Sanctification of Work, Spiritual Dryness

I was just rereading Helen’s September 25 message on the Sanctification of Work and had to share it here. She always manages to send these at just the perfect time! I love getting to know Mama Mary more through this apostolate of hers.

Helen is another homeschooling mom whose writing at Castle of the Immaculate always inspires and makes me think/pray. You can also find her at Air Maria.

That link there is to her post from 2006 talking about spiritual dryness. I’ve had some recent conversations with several people about Mother Teresa and her faith — and I’ve noticed something: the ones who understand what faith is all about have no problem explaining or understanding what Mother Teresa went through. Sadly, it is in the media where you get the most coverage and yet the least understanding of this phenomenon. Many, many saints went through it. *We* experience it often enough, yet maybe sometimes we don’t recognize spiritual dryness for what it is, and we can start to despair. I tend to liken it to that feeling that comes in those moments when you just can’t connect with your spouse. It’s not that the love has disappeared; but it’s like you’re numb or feeling distanced and don’t quite know how to approach it or how to fix it. That’s just part of the ups and downs of a loving marriage. Doesn’t mean it’s time to stop acting like you don’t have a marriage. Doesn’t mean you forget what marriage is all about. What’s important to understand about it is that it’s NOT out of the ordinary, which is how the media has portrayed this spiritual dryness to be.

It’s sometimes so hard to talk to people who “just don’t get it”, and yet I also know where they’re coming from — just a few years ago I never even thought about these things, wasn’t even aware there was such a thing as spiritual dryness. You would have mentioned it and my response would have been, “huh”? It’s overwhelming (in a positive way) how much the Lord reveals when you are finally open to accept such revelations. And it’s always helpful to have such shining examples to follow.