Problems that might be encountered in the Night of the Senses
A question one faces initially is whether dryness in prayer as described earlier is due to the Night of the Sense or to other causes such as depression, illness or lack of sleep, to mention but a few possibilities that can interfere our ability to pray. Having an experienced spiritual director can be a source of sound advice when a person needs a companion of the spiritual journey. Spiritual direction will be discussed at greater length in Chapter 12.
One of the surest signs that the soul is making spiritual progress, that she is becoming more and more open to God’s transforming grace, and that her will is more and more in tune with God’s will, is a willingness to trust God even when God seems distant, recognizing in faith that God will never abandon a soul that does not herself abandon God.
There is a cliche one sees occasionally on a church marquee: If God seems more distant, who moved? This implies that if God seems more distant, we must have done something to pull away from God, but the Night of Senses assures us that God can seem more distant and yet be in even closer contact with the soul. God does not grant the Night of the Senses to punish, but to teach and to purify the soul in love.
However, there is often the paradoxical effect that soul desires quiet solitude because it is aware of the experience of God still too obscure to be clearly identified. Evidently, this can be a time of confusion of the soul which is pulled in one direction by its frustrated senses and in another by its love of God and, quite possibly, the beginning of infused contemplative prayer. As a noted writer on spiritual matters stated:
This is a complex state of soul and a baffling mixture of darkness and light, of aridity and intense though hidden love of God, of real weakness and latent energy, difficult to analyze without falling into apparent contradictions. (A. Tanquery, THE SPIRITUAL LIFE)
Other signs that the soul has entered in the Night of the Senses are these: First, The soul does not find solace in created objects even though the soul no longer seems to find solace in prayer. She still has a burning desire for God that nothing else can satisfy. Someone who has been distracted from the journey to God by material interests will find pleasure in those material interests. The soul whose primary love is God will pine after God and not be satisfied with lesser things. Though the soul may feel abandoned by God, she still longs for God above all else.
Second, although God seems distant, the soul still longs for God, perhaps more intensely than ever. She may be deeply concerned that she is not serving God as she should or has become negligent in her search for, or service in, God. Someone who is interested only in the “good feelings” found in prayer will be more concerned in recovering the feelings than in her relationship with God.
Third, as noted earlier, the soul can no longer meditate. This is not a question of not wanting to, or not being willing to try, but a situation where attempts to meditate end in dismal failure.
To some extent or another, negligence, apathy and illness can bring about symptoms similar to those of the Night of the Senses, but if a soul is experiencing all of the characteristics described in the preceding paragraph, there is a good chance that she has entered the Night of the Senses.
From the dryness and frustration and confusion of the Night of the Senses may flow a temptation to abandon prayer, to assume that the consolations of the past were fraudulent, or that God was, and is, playing cruel games with the soul. Clearly then, the compassion of spiritual companions and association with a community of faith are important to support the soul in this difficult time. Again, an experienced spiritual director may help the soul to discern what is actually happening.
Serious temptations can also afflict the soul in the Night of the Senses. The soul may be tempted to abandon faith in God because God seems to have abandoned her. Moreover, in the darkness of the Night nothing seems to make sense. The beliefs that the soul clung to with such certainty in the past may now seem nonsensical. Hope, too, is threatened since the soul cannot see herself moving toward future union with a God who now seems more distant than ever. Charity can be threatened by the soul’s frustration and possible anger. The soul may even decide to seek pleasures in sensual pursuits if spiritual pleasure is no longer available.
Because of its spiritual dryness and inability to pray, the soul may even be misunderstood and criticized by others. “You used to be an example for others in how to pray and now you don’t seem to spend much time in prayer at all.” “If God is withholding his consolations from you and not allowing success in prayer, it must be because of some sin of which you have not repented.” “If you simply try harder, you will succeed.” These are but some of the suggestions, often judgmental, that the soul already suffering from the seeming absence of God, may be given, advice which only adds to her discomfort since she begins to believe that she must have done something terribly wrong for God to leave her.
Demonic spirits may also add their insults and jeering temptations to fuel the soul’s distress. “You whom God once favored, where is your God now?” “If God treats you this way, get even with God by seeking worldly pleasures.” “If this is the way that God treats you when you have tried so hard, stop trying to be virtuous. Just relax and enjoy life.”
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