aidan

Beloved brethren I beseech you all please pray for me,I am in the depths os despair and am at risk spiritually and in truth.

Yeshua

To my beloved brother Aiden,

Dear brother, you are most definetly in my prayers. In fact, I will remember you most specially when I pray my rosary later on tonight. I will ask God particularly for your anxieties.

Trust in the Lord, my beloved brother he will not fail you!

You are simply passing through a dark night of the soul, but this experience - painful as it is - is a necessary step that you must pass through before you can experience a feeling of pure joy.

My favourite quotation from Baha'u'llah, in the Seven Valleys, sums this up perfectly:

"...Out of wrath, the guard had led him who was athirst in love's desert to the sea of his loved one, and lit up the dark night of absence with the light of reunion. He had driven one who was afar, into the garden of nearness, had guided an ailing soul to the heart's physician” – Baha’u’llah

You are currently in the "dark night of absence", but believe it or not even though you feel right now that God is most distant from you, Catholic mystics and Baha'u'llah believe that he closest to the soul.

We all must pass through our own "dark night". Baha'u'llah even - he passed through his while incarcerated in the prison city of Akka! Just ponder how greatly he suffered.

Your grief has been great in life, the burden you have had to bear has been heavy. I can see that, even just from your words on this annoymous internet forum. And yet you have a godly grief that has born much humility of spirit within you.

Always remember the words of the Apostle Paul:

"...To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong..." (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

You are testimony to the truth of this Aiden.

The strength which God gives to his children is more potently and more completely manifested when we feel that we are weak, when we know that we are weak. It is not imparted to those who feel that they are strong and who do not realize that they are in need of divine aid, like the Pharisees who wallowed in their vain pride and delusions. It is not so completely manifested to those who are vigorous and strong as it is to those of us who are weak, who are feeble, who are struggling and fear that we are perishing. It is when we are conscious that we are feeble, and when we feel our need of divine aid, that God manifests his power to uphold and strengthen us in our resolve, and imparts his purest consolations to us.

I couldn't agree more. What you said brings to mind the words of the 14th century author of, "The Cloud of Unknowing" that truly epic masterpiece of Christian mysticism, who said to his young, struggling student who was buckling under the weight of his guilt:

"...It is not what you are nor what you have been that God looks at with his merciful eyes, but what you desire to be..."

Yes, for such is the rich bounty of the mercy of Our God. What wonder of wonders! God does not see as we see, his ways are not our ways.

Whenever I am sad, I listen to this version of St John of the Cross Dark Night of the Soul, and I instantly feel better:



I pray it helps you too brother!

LordOfGoblins

Cling to the tree brother, as if your very life depends on it with the strength of your grasp. God wishes to make you are greater soul so he is testing you.

aidan

Dark night of the soul indeed.Is it possible that in addition to environmental factors.I may also be under attack as a Baha'i infant of the faith trying and fallingand trying again to find his way the path I am meant to follow?

Fadl

Brother,

Go outside, take a nice walk, breathe the fresh air, and meditate. Sometimes there is nothing like a contemplative walk in nature to pick up the spirits and clear our the head. After that, maybe turn to the Hidden Words or the Seven Valleys, The Fire Tablet, The Tablet of Ahmad. These writings always heal me when I feel dark. I hope you feel better soon, but always remember that these things pass.

LordOfGoblins

Yes. In a nutshell your faith may be tested, though I do not know your exact circumstances. Simply read this

"And now, consider and reflect a moment upon the waywardness of this people. What could have been the reason for such denial and avoidance on their part? What could have induced them to refuse to put off the garment of denial, and to adorn themselves with the robe of acceptance? Moreover, what could have caused the nonfulfilment of the divine promise which led the seekers to reject that which they had accepted? Meditate profoundly, that the secret of things unseen may be revealed unto you, that you may inhale the sweetness of a spiritual and imperishable fragrance, and that you may acknowledge the truth that from time immemorial even unto eternity the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery, and roses from thorns. Even as He hath revealed: “Do men think when 9 they say ‘We believe’ they shall be let alone and not be put to proof?” 5 "

aidan

What a beautiful piece of imspiring peace Sean.Thank you

arthra

Aidan...

Don't despair...

Far be it from us to despair at any time of the incalculable favours of God, for if it were His wish He could cause a mere atom to be transformed into a sun and a single drop into an ocean. He unlocketh thousands of doors, while man is incapable of conceiving even a single one.

~ Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 175

In the darksome night of despair, my eye turneth expectant and full of hope to the morn of Thy boundless favor and at the hour of dawn my drooping soul is refreshed and strengthened in remembrance of Thy beauty and perfection. He whom the grace of Thy mercy aideth, though he be but a drop, shall become the boundless ocean, and the merest atom which the outpouring of Thy loving-kindness assisteth, shall shine even as the radiant star.

Shelter under Thy protection, O Thou Spirit of purity, Thou Whom art the All-Bountiful Provider, this enthralled, enkindled servant of Thine. Aid him in this world of being to remain steadfast and firm in Thy love and grant that this broken-winged bird attain a refuge and shelter in Thy divine nest that abideth upon the celestial tree.

~ Abdul-Baha