(I was going to title this: Reading for Dark Times, but
thought better of it.)
Holding my Liturgy of the Hours book, it fell from my hands
and dropped open to the inside flap of the book’s plastic cover. Inside that plastic flap was a booklet of
prayers I hadn’t prayed in a long while, perhaps because I didn’t feel the need
to. But then times change.
The booklet was titled You Are Not Alone --- Prayers in
Dark Times, by Fr. Benedict Groeschel (the booklet is now out of
print). Reading those prayers, many of
which voice our hearts’ yearning in these sad days, I noticed that Fr. Benedict
mentioned one of his books, Arise From Darkness. That night, I picked that book from my shelf,
and began reading it. I found the words
most heartening --- I have always liked most of Fr. Groeschel’s books; they
helped me grow in faith. Now, however,
they are helping me to be strong in faith, when terrors beyond human
understanding – or control – surround us.
Reading Arise From Darkness, Fr. Benedict mentioned yet
another book of deep spiritual contemplation, one which can help us grow in
faith, in these times which test our faith:
Abandonment to Divine Providence, by Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade,
is a deeper read, a step up in learning to trust God in trials. I pulled a copy of that book off the shelf
and set it on the table, my next read.
Oh, there are many good books about making sense of
suffering or learning to trust God. If
you are disturbed by events these days, I encourage you to order one or more of
these books. You have time to read
them. Perhaps this time was given you
for that purpose. Don’t waste it. (Glancing at my shelves, I also pulled down
another of Fr. Groeschel’s, Tears of God --- Persevering in the Face of
Great Sorrow.) But if heavy reading might
depress you rather than uplift you, cause you to focus on these times rather
than look past, then read some of the great books of encouragement, like The
Lord, by Guardini, or Life of Christ, by Sheen, or even Theology
& Sanity or To Know Christ Jesus by Sheed. These books are on my personal top ten
list. Don’t use these days to numb your
mind with television; use them to make sense of your life, and your God --- who
loves you, especially in these times.
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And even as I write about my home readings, I still marvel
each day at how my daily prayers and meditative readings so speak to me about
events of these days, and how to bear them, like these words on patience, from
Divine Intimacy (Meditation 128):
“Whoever wishes to become patient,
must, first of all, look at the motives for suffering in the profound light of
faith. This superior illumination will
make the soul understand that everything that happens in life is always
permitted by God, and is solely for its good.
If we wish to live only for God, we must never stop to consider the
causes of our sufferings, we must accept all from His hands.
This acceptance does not prevent
us from feeling, even deeply feeling, the weight of suffering --- Jesus also,
felt it in His agony in the Garden of Olives --- but it does help us to be
undisturbed, to preserve peace and serenity, to maintain self-control and,
consequently, to be patient.
In order to begin to practice
patience, we must try to bear daily annoyances and sufferings resignedly,
without complaint, knowing that divine Providence does not permit any trial
that will not be a source of good for us.
In the beginning, and even for a long time, we may experience a great
repugnance for suffering. Nevertheless,
if we try to accept it as we should, with constancy, peace, and submission to
the divine will, we shall gradually be cognizant of the great spiritual profit
that flows from it; we shall feel more detached from creatures and from
ourselves, and closer to God. “
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