Total Eclipse of the Heart

It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. (Luke 23:44-45)

Observing a total eclipse of the Sun was the fulfillment of a life-long dream for me, and an experience that will carry with me always.  It was truly a humbling experience of God’s glory made manifest in ways that relatively few are able to witness first-hand.  I’m very grateful for the experience.

Standing in awe of the magnificent event brought to mind two images that I will continue to meditate upon for spiritual nourishment. 

The first was a visualization of being at the foot of the cross, when the total eclipse occurred during Christ’s crucifixion.  At the world’s darkest hour, during the act of deicide, the skies physically grew dark as the moon covered the sun as the moon’s shadow crept across the landscape.  At that moment of totality, Christ gave up his last breath! 

The second, while a simple reminder, may be more profound.  Too often we allow the circumstances in our lives to eclipse the rays of the loving grace of our Blessed Lord.  We allow circumstances like the events at Charlottesville to trigger our anger, build resentments, and plunge us into despair (which are all products of fear).  The resulting hatred for others surfaces in the form of being judgmental, seeking revenge/retaliation in the form of violence and/or property destruction, and other forms of evil begetting evil.

This post isn’t about the why these types of things happen.  Unfortunately, there isn’t an answer to that question, outside of the generic “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)  We know “the whole world is under the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), so we can continue to expect situations like Charlottesville to occur as Satan continues his war on “those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17).

Just like the darkness of a total eclipse, the light will return.  When Jesus died on the cross, it wasn’t His last breath after all.  He returned in glory.  When the dark moments, like the events at Charlottesville occur, we mustn’t carry the darkness forward through our fears.  Instead, we must be open to allowing God to work through us to bring light to the darkness. God can bring good out of the evil, but we must cooperate with His grace, which is very difficult to do when we are reacting through a lens of fear.

When you see the darkness, trust that light is right around the corner.  When you see evil in the world, do not react from your fear.  Instead, accept the situation for what it is; surrender your need to react to the situation, or control the situation, to God; and then pray for the grace to respond out of love.  The corporal and spiritual acts of mercy are a good place to start when trying to understand how to respond out of love.  By consistently doing this, we are following God’s plan to make the world a more accepting, tolerant, and loving place as opposed to falling into the snare of Satan, which only  progresses his plans of more chaos, fear, and hatred.

Ultimately, it is up to you to determine if you will allow your heart to be totally eclipsed by evil, or if you will allow your heart to be a reflection of the light and love of our Blessed Lord for the whole world to be nourished from.  Working with a spiritual director may help you get more clarity on these concepts and help you see how to more practically apply these concepts to your life.