In light of the eclipse (see what I did there?) I got to thinking about what some of the Saints would have said about the event in the sky that captivated America. So many of our great saints had much to say on the topic of darkness – particularly spiritual darkness. Pope St. John Paul II even mentioned an eclipse in one of his encyclicals! Read on to see what these spiritual heroes would have said about the amazing celestial event.
St. John of the Cross
“If a man wishes to be sure of the road he treads on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark.” “The endurance of darkness is the preparation for great light.”
Mother Teresa
“In the darkness . . . Lord, my God, who am I that you should forsake me? The child of your love — and now become as the most hated one. The one — you have thrown away as unwanted — unloved. I call, I cling, I want, and there is no one to answer . . . Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul. Love — the word — it brings nothing. I am told God lives in me — and yet the reality of darkness and coldness and emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul.”
Pope St. John Paul II
“It is at the heart of the moral conscience that the eclipse of the sense of God and of man, with all its various and deadly consequences for life, is taking place.” Evangelium Vitae, 23, 24
“Darkness can only be scattered by Light, hatred can only be conquered by Love.”
St. Teresa of Avila
“Let nothing perturb you, nothing frighten you. All things pass. God does not change. Patience achieves everything.”
St. Faustina
“Oh Soul steeped in darkness, do not despair! All is not yet lost. Come and confide in your God Who is Love and Mercy.”
St. Padre Pio
“The most beautiful creed is the one we pronounce in our hour of darkness.”
What would you add to this list?