The Midnight Hour

While statistics can be alarming, they can also provide some basis for conjecture. For instance, excluding children and teens, at this time next year, one out of every 13 adults reading this will be dead. This means not only "midnights" for those called by the cold hand of death, but also "midnights" of breavement for many survivors, possibly preceded by the dark task of nursing a sick loved one and followed by dark loneliness in their loss. It's as if the inevitable answer, suffering, is known and recognied as unavoidable, but what is not always dealth with is the process - that is, the coping process. How can we best cope with life's inevitable "midnights"?

Perhaps as a symbolic preview of life's hardships, each new year begins precisely at midnight - with nighttime preceding and following it. But there is also a dawn on New Year's Day, counterpointing the darkness with joyous events like the world-famous Rose Parade and football games. All of life is thus checkered; that is, it is not all darkness nor all light; it's not all bitter nor all sweet, but bittersweet. Any adversity can always be hypenated with joy, and darkness with light. And seeing that light at the end of the tunnel is simply practicing the Christian virtue of hope - optimism based on God's loving providence that "worked in all things for the good of those who love him" (Rom. 8:28). Such an attitude leaves no room for the facetious advice of the pessimist who advocated eating dessert first since life is so uncertain. 

Scripture is replete with significant events that occurred literally at midnight - most of them illuminated with a heavenly intervention, to show that no dark event need be without divine light. We know that Jesus was born at night (Luke 2:8) - probably at the very midnight hour, according to a pious tradition. He who called himself the Light of the world burst incandescently into that sin-darkened world of peace. He suggested that when he returns in bright glory, it may be at midnight (Mark 13:35). He parabled this by the bridegroom's surprise return at midnight (Matt 25:6).

It was at the promised midnight hour that God sent the tenth plague on Egypt, slaying the firstborn of every Egyptian family and of their cattle (Exod. 12:29) - the momentous event that opened the way for the Exodus episode -  the Israelites' escape from generations of slavery - an historic event that prototyped the climatic event of our redemption. 

It was at midnight that God awoke Samson to surprise the unprepared Philistines (Judges 16:3). It was at midnight that Ruth was discovered and protected by Boaz, who was awakened at that hour (Ruth 3:8).  It was at midnight that the litigant woman's child was kidnapped but later restored to her by Solomon's judicial wisdom (1 Kings 3:20). Elihu reminded Job that death can come to anyone at midnight (Job 34:30); yet death is not an end but a beginning of eternal life. The psalmist chose midnight for his deepest prayer: "At midnight I rise to give thanks to you, O Lord" (Ps 119:62). It was the midnight importuning of the breadless neighbor in Jesus' parable that produced a favorable response (Luke 11:5). The midnight prison prayer of Paul and Silas produced an earthquake that burst the prison doors and converted the jailer (Acts 16:25). Later in Troas, it was the midnight hour when Paul's greatest miracle took place, in raising Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:7). 

In all these biblical events, the dark midnight hour was counterposed by a glimmering if not dazzling brightness of God's intervention. The lesson for us in our "midnight" trials is a profound faith-spawned insight about God's supportive presence amidst our darkest hardships and trials. This lesson was phrased by some sage as a dictum: "Joy is not the absence of suffering, but the presence of God." 

This excerpt is from the book Coping with Life's Darkest Moments, by John H. Hampsch,C.M.F., originally published by Queenship Publishing Company. It and other of Fr. Hampsch's books and audio/visual materials can be purchased from Claretian Teaching Ministry, 20610 Manhattan Pl, #120, Torrance, CA 90501-1863. Phone 1-310-782-6408.