Facing Into The Darkness

We all have experience of darkness in life at times. It is in facing into the dark and empty place that we can see the reality that our problems, though sometimes seemingly great in size or magnitude, are never the entirety of the story. For me, slowing down and regaining the discipline of prayer and reflection, rather than bringing me to a place of terror and ruin, actually leads me to a place of healing. It’s a place of encounter with reality, of encounter with God. 

On Holy Saturday each year, silence falls, and the dark and empty tomb screams out to those who would fear the end, ‘Come, see!’ And I see now why they had to go to the tomb. Jesus was teaching them, even in a time of great misery, that we all have to go to the tomb – the dark and empty places – scary and all as that may be. Why does he call us there? Because when we go, when we face into the darkness, we will see that it is not dark at all. A wonderful light is coming. Problems, even death, are not the end. There is always the promise of three days later.

Brendan McManus SJ and Jim Deeds, Emerging from the Mess