In the long Dark Night of the Soul series, found through the labels at the side of this blog, I noted that the great saints teach us that Faith must be purged of the reliance on the imagination.
Some readers asked good questions on this point and I hope I answered some queries.
However, I want to expand on this idea today, as we are quickly entering into a time where any type of consolation of faith may be taken away from us, both as individuals and as a group.
I think of those who survived the concentration camps of Germany, or the Gulag of Russia, or even, of Frodo, in literature, who told Sam on Mt. Doom that he had forgotten what the Shire looked like.
In the face of grave isolation and in the midst of the enemies of the Church, one could forget the consolations of the sacraments and the Mass. One could be separated from the liturgical comforts of the great feast days and the days of the saints.
One could be removed from all physical beauty, and even from the memory of such beauty.
What happens in the Dark Night, in this purging of the imagination, is the complete destruction of intellectual and emotional input, but a slow changing of both to be born again in the Mind of Christ.
The intellect finally conforms to that of Christ's Mind, which sees all things in a different light than the world, the flesh or the devil.
The emotions are purged of selfishness.
The will is changed from being centered on self to being centered on God alone.
When one is in a desert, one sees mirages instead of reality. One must learn to trust something more than the senses. One must learn to trust in the deep recesses of the self, which hopefully rests in God. The self-will is gone.
That forceful push to the inner being of a person, that harsh glare of reality beyond fear and expectation, is the final stage in the Dark Night.
There, if one is quiet and listening, one will finally encounter God as He wants to be encountered, not as one imagines Him to be.
Like the person in the concentration camp who only sees violence and ugliness day after day, but hopes in the Unseen God, the person in the Dark Night transcends the ugliness of his own sin and tendencies towards sin.
Nothing matters but Love.
One may ask how Love is found in this dark passage from self to nothingness. Love seeks and finds. And, finally , one realizes that one can only rely on that Love and nothing, no one else.
If God decides to take all away, so be it. If He decides to bless, so be it.
In the next state, that of Illumination, one will finally come to understanding. But, until then, one waits in faith, hope and love. One must decide to live in the Shadow of God, rather than in the false bright lights of the world. This living both in the world but not being of the world is the call of each Catholic.
If you are feeling now that you do not "belong" anywhere but with God and His True Church, be glad. If you are abandoned by those in the world, and even by some Christians, do not be alarmed. So, too, was Christ.
You are moving into the great Darkness which will lead you to a greater encounter with God.
Do not be afraid.