THURSDAY, SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTERTIDE
Acts 22: 30; 23: 6-11 Ps 16: 1-2, 5, 7-11 Jn 17: 20-26
CARRYING THE LIGHT
On the threshold of his Passion, Jesus does not pray for escape, but for us. His gaze stretches across time, and he prays for his flock which is a single, burning desire: “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us.” This oneness Jesus prays for is the very life of God shared with us. It is the love that flows eternally between Father and Son now offered as the dwelling place for our souls. But how do we enter into this profound unity? Our own hearts can feel scattered, divided by worries, sins, and the sheer noise of the world. We yearn for this divine union but often find ourselves in what the great mystic, Saint John of the Cross, called the “dark night.”
St John of the Cross teaches that the soul seeking perfect union with God must often journey through a purification of faith. In the Ascent of Mount Carmel, he writes that to reach the divine union, “the soul must pass through the dark night of the senses and the spirit.” This “night” is not a punishment, but a profound mercy. It is God gently detaching our hearts from all that is not Him: our limited ideas, our clinging to spiritual comforts, our self-reliance, so that we might be attached solely to Him. In the darkness, our senses and intellect are stripped, and we are led by pure faith, the very faith Jesus mentions: “that the world may believe that you sent me.”
This is where Jesus’ prayer and John’s teaching converge. The unity Jesus desires is forged in this purifying love. It happens when, in our own “nights” of doubt, suffering, or dryness, we persevere in faith, trusting only in His indwelling presence. As we are purified, the ego that divides us from God and from each other is diminished, and the life of Christ increases in us. This is the Christian calling: that Christ-Light may shine in us, who are handed the light of God’s Spirit in our baptism!
Response: Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
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