This is the last Sunday we will see the liturgical color of green for a while, as next Sunday we celebrate the feast of Christ the King with the end of the liturgical year. Then, we enter the seasons of Advent and Christmas. As we get close to the end of the year, our readings today are about the end times. But these readings are not about us with the angels in heaven in eternal life. Instead, we hear of a time of tribulation and judgement, of images of the darkening of the sun, stars falling from the sky, and the shaking of the powers of heaven. This reading from Mark’s Gospel comes right after Jesus talks about the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which will usher in at time of persecution. Indeed, Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed as Jesus predicted. As the Gospel takes place at a dark time in Jesus’ life, just before his passover meal with his disciples and the beginning of his passion, the communities of the early Church first heard this Gospel in the midst of their own darkness, living under a cloud of fear and persecution. When Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, the source and end of all, comes back in the end times, many will choose him, but others will choose the darkness instead.
Darkness is a part of life. All of us experience darkness in different shapes and forms on our journey through life. Many people fear the darkness and see it as a very bad thing. Darkness can bring a lot of pain and suffering. It can make us feel alone and abandoned. It can negatively affect our faith and our hope. We can spend a lot of time and energy fearing the darkness or battling it. But, often, we are so caught up in the pain and suffering of the darkness that we don’t see the gifts, the blessings, and the transformation that can come from the darkness. Perhaps we priests don’t preach enough about the darkness we encounter in life, since it is not an easy subject to tackle. Author Sue Monk Kidd states: “Too many of us panic in the dark. We don’t understand that it’s a holy dark and that the idea is to surrender to it and journey through to real light."
Think of Jesus’ time in the tomb between his death on the cross and his resurrection; the seed that goes into the ground and that comes up from the soil into new life; the caterpillar that spins itself into a cocoon before it emerges as a beautiful butterfly; the bear that hibernates in the cold dark winter to emerge in the light of springtime. These times of transformation are essential to new life or new birth. Yes, fear is a natural response to the darkness inside of ourselves and to the darkness around us. We need to let go of our fear and not let it have power over us; in faith, we are called to believe that darkness is an essential part of life and essential to our growth as human beings.
Perhaps we all need to see darkness in a new way. In being open to the blessings, transformations, and light that are present in the darkness, we will be ready for Jesus when he comes for us in the darkness and trials of the end times. When we go through a time of darkness, God calls us to trust, to pray, and to stay connected to him in any way we can. Trappist monk Thomas Merton writes: “True love and prayer are really learned in the hour when prayer becomes impossible and your heart turns to stone.”
Carylll Houselander is an interesting figure in our Catholic faith. She was a Catholic lay woman from England who lived in the first half of the 20th century. She was a writer, artist, and mystic. Although she had no formal training in psychology, theology, or counseling, she served as a spiritual director and counselor, helping people to heal. Priests and medical doctors would refer patients to her. I have come across her writings at different times, coming across this poem she wrote about darkness:
God will enter into your night,
as the ray of the sun enters into the dark, hard earth,
driving right down to the roots of the trees,
and there, unseen, unknown, unfelt in the darkness,
filling the tree with life,
a sap of fire will suddenly break out,
high above the darkness,
into living leaf and flame.
We can bring the light of Christ to others in darkness in different ways, especially as we journey through our own darkness. Reflecting upon our own darkness, we can have more empathy and compassion. No matter what darkness we have in our lives, the light of Christ is still there.
