The Dark Night of the Soul

Dear John: The “dark night of the soul” happens to many people, even the saints Even Mother Teresa, in her personal letters, wrote of experiencing this. Fortunately, it is only temporary.

My suggestions are as follows:

▪ Hold fast to your memory of your faith. It is within you. Your mind is like a tape recorder and you must will yourself to turn it on every day. Then write and talk about it. Then read what you have written. Then memorize it. Then internalize it. Soon it will be a current feelings, not just a memory.

▪ Hold fast to the sacraments of Catholic faith. Be diligent. You already go to mass every day and take the Eucharist, so that is a good start.

▪ Don’t forget to go to confession. It cleanses your soul of toxic guilt which contaminates your emerging faith.

▪ Remember what AA taught you. When you are temporarily stuck “act as if,” your faith is strong every moment of the day. Eventually, it will pay off and the feeling of faith will return.

▪ Don’t misunderstand what is wrong with you right now. You have not lost your faith because it has not lost you. You are just temporarily not feeling the emotion that usually goes along with your faith (hope, happiness, clarity, etc.)

▪ It is important right now that you pray and meditate for healing (both within and without).

▪ Ask for an anointing of the sick.

▪ Remember, the waning of your faith is but a pebble on the road. Pick it up and move on. Sometimes we walk in circles until God brings us to a crossroad. Then, according to the poem by Robert Frost you should take the "road less traveled" which is the Catholic faith.

▪ Remember, we are lucky to be Catholics because we believe in the healing of the mind, body, and soul. We do not see it as an analogy or something we can will to happen. It is not a placebo. We believe that by living by the sacraments we are healing inwardly and outwardly by our Savior Jesus Christ while we still live on earth.

▪ Remember, we are on God's time not ours. So, times like this call for patience and humility. You have seen many miracles in your life and you have shared them with me, so you know what I say is true.

▪ Surround yourself with your faith. You may have to temporarily move on from your interest in new age philosophies. They often send you off in the wrong direction. They tell you that you can make a better life for yourself by self-will rather than by surrendering to you Savior Jesus Christ.

▪ Osmosis is the blending to two or three separate entities such as body, mind, and soul. Faith becomes stronger through osmosis even more than just a “born-again awakening.” So, just continue on with your head held high. As Father Anthony told me last week. “Susan, everything you have done is taking you on the right direction, but sometimes we must leave things behind or put them in storage.

▪ Psychology is just a tool. The Master Carpenter does the healing. If you use psychology, choose “transpersonal psychology,” which is the belief that healing is a merging of psychology and spirituality. This served me well for forty years in AA. As a Catholic, I now take this one step further. Spirituality is not enough. We need a Deity and a Savior—Jesus Christ.


As you know, AA is no longer enough for me because I know from the bottom of my soul that GOD stands for God not a "group of drunks," or some entity that we design in our heart. "God as we understand God, is only our first step for those who are afraid of religion because of childhood abuse or are too intellectual. To get to the end of the road, we need what is revealed to us through the Catholic Catechism. Or at least I do.

Best wishes,
Susan Peabody