So you have been wheezing the dry airs of the Night, your lips cracked–you are parched.”I thirst,” you say. There is a feeling of His absence. How do we find Him? How do we find that which sustains all things in existence? This is the true misery of the one who endures the Night–God surrounds us, He is, in some sense, in all things, yet the dry soul can’t find Him. It is desolation, a blindness. In the Night, however, I have discovered a secret, a covert way to find God, a candle in the dark, a whisper down the alley–an ancient back route, an underground society. Yes, I’ve found Him many times in the Night–I’ve seen Him, I’ve cried with Him, I’ve talked to Him.

The man on the cross, the flesh torn, the bleeding hands, the King of Thorns is gloriously revealed to us–He is bread. The candle flames hold their stillness, and you begin to realize–as the harrowing thought dawns on you–that God is here. Adoration is beautiful. It requires you to seek God out, to make a pilgrimage to a destination in space-time, to arrive at the chapel, to see God as physically present, as one who takes on our material nature, who participates–on the most intimate level–in His beloved creation. Is there any greater mystery? The Incarnation and Passion are in the Eucharist. The Eucharist holds the Divine Logos, the Word of God, the Son of Man, and the climax of Salvation in complete corporeal unity. And that Divine singularity is presented before men so that they may witness the the glory and humility of God. Yes, it’s truly Him, true flesh, true blood, true food.

And perhaps, in those dark moments, kneeling in prayer, with rosary beads ringed and rattling around your fingers, in the emptiness of your silent cries to Christ, in your contemplation of the Bread of Life, you will find–with terror and joy–the ridiculous thought that you are in love with God, as He is with you. I can’t assure you that you will be lifted up from the ash heap of your dryness, that you will be consoled greatly or overwhelmed with some spiritual fire. I can assure you one thing, however, that you will be with God, that you will be there with your Creator praying and crying. The children of God suffer for God as Christ suffered for them–bear out the pain, endure the Night, love God through all of it. Pax Christi.