Darkness (10/25/14)

What has happened to the night’s darkness? Where has it gone? Once upon a time our cities were dark enough for us to see the stars at night. Just as persons suffer from vitamin deficiency and depression if they do not have enough sunlight in their life, perhaps they suffer from a psychic deficiency if they do not have enough physical darkness in their life. Barbara Brown Taylor in a recent Time magazine article (http://time.com/65543/barbara-brown-taylor-in-praise-of-darkness/) reflects on our need for darkness.

Darkness puts people in touch with the deeper places within them. Perhaps this is why humans tell stories around a campfire. Rituals that take place in darkness draw power from the darkness. How sad that the Catholic Church has forgotten this lesson. Perhaps some people do not go to Mass because the ritual does not put them in touch with the Sacred Mystery. So what do churches do? Light up the worship space and drive the Numinous further away. Even at the Easter Vigil, some churches are shortening the time that the church is lit solely by candlelight. How sad. Perhaps God is in the darkness.

Next week Jesus’ mouse goes to a wedding, and we reflect on the Sixties and the current bishops’ synod. Chapter two of Meditation and Prayer focuses on our relationship with a Jew who lived in ancient times.