Tag: darkness

On
Kevin Wondrash

Throw off darkness, embrace the Eternal Day

Acedia is an uncommon word that defines a common experience. Its Latin and Greek antecedents mean “negligence” and “lack of care.”

The definition is “a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one’s position or condition in the world. (Acedia) can lead to a state of being unable to perform one’s duties in life. Its spiritual overtones make it related to, but distinct from depression.”

Linked to boredom, lukewarmness, and apathy, acedia can particularly overwhelm us in our spiritual practice and pastoral ministry.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Light will overcome darkness through faith

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! Let the whole world shine forth with joy! Alleluia!

In these days we recall the ultimate reality of our faith and the source of our joy and hope. Jesus Christ, in His victory over sin and death, has won the victory for each of us and for the whole world. The powers of sin and death are but passing things, which shall ultimately hold no power over the Creator of the world, and His Son, sent to redeem it.

Our Easter faith

As I mentioned in my homily at the Chrism Mass this past week, the realities of our Easter faith are essential to keep in mind, especially as we are living in the shadow of the horrible episode in the French Alps, wherein a plane was deliberately destroyed by one of the pilots. The man was sick, we pray for him and we pray for those whom he killed, 150 in total.

There is a great deal of effort being expended attempting to determine what led to this horror. And indeed, there seems to be some serious, clinically-diagnosed depression at play here.

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On
Bishop Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison

Finding hope and light in the darkness

This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop.

Dear Friends,

“Night is coming, when no one can work,” we heard in the Gospel reading of this past Sunday (Jn 9:4).

Jesus told his disciples: do the works of God while it is still day, “night is coming when no one can work.”

No one can work and, I might add, no-thing can work. And I would suggest that night has come.

Even as we’ve just marked the Sunday that we call “Rejoice Sunday,” we acknowledge that we have to rejoice in the truth. God gives us the grace to rejoice in the truth. And the truth is that the night has come and so no one and nothing can work — but the splendid Light of the Resurrection will make that night as bright as day!

The story of the man born blind, which we encountered in the Gospel reading, is in many ways an allegory for our very own culture and our very own society. It is a culture and a society of death. A culture upon which night has descended, so nothing works.

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