“The most beautiful credo is the one that bursts forth from your lips in the dark, as a sacrifice, as a suffering, as a supreme effort of an infallible will to do right; this is what dispels, like a flash of lightening, the gloom of your soul, it is what leads you to God in the fury of the storm … A single act of love of God, made during a period of aridity is worth more than a hundred made with affection and consolation.” (St Padre Pio)
Greetings dear family of our beloved Saviour Jesus Christ; the grace of Christ be with you, and peace from God our Father. Amen.
We will all suffer aridity in our prayer life now and again. It is part of the Christian experience to feel, at times, in our spiritual life, the ‘dryness of the desert’ or ‘the dark night of the soul.’ We will not always be filled with that sweet consolation of the Spirit, which raises our hearts and minds to God. Down through the centuries there have been a number of great Saints and Christian writers who claim they have felt, at times, as if God had abandoned them. When this happens to us, it can make us feel very distressed and lonely, and we want to know where the problem lies. We must first make sure that it is not a fault on our part that our fellowship with God has become dry. Some of the reasons for this may be that we are deliberately engaging in some form of sin, or that we are resisting God’s will at some level, or that we are simply not giving God enough quality time to keep our relationship alive and vibrant.
If no fault can be found on our part, then it may be that the good Lord is simply using these times of dryness to test our love and fidelity, helping us to grow stronger in faith. “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6&7). It is in these times that we can show God the depth of our love and the strength of our faith, St Padre Pio, claims that the best ‘credo’ is the one that we pronounce during these periods of dryness, because it is made with a ‘supreme effort of and infallible will to do right.’ This is what God wants from us, that we might love Him unconditionally! St Padre Pio also claims, that “a single act of love of God, made during a period of aridity is worth more that a hundred made with affection and consolation.”
The desert is a time of testing, when we can prove to God the depth of our love. In truth our Father never abandons us! Jesus was abandoned on the cross so that we might NEVER be abandoned by God! If we feel abandoned by God at times, it is just an illusion on our part, which God is allowing for a season to fulfil some purpose within us. We must remember that the one who asks us to trust during these times, is the one who gave Himself for us on Calvary. God did not abandon us when we were sinners, so why should He abandon us today, now that we are entrusting our hearts to Him? “Never doubt in the dark what God told you in the light.” The light of grace will return to our souls at the appointed time if we remain faithful and look to God with trust in our hearts. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when the heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bare fruit” (Jeremiah 17 v 7&8). God will never truly abandon us! He has given us this promise, and He has sealed this promise with the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ!
Oh Jesus, Lord and Saviour, we bow our heads and our hearts in deepest gratitude
for the fact that You were willing to be forsaken by God so that we may be one with Him forever. AMEN
Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love.
The future to His providence!
