The Hour of Darkness

In today’s Passion – from Luke – Our Lord says to the Disciples in the Garden, after He has been arrested ‘This is your hour; this is the reign of darkness’.

Looking at the Church today, you might think that Our Lord was talking about 2010 : after all, look at the ongoing criticisms of the Church and the Holy Father; child-abuse in the US, Ireland, and elsewhere; the recent legislative oppression of Catholic teaching in the UK and the US; the European Court decision about Italy . . . it would be hard to suggest that the Church wasn’t being attacked by the powers of darkness : and I think that might just be right.

S. Philip Neri said that you should be grateful when you start to be tempted; because it proves that the devil recognizes that you are making progress towards God : and I notice that there has been an increasing amount of this sort of attack on the truths of the Faith in the last few years . . . clearly the world, the flesh, and the devil are fighting very hard against the Church and the Faith just at this time.

As we continue through this Holy Week, let us remember the other words of Our Lord in the Garden, this time to His Disciples : ‘Pray not to be put to the test’ . . . but let us pray also that, if we are, we may – with the strength of His grace – survive it.