Held by a Love that Never Lets Us Go

John of the Cross's message resonates with a stark and profound truth: life's darknesses, those moments of chaos and uncertainty, are not void of meaning. They are not just places of fear and loss, but thresholds where transformation awaits. When we're at our outer limits, feeling the weight of failure, stress, or sin, it's then that John stands, reminding us that beyond the darkness is not emptiness but the Spirit of God.

In the night of our lives, when control slips from our grasp, we're faced with a powerful lesson: we are not the masters of all. This acknowledgment, this humbling reality, is where growth truly begins. John's own trials, his imprisonment and escape, gave weight to this symbol of "night." It's a symbol that can hold our pain, even our sense of being utterly separated from God.

But in this darkness, in this place where we feel dismantled, John finds echoes of Easter. Night, for him, is not just absence; it's the anticipation of resurrection. It's a powerful image of a God who doesn't abandon us in our most trying times but heals in the very depths of darkness.

We've all faced our nights, our moments of loss of control and certainty. Yet, in those moments, we're not left alone. John, and others like him, remind us that we are loved deeply, unimaginably, even when we cannot see the light. So let's embrace our "nights" as invitations to transformation, knowing that even in the darkest of times, we are held by a love that never lets us go.

(adopted from: John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel; The Dark Night, Prologue; Iain Matthew, The Impact of God)