Thursday 23 February

St Polycarp

Ecclesiasticus 5:1-8; Psalm 118; Mark 9:41-50

Your darkness

Sometimes our sinfulness puts us into a dark place. Guilt and shame can weigh heavily and may dominate our moods and thinking. Rainer Maria Rilke has a poem in which he observes that darkness also has a positive side to it. It has a special capacity to include and embrace every experience of our lives. ‘Darkness pulls in everything’, he says. Even the darkness of our sinfulness has a place in our lives and in our spiritual journey. More than anything else, it puts us in touch with God’s mercy and forgiveness. We own and embrace our darkness whenever we pray, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’