Dear Friends,
We enter the Advent Season. A time of longing, a walking in darkness, a time filled with the hope of the return of our Savior, a time of quiet, long winter nights, a time when one little light can pierce the gloom…
Are you familiar with Emily Dickinson’s poem about darkness?
We Grow Accustomed to the Dark
We grow accustomed to the Dark –
When light is put away –
As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp
To witness her Goodbye –
A Moment — We uncertain step
For newness of the night –
Then — fit our Vision to the Dark –
And meet the Road — erect –
And so of larger — Darkness –
Those Evenings of the Brain –
When not a Moon disclose a sign –
Or Star — come out — within –
The Bravest — grope a little –
And sometimes hit a Tree
Directly in the Forehead –
But as they learn to see –
Either the Darkness alters –
Or something in the sight
Adjusts itself to Midnight –
And Life steps almost straight.
Yes, we do grow accustomed to darkness. As Dickinson suggests, perhaps that accommodation to darkness can be an image for our spiritual life. Do we continue to move forward when times are tough or do we stop because we are afraid, too dark? Have we grown accustomed to expecting less in our spiritual journey and given up the struggle because of the challenges? Have we stopped walking in the dark? Advent reminds us to renew the struggle to look for the tiny moments of God in the midst of our present darkness. After all, no one would have looked for God in a new born baby in the small town of Bethlehem in a barn where animals slept. Yet that is precisely where God was.
Advent invites us to look with fresh eyes in places where we stopped looking because it was too dark. We may bump our heads as Dickinson says, but if we strive, we will learn to see in the dark. We must not give up on God when it gets dark. Our world has grown more challenging. That darkness may feel altogether too much. Advent tells us, God is still to be found. When it is really dark, His light can pierce the gloom.
Peace,
Fr. Damian