The Embrace of Darkness

Now is the dark time of this world. The sun falls further in the sky and the days shrink as night grows. As the sun’s light grows tepid, a chill fills the air presaging winter’s cold grasp. Soon our yearning will turn to the hope of spring’s revival and fair southern winds melting the ice of winter. Yet now, inescapably, darkness approaches.

In “The Book of a Monastic Life” from The Book of Hours, German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote:

You, darkness, of whom I am born—

I love you more than the flame
that limits the world
to the circle it illumines
and excludes all the rest.

But the dark embraces everything:
shapes and shadows, creatures and me,
people, nations—just as they are.

It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.

I believe in the night.

Ah, to share in Rilke’s appreciation of the dark! Yet it is so contrary to our upbringing. This is the time that a people who walk in darkness see a great light. This is the time when the star stabs through the dark to reveal the birthplace of purpose, meaning, and Love. Yet there is no way around it: the days are shorter, nights are longer, and darkness envelops us more and more. Can you feel its embrace?

We live our lives in the drama of this metaphor. We are often encouraged to leave behind any appreciation of the dark. We are warned that, should we succumb to the dark, we will be lost. But there is an illumination that comes from darkness that makes us whole. Just as darkness is an inescapable part of winter, so darkness is a part of our nature as well. Abysmal darkness awaits those who deny this truth.

Advent is the time for us to get real with our personal darkness. But not in a moralistic, self–flagellating way. Instead, Advent is a time for the serious spiritual work of acceptance. Accept your dark places and stand in the illumination they bring. Hear what they say about you, as Rilke notes, “just as [you] are.” In that dark embrace begins your work of preparation.

In these days of darkness, God is coming to you . . . God is nearer . . . God is here. Nativity cannot take place in unknown shadows and shapes. Only by illuminating your dark places with knowing can the manger of your heart be prepared.

Joel t