Praying more in times of darkness

 

It happened - we read in the Gospel of the Mass - that on arriving at Jericho there was a blind man sitting by the roadside begging.


Some Fathers of the Church point out that this blind man at the gates of Jericho is an image "of one who does not know the brightness of eternal light", for at times the soul can also suffer moments of blindness and darkness. The clear path that he glimpsed one day can become blurred and less clear, and what was once light and joy is now darkness, and a certain sadness weighs on the heart. Often this situation is caused by personal sins, the consequences of which have not been completely resolved, or by a lack of correspondence to grace: "perhaps the dust that we raise as we walk-our miseries-forms an opaque cloud that impedes the passage of light "; at other times, the Lord allows this difficult situation to purify the soul, to mature it in humility and trust in Him. In this situation, it is logical that everything costs more, that everything becomes more difficult, and that the devil tries to make the sadness deeper, or to take advantage of this moment of interior disconcert.


Whatever its origin, if we ever find ourselves in this state, what shall we do? The blind man of Jericho - Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus - teaches us: to turn to the Lord, who is always near, to make our prayer more intense, so that he may have pity and mercy on us. Although he seems to be on his way and we are left behind, he hears us. He is not far away. But it is possible that what happened to Bartimaeus may happen to us: And those who went ahead rebuked him so that he would be quiet. The blind man found it more and more difficult to turn to Jesus, as we do "when we want to return to God, those same weaknesses in which we have incurred, come to the heart, cloud the understanding, leave the spirit confused and would like to extinguish the voice of our prayers ". It is the weight of weakness or sin that makes itself felt.


Let us take the example of the blind man: But he cried out all the more: Son of David, have mercy on me: "There you have it: he whom the mob rebuked to be quiet, lifted up his voice more and more; so also we (...), the greater the inner turmoil, the greater the difficulties we encounter, the more strongly must prayer come from our heart ".


Jesus stopped on the road as he seemed to be going on to Jerusalem and sent for the blind man. Bartimaeus approached him and Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do to you? Ut videam, let him see, Lord. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God.


Sometimes it will be difficult to know the causes for which the soul goes through that difficult situation in which everything seems to cost more. Perhaps we will not know its origin, but we will know the always effective remedy: prayer. "When the soul is in darkness, blinded and restless, we must go, like Bartimaeus, to the Light. Repeat, cry out, insist more strongly, 'Domine, ut videam! And it will become day for your eyes, and you will be able to rejoice with the light that He will grant you".



https://www.hablarcondios.org/meditaciondiaria.aspx