Mary, Star of the Night Who Leads to the Beloved
O night that guided!
O night more lovely than the dawn!
O night that joined
Beloved with lover,
lover transformed in the Beloved!
(Dark Night, 5).
Most Holy Virgin of Mount Carmel, Star of the night, hidden light that never ceases to shine when the eyes can no longer discern the way; Mother who remained steadfast when everything seemed to collapse at the foot of the Cross; You who believed when the disciples wavered, hoped when all hope seemed lost, and loved when hatred seemed to triumph, take my hand today and lead me through that blessed night which your son John of the Cross learned to love, because he understood that it is not the night that distances us from God, but the deceptive light of self-love; that it is not darkness that loses the soul, but the desire to walk with any guide other than faith, that secret flame which the Holy Spirit keeps ever alive in the hearts of those who abandon themselves entirely to the Father.
Do not allow, my Mother, that I be frightened when the hour of purifications comes. If the Beloved seems to hide His face, make me seek Him with greater desire; if He is silent, teach me to listen to His silence; if He wounds my heart with longing for His presence, make that wound become an open window toward heaven. For I know that the Father prunes the branches He loves so that they may bear more fruit; that the Word strips the soul of all that is not He in order to clothe it with His own beauty; and that the Holy Spirit slowly consumes, like a living flame, all that prevents the creature from being fully God’s.
You know the secret of the night, for your heart also passed through the mystery of Good Friday. No one like You experienced the silence of the Father while the Son gave up His spirit for the salvation of the world. No one like You remained standing when all light seemed to have been extinguished. Teach me that serene strength which does not spring from one’s own powers, but from absolute trust in divine fidelity. May I never measure God’s love by what I feel, but by the Blood shed by Jesus Christ; may I not judge His presence by my consolations, but by the promise that He will remain with us all the days until the end of the world.
Mother of Carmel, make me not waste any night. May the small darknesses of each day—the weariness, the illness, the contradiction, the misunderstanding, the hidden failure, the arid prayer, the prolonged waiting—be for me steps of the holy Mount and not stumbling stones. May I learn to bless the Father when I do not understand His ways, to cling to Christ when everything invites me to flee from the cross, and to let myself be led by the Holy Spirit when I no longer find support in my own lights. Then I will discover that the night was not a punishment, but a mercy; not an abandonment, but a preparation; not an emptiness, but the secret workshop where God was transforming the soul into the Beloved.
And when, by your maternal hand, I reach the summit where every shadow disappears, make me finally understand why the holy Doctor of Carmel called the night inflamed with loves. There faith will cease because vision will open; hope will cease because possession will arrive; only Love will remain, that eternal Love with which the Father begets the Son and the Holy Spirit proceeds as the infinite embrace of both. Introduce me then into that silent music and sounding solitude where the soul, already forgetful of itself, will rest forever in the Most Holy Trinity, while it contemplates the glorious face of Jesus Christ and blesses you eternally, Virgin of Carmel, who led it from star to star to the never-setting dawn of the Kingdom.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Star of the night, lead me by faith until I am forever transformed in the Beloved. Amen.
By: Msgr. Alberto José González Chaves