“And even if the Lord were to hide, love will know how to find Him. For love knows no gates or guards; even the keen-eyed Cherub himself, with his flaming sword, will not stop love; it will work its way through wilderness and scorching heat, through storm, thunder and darkness, and will reach the source from which it came, and there it will endure forever. All things will come to an end; but love, never.” Divine Mercy in my soul # 1022
“Even of the Lord were to hide, love would find Him.” One thing many don’t understand and more fear is the Lord withdrawing His presence from their lives. First off, that can never fully occur. If the Lord withdrew fully and stopped thinking of the soul, it simply wouldn’t be any longer. So, rest assured that if the person still exists, even if just in memory, God thoughts are with it. Even the greatest sinner is held close to the Lord’s heart and always on His mind.
More worrisome though is the Lord withdrawing His Presence from the soul and allowing it to enter a dark night.
Rest assured though, that even if the Lord withdraws from the soul for a long period, it is to strengthen love. “Love will find Him.” Nature abhors a vacuum and in the same manner so does the soul God created in each of us. Think of the dark night as a vacuum, complete emptiness and lacking of the presence of God. Like a vacuum, the soul will seek to draw something to fill this emptiness. When the Lord withdraws, He doesn’t leave the soul unguarded. He surrounds the soul with Love and good things that it can seek to draw in upon itself in this vacuum.
Ten years ago at this time, I was taking my first steps into the dark night. The Lord had withdrawn His presence from my life. This was a huge change as I had spent the prior several months with Jesus more closely at my side then even in my life. Now, He withdrew. But, He didn’t leave me unprotected. I know He kept a light upon my other in those days to keep the worst darkness at bay. He also surrounded me in those first days with a fortress of material for my soul to draw into the vacuum He left behind.
St. Faustina, the Divine Mercy were new things around me, with His presence pulled back, I drew upon these two great vessels to fill my void. The Bible, Sacraments and Mass became devoid of joy for me in those days but in becoming so, the vacuum within my soul saw the need to draw upon them more fully.
And, in even all these, one thing remained central. Love. The love of Jesus and the Spirit became more visible as it shone through the dark void within. The light of a single small candle can break the darkness. The Light the is God’s love shatters.
You may at times feel periods of desolation. It may seem that God is far distant and even that only the enemy if near. But, keep in mind Job (Job 1:7-12). Even in Job’s darkest days, God had set the boundaries of what could come against Job. If your soul seems in darkness and God feels distant, know it is set this way that your soul may crave God more and seek to fill its vacuum with His presence.
I was lucky. My period of darkness lasted only months, but, that was a time of fine tuning. I had previously spent decades walking through my own self imposed darkness. Even then, God surrounded me and kept filling the emptiness within my soul with His presence.
Once I realized all that was missing, I’ve become veracious to drown myself in God. Let the love find a way into your soul and fill you with His Presence.
“God is love” 1 John 4:8