Greg Carpinello begins his reflection today by describing the experience of being in the darkness: at its root, it a complete and utter powerlessness. And yet Greg says he believes that before we can find the light, we have to learn to be comfortable in the darkness.
Today’s first reading paints a picture of what this darkness looks like for Esther as she was “seized with mortal anguish” and “lay prostrate upon the ground.”
Greg thought that he knew darkness in its various forms (heartbreak, loss, disappointment) until in 2017, he experienced a “slow, building ocean wave of overwhelm” crashing across his life. When he was able to embrace his own “Queen Esther moment” of darkness, Greg found that his faith gave him a way back to the light.
Hear Greg’s linking his own wandering through the darkness to the Gospel call to “ask, seek, knock” — a countercultural message in a time of self-sufficiency and control.