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Dawn comes after the dark night of the Soul

Losing faith, like coming to faith, is a kind of conversion. It may be sudden and dramatic, a reverse, so to speak, of what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus

Crises of faith are unpredictable. They do not come to order. They can arrive unannounced at any time, so they are not necessarily a Lenten experience. Lent, however, may be a good time to explore them.

What happens? A person who has believed firmly and serenely finds suddenly that he or she is swathed in darkness, has stepped out of sunlight into shadow and become stuck there, disorientated, uncertain where to turn next.

Bewildered, you may wonder what is happening. Has faith been shown up after all as an illusion? Or are you being tested? Has faith been lost or has night fallen?

Some years after her death, when people heard about Mother Teresa’s experience of darkness, voices were raised, declaring she had lost her