"We seldom go freely into the belly of the beast. Unless we face a major disaster like the death of a friend or spouse or loss of a marriage or job, we usually will not go there. As a culture, we have to be taught the languages of descent. That is the great language of religion. It teaches us to enter willingly, trustingly into the dark periods of life. These dark periods are good teachers. Religious energy is in the dark questions, seldom in the answers. Answers are on the way ou, but that is not what we are here for. but when we look at the questions, we look for the openeing to transformation. Fixing something doesn't usually transform us. We try to change events in order to avoid changing ourselves. We must learn to stay with the pain of life, without the answers, without conclusions, and some days without meaning. That is the path, the perilous dark path of true prayer.

...It should be the work of Christians who believe in the paschal mystery to help people when they are being led into thte darkness and the void. The believer has to tell those in pain that his is not forever; there is a light and you will see it. This isn'tall there is. Trust. Don't try to rush through it; we can't leap over our grief work. not can we skip over our despair work. We have to feel it. That means that in our life we will have some bluse days or dark days. Historic cultures saw greif as a time of incubation, transformation, and necessary hibernation. yet this sacred space is the very space we avoid. When we avoid darkness, we avoid entsion, spiritual creativity and finally transformation. We avoid God, who weorks in the darkenss-- where weare not in control! Maybe that is the secret: reliquishing control."

-- Richard Rohr, "Everything Belongs" (46-47)