him.
Since Judas had charge of the
money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the
festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had
taken the bread, he went out. It was night.
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “The
Dark Night of the Soul.”
Today is the feast of St. John of
the Cross [1542-1591]
He is famous for that phrase:
“The Dark Night of the Soul.”
It's the title of his treatise [c.1583] based on his poem: Songs of the Soul Which Rejoices at Having Reached Union with God by the road of Spiritual Negation [c. 1578]
Theologians, poets,
psychologists, and spiritual writers often talk about “The Dark Night of the
Soul."
Napoleon talked about, “Two
o’clock in the morning courage: I mean unprepared courage.” This can be found
in the Memories of Napoleon written down by Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonne from the
island of Saint Helene - where Napoleon was held captive. [Cf. his journal
writings from December 4, 5, 1815 - in Las
Cases, Memorial de Ste-Helene 1843.
Henry David Thoreau wrote about, "The Three o'clock in the morning courage, which Bonaparte thought was the rarest." That's n Walden [1854] chapter 4, Sounds.
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in his
book, The Crack Up, "In a real
dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning." [1936]
SO
So in psychology - many times in
talking about depression - people feel like they are in a dark night. They
can’t sleep or they are sleeping too much.
So in prayer - many people in
talking about praying and spirituality - they talk about feeling bored, empty,
dry, feeling like they are in a desert or having been deserted by God.
John of the Cross and Teresa of
Avila - who knew each other as Carmelites - and friends - often talked about
the Dark Night.
A key word one reads is, “Nada!”
They are feeling nothing when they
pray - and then bringing that into her spirituality - Teresa will say, “Nada” -
let nothing disturb you.
When it comes to God, they feel
nothing at times. Nada. They feel like they are in the dark.
GOSPEL
I picked the gospel text I read
for today from the gospel of St. John.
I was going to pick just the last
3 words, “It was night” as the reading - but I thought that could be a
distraction.
John the Poet - very different
from Matthew, Mark and Luke - plays on the theme of sin as darkness.
Judas by his betrayal of Jesus
entered into the night - into the dark night of sin - into the dark night of
the soul.
When we sin - when we betray our
spouse - when we cheat - it’s hard to look the other in the eye. “It is night!” We have eaten, bit in into the sour bread of
sin - and we can’t be in communion with each other.
Paul - especially in Romans - talks about sin as
darkness.
Thieves wear masks.
People going into court hide behind a coat or newspaper.
CONCLUSION
We’re heading for Christmas - the great feast of Light -
especially in the Northern Hemisphere - where Christmas comes in the Darkest
time of the Year.
Yet isn’t it neat to see so many lights on trees and
houses - and in windows - and light in people’s eyes - as they are shopping for
gifts to express their love and appreciation for the people in their lives.
