Sixteenth Meditation

(The Dark Night, book II: chapter 6-7)


"And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, 'Elo-i, Elo-i, lama sabach-thani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?'" (34)


Imprisonment

As dark deepens, all hope is panned;
Fear and abandonment soon reign.
Her substance slips away like sand;
All that remains is grief and pain.

The sentence for her sins is served,
Before His right judgment and scorn;
The punishment she has deserved,
Is dealt as she falls down, forlorn.

Abandoned, imprisoned alone,
Deep in the dungeon of this night,
Her spirit cries with wail and moan;
Her soul besieged with pain and fright.

For what seems like eternity,
This night exceeds all she has seen.
She gains a deep humility;
Love's purified -- her heart's made clean.

This prison yields profound rebirth --
Her purgatory here on earth.


May the Merciful Jailor provide the strong remedy needed for the cleansing of the deepest impurities found in our souls.

34. Mark 15:33-34


(c) Paul Buis, 2004