Aleteia
September 27, 2016
VATICAN CITY — What should
you do when you, or a friend or loved one, are experiencing spiritual darkness
due to a family tragedy, illness, or something that is weighing you
down?
Today, Pope Francis said
that prayer is the way to overcome our darkest moments, rather than resorting to
pills or drink to escape the reality of our troubles. His comments came during
his homily at Holy Mass this morning in the chapel of his residence at Santa
Marta.
Commenting on today’s first
reading from the Old Testament, in which Job pours out his sorrows to God after
losing everything, even his children, Pope Francis focused on the spiritual
desolation that we all experience and explained how we can overcome
it.
The pope pointed out that,
although Job had lost everything, he did not curse God but rather poured out his
troubles to him as “a son to his father.”
Sooner or later all of us experience spiritual
darkness
“Spiritual desolation is
something that happens to all of us: it can be stronger or weaker but that
feeling of spiritual darkness, of hopelessness, mistrust, lacking the desire to
live, without seeing the end of the tunnel, with so much agitation in one’s
heart and in one’s ideas…Spiritual desolation makes us feel as though our souls
are crushed, we can’t succeed, and we also don’t want to live: ‘Death is
better!’ This was Job’s outburst. It was better to die than live like this. We
need to understand that when our soul is in this state of generalized sadness we
can barely breathe: this happens to all of us, whether strong or not, to all of
us. We need to understand what goes on in our hearts.”
Pope Francis went on to
pose the question: “What should we do when we experience these dark moments, be
it a family tragedy, an illness, something that weighs us down?” Noting that
some people would think of a sleeping pill to help them escape their problem, or
drinking one, two, three or four glasses,” he warned that these methods “do not
help.” Instead, today’s liturgy shows us how to cope with this spiritual
desolation, “when we are lukewarm, depressed and without
hope.”
The Pope said the way out
from this situation is to pray, to pray loudly, just as Job did, day and night
until God responds. “It is a prayer to knock at the door but with strength!
‘Lord, my soul is surfeited with troubles. My life draws near to Hell. I am
numbered among those who go down into the pit; I am a man without strength.’ How
many times have we felt like this, without strength? And here is the prayer. Our
Lord himself taught us how to pray in these dreadful moments. ‘Lord, you have
plunged me into the bottom of the pit. Upon me, your wrath lies heavy. Let my
prayer come before you, Lord.’ This is the prayer and this is how we should pray
in our darkest, most dreadful, bleakest and most crushed moments that are really
crushing us. This is genuine prayer. And it’s also giving vent just like Job did
with his sons. Like a son.”
Silence, closeness, and prayer: how to help those who
are suffering
Silence, closeness, and
prayer is the best way to be a friend to those going through times of darkness,
Pope Francis said, as he warned that sometimes words and speeches in these
situations can do more harm than good.
“First of all, we must
recognize in ourselves these moments of spiritual desolation, when we are in the
dark, without hope and asking ourselves why. Secondly, we must pray to the Lord
like today’s reading from Psalm 87 teaches us to pray during our dark moments.
‘Let my prayer come before you, Lord.’ Thirdly, when I draw close to a person
who is suffering, whether from illness, or whatever other type of suffering and
who is experiencing a sense of desolation, we must be silent: but a silence with
much love, closeness and caresses. And we must not make speeches that don’t
help in the end and even can do harm.”
The Pope concluded his
homily by asking the Lord to grant us these three graces: the grace to recognize
spiritual desolation, the grace to pray when we are afflicted by this feeling of
spiritual desolation, and the grace to know how to be close to people who are
suffering terrible moments of sadness and spiritual
desolation.”
Note: Even after his conversion and in recovery from drink at age 28, Venerable Matt Talbot had moments of spiritual darkness, yet he persevered by the grace of God.
Also note an article titled, "Pope Francis to Addicts: You are Never Alone" at https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/InFocus/Article/TabId/721/ArtMID/13629/ArticleID/17163/Pope-Francis-to-addicts-%E2%80%98You-are-never-alone%E2%80%99.aspx