How to name that spiritual ‘funk’
“Is this a dark night, spiritual desolation, or the cross?”
That’s a question I asked a person who was going through a tough time. He assumed the burden of caring for his adult child, who, after years of drug use, was no longer able to care for himself. This brought on a lot of criticism from friends and family, with the underlying rationale: “He brought this upon himself.” In addition to these discouraging comments, he said God felt distant. In the past, he would receive enough comfort and consolation in his prayer to carry on. Now he feels nothing – but hasn’t yet given up.
“Is this a dark night, spiritual desolation, or a cross?” It’s an important question. While their symptoms may overlap—aridity, discouragement, solitude—their origin and remedy differ. The first comes from God, the second from the enemy, and the third from a broken world in need of redemption.
Here is a short primer on how to identify and respond to each of these three spiritual ‘funks’.
The Dark Night was advanced by Saint John of the Cross and his epic poem and commentary, “The Dark Night of the Soul.” Symptoms include spiritual emptiness, inability to pray, deep confusion, and a felt absence of God. The source of the Dark Night is God, who desires to purify a person from those attachments that keep him/her from traveling the spiritual path toward ultimate union with God. The response to a Dark Night is to persist in prayer and surrender to the purifying work of God in the darkness.
Spiritual Desolation was advanced by Ignatius of Loyola in his Rules for the Discernment of Spirits (Spiritual Exercises 313-327). The symptoms are similar – agitation, doubt, temptation to despair, and loss of a desire to pray – with a critical difference. Spiritual desolation is not from God but from the enemy, the forces that pull us away from God – most notably the world, the flesh, and the devil. As such, spiritual desolation should always be resisted. The response to spiritual desolation is to stay faithful to resolutions made in consolation (rule 5), intensify prayer (rule 6), see this as a trial from which to grow (rule 7), patiently trust that consolation will return (rule 8), and examine the underlying reasons for this desolation (rule 9).
The Cross is the means through which God is redeeming the brokenness in the world. Until this redemption is complete, there will be suffering – little and big invitations from Jesus to “take up your cross daily”. (Lk 9:23) The response to the cross is to (1) accept these sacrifices in obedience and charity and (2) work to find a remedy for the suffering.
As to the person I mentioned above: I think he might have been experiencing all three. He accepted the need to care for his son – a cross. The critical voices were the enemy’s way of triggering discouragement – spiritual desolation. And the deeper longing for God he felt in the emptiness of his prayer might have been God purging certain attachments and to enter the transformative silence of God – a ‘dark night’.
May the Lord be with you always, whether you’re experiencing a dark night, a cross, or spiritual desolation.
Comparison at a Glance
