O Lord\u2026 even the darkness is not dark to you <\/i>(Psalm 139)<\/p>\nDear Friends,<\/h2>\n
As we journey with the Lord, questions inevitably arise. \u201cWhat do you ask of me?<\/i>\u201d \u201cHow are you calling me to love this person?<\/i>\u201d \u201cLord, why does evil sometimes seem so powerful, and you seem so fragile\u2026 Even though I believe that <\/i>you have the real power.<\/i>\u201d And sometimes, perhaps, the answers aren\u2019t as clear as we would like.<\/p>\n
This points to a paradox in our relationship with God. The mystics tell us that the closer we draw to the Lord, Light from Light, the more we experience a sort of darkness. They often call this the night of faith. And yet, as Dominican Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange observed, there\u2019s something curious about night. When we go outside after dark, we initially feel confused, disoriented, frightened. But if we stay in the darkness something marvelous happens: we can see the stars. We see beauty which is billions of miles away, this beauty which only the night reveals. In the same way, in the darkness of faith, we begin to see as God sees. We begin to see the stars.<\/p>\n
From the moment the angel left her, the Blessed Virgin Mary walked in this same darkness of faith; and she wants to help us on our own pilgrimage. With that in mind, as the days shorten and Advent draws near, we ask Our Lady to grace us with her guidance, to aid all of us\u2014wherever we are, and whatever we need\u2014to glimpse the stars.<\/p>\n
God bless you,<\/i><\/p>\n
Fr. John Pietropaoli<\/p>\n
Two Priests and A Mic<\/i>\u00a0podcaster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
O Lord\u2026 even the darkness is not dark to you (Psalm 139) Dear Friends, As we journey with the Lord, questions inevitably arise. \u201cWhat do you ask of me?\u201d \u201cHow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":361,"featured_media":157285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3004,6616,3001],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-152581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regnum-christi-news","category-weekly-message","category-news-article"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n