Julie of Happy Catholic posts today about a recent time of prayer which seemed shorn of all joy…at least at first. It reminded me of this passage from Letter 8 of The Screwtape Letters. Sometimes God grants that His presence is felt; at others:
He leaves the creature to stand on its own two legs—to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that he is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered to Him in the state of dryness are those which please him best….Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
Of course, the whole letter is worth reading.
Anyway, Julie…you showed up.
The View from the Foothills 
Great quote from Lewis. Kind of describes, very much, Mother Teresa’s ordeal, does it not?
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Seems to me that it does, yes. In Julie’s case, though, perhaps it was a short dark moment of the soul rather than a long dark night.
🙂
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Will, I am dying laughing!
Although in my case the fact that I just plain didn’t care at all didn’t feel like dryness. I always associated that with yearning but not receiving. This was definitely a pushing away, a rejection (petulance!).
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Perhaps if you’re “yearning but not receiving”, the “yearning” itself is to some extent God-given, a sign that God is drawing you to Him. Continuing with your prayer when you aren’t yearning certainly seems to fit the pattern Screwtape describes.
Of course, the phrase “yearning but not receiving” is misleading. God cannot be other than faithful; if we turn to him we will receive his blessings. “Yearning but not perceiving” would be more accurate, I think.
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