St. John the Baptist’s Dark Night of the Soul

From Conversion by Fr. Haggerty, pgs. 177-8.

“Blessed is he who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:6).

The words of Jesus are his last message to Saint John the Baptist, imprisoned in Herod’s dungeon cell, awaiting an execution. They are a response to John’s message sent to Jesus—“Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Mt 11:3). John’s question seems at first surprising. He had identified Jesus earlier at the Jordan River as the Lamb of God after baptizing him. Does he no longer perceive in Jesus the presence of his Messiah and Savior? No, it is more likely that he begs for a confirmation of a truth that he still possesses but clutches now painfully, given the turn of events in his life. The truth of Jesus Christ has not disappeared from his soul, but thick layers of dark shadow now encumber it.

The turn of events and his imprisonment weigh heavily on him, and in that dank prison cell, John is perhaps the first to undergo what mystical writers will later call the dark night of the soul. If so, involuntary, uncontrollable questioning was tormenting his spirit, and he could not chase away these thoughts. His abandonment and loneliness, perhaps his inability to pray, left him prey to whispers of making a great mistake. Had all those years been an illusion, a trick and deceit, at the expense now of his life? Did he miscalculate in giving his life for nothing but an imagined and false impression?

Jesus’ words to John are the answer to every serious trial of darkness a soul may face in life, because they are words of blessing. “Blessed are you when you are not offended, not plunged into tears, not devastated and disappointed, when I offer my Cross to you. Blessed are you when you perceive my Cross as a sign of special favor to you. Blessed are you when your time of darkness is united to my abandonment on the Cross. Blessed are you when you love me more intensely in the time of trial.” For some souls, the greater their desire for God, the more reason they have to expect significant testing in the bitter taste of inexplicable darkness. These periods of testing are nothing less than the path to union with Jesus Christ crucified.