Almighty and merciful God, you break the power of evil and make all things new in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. May all in heaven and earth acclaim your glory and never cease to praise you. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Catholic Culture has more information about today, including activities and prayers (such as the one above) to celebrate today with.
Hi Kim — not a comment on Christ the King, but on your earlier post about spiritual difficulty and darkness. I’ve been reading/lurking your blog since I came into the Church, which was the same year as you did. I’m having difficulties similar to what you seem to be having, too. It makes me wonder if it’s something like a child’s developmental stages, moving along the journey in increments. I noticed early on that I’d go through what seemed to be spiritual “growth spurts”, where I felt too small and irritable, and afterward felt new and sensitive, like new skin. Does this make sense? I hope so, because then it seems like we have a bit more hopefulness of it passing, and perhaps a bit more understanding and patience with the process.
“It makes me wonder if it’s something like a child’s developmental stages, moving along the journey in increments. I noticed early on that I’d go through what seemed to be spiritual “growth spurts”, where I felt too small and irritable, and afterward felt new and sensitive, like new skin.”
I think you’re right in thinking this. From what I’ve read and heard, the times of darkness can be used to purify the body of earthly desires and cling more to God. And also, maybe on some level to determine where our loyalty lies. For me personally, I have been noticing more and more desires that are incompatible with God and therefore need to make a decision: root out the desires and go with God or stick with them and possibly be hindering God’s grace and His will for me. It’s a scary time, because it is really causing me to face things I have buried or thought I dealt with. Whether or not this is the “why” behind the darkness, I’m not sure. But, this week is Confession Week for Greg and I, so I have that opportunity to bring it to my Confessor and get some discernment/guidance on what is from God and what is just a prickly subconscious. He seems to think that this is a time where God wants to see if I will be faithful to Him when it spiritually hurts – what is my motivation for loving Him? Do I love Him because He is God and He is Love, and He is the one who died for me? Or do I love Him because of some other reason?
There is always an end to it – maybe in this life, or maybe for people like Mother Theresa in the next. For me personally, fighting against God never results in anything constructive. It’s almost like having a broken leg reset or maybe going through childbirth, since I haven’t broken my leg.
But, a lot of pain that if you resist makes things harder. The pain isn’t all fluffy bunnies when you do not resist it, but it helps to keep me focused that there is an end, and the end is either a fancy healed leg or a new child.
Before I forget (and before this turns into a novel), have you read St. John of the Cross’s work, “Dark Night of the Soul”? It’s highly recommended in these dark times, but I have found that reading something as deep as that (right now) is futile. St. John of the Cross is the “go-to guy” in terms of spiritual darkness – maybe it can be of some help for you?
*hugs and prayers*