Novena to St. John of the Cross, Day 6: Guided through the dark night

Scripture

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
I trust you, let me not be disappointed;
do not let my enemies triumph.
Those who hope in you shall not be disappointed,
but only those who wantonly break faith.

Lord, make me know your ways.
Lord, teach me your paths.
Make me walk in your truth, and teach me:
for you are God my savior.

In you I hope all day long
because of your goodness, O Lord.
Remember your mercy, Lord,
and the love you have shown from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth.
In your love remember me.
(Psalm 25:1-7)

Reading

A soul ordinarily needs instruction pertinent to its experience in order to be guided through the dark night to spiritual denudation and poverty. Without this instruction a person, even without wanting such things, would unknowingly become hardened in the way of the spirit and habituated to that of the senses, in which these communications are partly experienced. The spiritual father should instead proceed with much kindness and calm.

The Ascent of Mount Carmel: Book Two, Chapter 22

Prayer

O St. John of the Cross
You were endowed by our Lord with the spirit of self-denial
and a love of the cross.
Obtain for us the grace to follow your example
that we may come to the eternal vision of the glory of God.

O Saint of Christ’s redeeming cross
the road of life is dark and long.
Teach us always to be resigned to God’s holy will
in all the circumstances of our lives
and grant us the special favor
which we now ask of thee.

Mention your request

Above all, obtain for us the grace of final perseverance,
a holy and happy death and everlasting life with you
and all the saints in heaven.
Amen.

Let’s continue in prayer…

• Day 1 — What profit is there?
• Day 2 — An open wound
• Day 3 — Your heart in peace
• Day 4 — An imitation of his life
• Day 5 — Supreme goodness
• Day 6 — Guided through the dark night
• Day 7 — Surrender
• Day 8 — Inspired with love
• Day 9 — All things are forgotten

All scripture references in this novena are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America as accessed from the Bible Gateway website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Joseph.

Let us unite in prayer

#ascentOfMountCarmel #carmel #carmelitas #carmelitasDescalzas #carmelite #darkNight #denudation #discalcedCarmelite #instruction #novena #poverty #secularCarmelites #spirit #spiritual #spiritualDirection #spiritualLife #spiritualPoverty #spirituality #stJohnOfTheCross #teresianCarmel

St. Edith Stein Novena 2025, Day 7: Oppression and dryness

SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not proud
nor haughty my eyes.
I have not gone after things too great
nor marvels beyond me.

Truly I have set my soul
in silence and peace.
A weaned child on its mother’s breast,
even so is my soul.

O Israel, hope in the Lord
both now and forever.

MEDITATION
The Science of the Cross, Chapter 1

Oppression and dryness

It was mentioned earlier that the active entrance of the soul into the dark night is only possible for her because God’s grace anticipates her, draws her, and supports her along the entire way.

But for beginners this anticipatory and enabling grace does not as yet have the character of the dark night. Rather, God treats them the way a tender mother treats her tiny children—carrying them in her arms and feeding them with sweet milk: in all their spiritual exercises—in prayer, meditation, and mortifications—they receive abundant joy and consolation. This joy then motivates them to devote themselves to spiritual exercises. They are unaware of the imperfections that lie therein and how many faults they commit in their practice of virtue.

In order to be freed from all these defects we must be weaned from the milk of consolations and be fed with strengthening nourishment….

“After beginners have exercised themselves for a time in the way of virtue and have persevered in meditation and prayer and through the delight and satisfaction they experience in this have become detached from worldly things and have gained some spiritual strength in God, which helps them to restrain their appetites for creatures, and for God’s sake are able to suffer a little oppression and dryness without yearning to return to those better times when they experienced more pleasurable satisfaction and gratification… then… God darkens all this light and closes the door and the spring of sweet spiritual water they were tasting as often and as long as they desired…. Now he leaves them in such darkness that they do not know which way to turn in their discursive imaginings.”

PRAYER

Saint Edith Stein,
faith in the holy angels gives me confidence—
confidence to believe, in the midst of all suffering,
in the divine life-force we all share,
which flows through all creation
as the sap flows from the vine into its branches.

We do not stand alone
in this fierce struggle between life and death.
“When my enemies press in on me…” (Ps 56:2),
“…then God fights for me.” (Josh 23:10)

In this valley of tears,
I lift my eyes in trust to you,
you holy angels and saints:
your task is to pass on that Love
whose “beginning and end is the triune God.”
(Edith Stein, Complete Works)

We are held and drawn into this radiant stream
of light and love, of life and truth.
The more we are united with you
through surrender to the divine will,
the more your love becomes our love,
your light our light.

If we believe in this communion,
we already walk in the light.

Intercede for us,
that we may take part in the restoration of all creation.

Here mention your intentions

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

℣. Saint Edith Stein,
℟. Pray for us.

Stein, E 2002, The Science of the Cross, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 6, translated from the German by Koeppel, J, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.

All scripture references are from The Jerusalem Bible Reader’s Edition, copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday & Company, Inc. as accessed from The Internet Archive website.

Don’t become discouraged and give up prayer, says St. John of the Cross. We offer varying novenas to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, as well as novenas to St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Sts. Louis and Zélie Martin, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and St. Joseph.

Let us unite in prayer

#darkNight #drynessInPrayer #novena #prayer #StEdithStein

Dunkelheit und Farbenpracht vereinten sich am Freitag im Schuppen 2 zur Planet Queer Dark Night! Mit Evelyn Paradise in einem atemberaubenden Neon-Kostüm erlebten die Partygäste eine Nacht voller energiegeladener Beats und queerer Sichtbarkeit. Verpass nicht die Highlights dieser unvergesslichen Nacht!

#PlanetQueer #DarkNight #QueerCulture

Mehr erfahren: https://www.szenenight.de/party-berichte/planet-queer-dark-night-im-schuppen-2-14041.html

Marie du jour, 6 May: St. Edith Stein

Divine virginity has a characteristic aversion to sin as the contrary of divine holiness. However, this aversion to sin gives rise to an indomitable love for sinners.

Christ has come to tear sinners away from sin and to restore the divine image in defiled souls. He comes as the child of sin—his genealogy and the entire history of the Old Covenant show this—and he seeks the company of sinners so as to take all the sins of the world upon himself and carry them away to the infamous wood of the cross, which thereby precisely becomes the sign of his victory.

This is precisely why virginal souls do not repulse sinners. The strength of their supernatural purity knows no fear of being sullied. The love of Christ impels them to descend into the darkest night.

And no earthly maternal joy resembles the bliss of a soul permitted to enkindle the light of grace in the night of sins. The way to this is the cross. Beneath the cross, the Virgin of virgins becomes the Mother of Grace.

Saint Edith Stein

Exaltation of the Cross, 14 September 1941

Stein, E. 2014, The Hidden Life: hagiographic essays, meditations, spiritual texts, translated from the German by Stein, W, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured image: The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor (detail), Joos van Cleve and a collaborator, oil on wood, ca. 1520. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
How does Mary’s strength beneath the cross shape my view of purity, suffering, and love?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#CrossOfChrist #darkNight #ExaltationOfTheHolyCross #purity #sinners #StEdithStein #VirginMary #virginity #vows

Blessed Chiquitunga: Misery Meets Mercy

“How could I not tremble, Jesus, before the immensity of Your mercy toward this miserable one, a thousand times unworthy, chosen by You!”

Blessed Maria Felicia of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, Chiquitunga

A cracked-open door.
Two hinges: humility and wonder.
Through this door, we catch a glimpse of Blessed Maria Felicia of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament — Chiquitunga — a young Carmelite whose soul was shaped by trust in the night and total surrender to Love.

🎙️ Listen to this final episode of Season 2: Blessed Chiquitunga: Misery Meets Mercy.

https://youtu.be/H4yH-rVUHI0

As we close this season of Carmelite Quotes Podcast, thank you for listening, praying, and walking with us. Stay tuned for Season 3 — coming soon!

#BlessedMariaFeliciaOfJesusInTheBlessedSacrament #Chiquitunga #darkNight #humility #mercy #misery #Podcast

Quote of the day, 28 April: Blessed Chiquitunga

During her postulancy at the Carmel of Asunción, Blessed Maria Felicia of the Blessed Sacrament (Chiquitunga) passed through a dark night that tested her vocation.

After a month of “heaven” in her new Carmelite life, during Lent of 1955, Sister Maria Felicia began to feel profound insecurity about her choice, made against the advice of almost everyone she knew. She thought: Wasn’t my decision to enter a cloistered monastery simply an act of self-will?—an opinion expressed strongly by the newly appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Asunción, Monsignor Ramón Bogarín.

From this insecurity came the fear that she had taken the wrong path; the fear produced deep spiritual dryness; and from all of this arose the obsessive temptation: I must leave the cloister… and if I don’t, it’s because I’m a coward.

The community confessor, the same one who had actively resisted her entrance into Carmel, pressured her to decide once and for all. Finally, on 9 August, Sister Maria Felicia made her decision—to leave. She recounts it herself:

Today, I was resolved to leave, but with the anguish of bearing the cross of my infidelity without any merit. The confessor flatly told me to say whether I was leaving or staying. I told him I would leave. A coldness of death came over me, an anguish so deep it even choked back my tears (Spiritual Diary, C, folio 15).

Before giving her final word, Sister Maria Felicia suggested they cast lots—and the confessor, eager to settle the matter once and for all, agreed. Accompanied by the Prioress at that supreme moment, they prayed before the Blessed Sacrament and placed two folded papers at the feet of a statue of Mary.

Sister Maria Felicia drew one. The confessor opened it. It read: I want to die in Carmel.

Immediately, she cried out, convinced and determined: Jesus, my Jesus! Yes, this is Your will.

At the same time, she experienced her weakness and poverty: You see my weaknesses, my cowardice, my fears, my miseries! Alone I can do nothing!

She entrusted everything to the Lord: Jesus, into Your hands I entrust my vocation!

She knew that only He could give her the strength needed to overcome herself, for at times: The weight of Your will is so heavy that I would rather die! I fear sacrifice, I fear the Cross. Help me, Blessed Virgin! Little Jesus of Prague, miracle worker of my vocation! (Spiritual Diary, C, folios 15–16).

Supported by this conviction, trust, and surrender, she renewed the offering she had made from her early youth:

Father! My Father, God of my life. My nothingness—so truly Yours—I offer it back to You today, not knowing how many times I will yet snatch it away again, desperately kicking and screaming to do my own will and not Yours.

In reality, she had never truly withdrawn her will from God. The anguish before the Cross is not a rebellion—just as it was not rebellion in Jesus at Gethsemane.

Still, she renewed her complete surrender:

Here I am, Lord! Your will! But aided by Your strength, Your love, and Your mercy, my God!

Thus, even in the midst of the “dark night,” without emerging from it, in faith, hope, and love, God’s will triumphed.

The Carmelite postulant had died to herself, united to the death of Christ.

Father Julio Félix Barco, o.c.d.

Enseñanzas desde el Carmelo (Lessons from Carmel)

Monte Carmelo 2018, Enseñanzas desde el Carmelo. De los escritos de María Felicia de Jesús Sacramentado-Chiquitunga, no. 1, vol. 126, Monte Carmelo, Burgos. Available at: https://bcd.digicarmel.com (Accessed: 26 April 2025). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Blessed Maria Felicia of the Blessed Sacrament—Chiquitunga—on the day of her clothing in the Carmelite habit, 14 August 1955. Image credit: Discalced Carmelites (Used by permission).

⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Where in my life is Christ asking me to entrust everything to Him, even when I cannot see the way forward?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.

#anguish #BlessedMariaFeliciaOfJesusInTheBlessedSacrament #Chiquitunga #darkNight #discernment #lottery #mercy #postulant #willOfGod