Darkness as Companion

Readings for Morning Prayer on Friday in the Third Week of Lent (Year A)

Psalm 88

Mark 6:47 – 56

This reflection was shared by Fr. Daniel at the Transfiguration House on Friday March 20, 2020.

The Psalm we read this morning is considered the darkest psalm in the Psalter, mostly because of how it ends. There are many psalms of lamentation which cry out to God with anger and confusion in the midst of danger and despair, but most of them conclude with an expression of hope in God’s saving grace. Psalm 88, which we just read, concludes with these haunting words: “Your terrors have destroyed me; they surround me all day long like a flood; they encompass me on every side. My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, and darkness is my only companion.” The psalmist seems to be experiencing an especially traumatizing form of social distancing. Like us, his friends and neighbors have been put away from him. And perhaps also like us, he experiences his loneliness and fear as darkness; and that darkness feels like his only companion. Moreover, the darkness seems to be the final word. Commentators say that the book of Psalms expresses the entire range of human emotions. This Psalm expresses that dreadful human emotion in which we feel that darkness is our only companion; and darkness is the final word. My father always loved the psalms because no matter what he was going through he felt like the psalmists were experiencing something similar or even worse.

The disciples in the Gospel seem to be experiencing this human emotion expressed in the Psalm as they strain helplessly against an adverse wind in the darkness of the early morning. They then grow terrified as the darkness closes in and a mysterious figure (a ghost!) approaches them. It turns out that this terrifying darkness is not only a companion, but a source of courage and healing. The darkness turns out to be their teacher, their rabbi Jesus, our Lord and Savior who says to them and to us, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid” and who then proceeds to heal everyone he touches.

The Psalm and the Gospel invite us to not only acknowledge and express our fear of the darkness, but they also invite us to be open to experiencing the darkness as our teacher. Be open to seeing Christ in the darkness. In what ways have you seen Christ approach you in this time of social isolation and fear? In what ways are you hearing Christ say to you, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid”? I believe he is saying those words to us right now and giving us what we need to be sources of courage and healing in this world. May it be so. Amen.