Today is the first day of Lent. John of the Cross has always fascinated me, a man who knew as intimately as any man the darkness that the soul can find itself in throughout this life, and yet it was a darkness that he peered into, from his own humble vantage point, with tireless faith and hope. And here I mean hope in that deeply biblical and theological sense, a fundamental abiding certainty in the midst of what tremendous doubt may occupy the mind from moment to moment. There’s always something contradictory yet utterly sound about the way Truth is spoken of in Christian language (a line from the Avett Brother’s wonderful song ‘Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise’ comes to mind here: “There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light…and I’m frightened by those who don’t see it.”). The relationship between, and necessity of, Faith, Reason, and Doubt can be a baffling one; until, that is, you seek understanding. And then you realize that it can, and should, be no other way for we dependent creatures.

That certainty in faith, in the midst of darkness, is at