Padre Pio understood the Dark Night of the Soul.
This is taken from the book, Padre Pio's Word of Hope, Ed. Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti, OSV Press, Huntington, IN. 1999.
"...within this fog thee is a clear, pure, delightful, divine and delicate light...You cannot discern this light, but it is none the less true that precisely this light strengthens and invigorates you in the service and persevering love of the Lord. It is a light, moreover, which is for you and for your soul the beginning of contemplation. You cannot fully achieve this contemplation until you have submitted humbly to the purification of the senses. Yet, who would believe that this light, which in the beginning invades the soul with such desolation and pain, is later to raise it up to mystical and transforming union?"
How nice that the great saints and writers of perfection agree on the steps to purification.
Do not give up in the Dark Night, no matter how long it is. God is doing something quietly in the darkness.
Be patient with yourself and with God.
