My Only Friend Is Darkness

Book excerpt: This wise and widely-acclaimed book is written for those "who have advanced far enough in love to God to enter the Night of Faith and feel the need of explanation, guidance and reassurance." Drawing upon Scripture, classic spiritual authors-especially St. John of the Cross-and her own deep personal experience, author Barbara Dent examines the deep puifications we undergo as God cleanses us of sinful inclinations and tansforms us in love. Using poetry and prose, image and parable, she guides us through the sufferings, temptations, upheavals and workings of grace at the deepest levels of our being, as we journey through the darkness of faith to new life in Christ. "This book is concerned with what I learned experientially and fom reading the works of various fellow travellers, especially John of the Cross, during the two periods when the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died. Then my only friend was darkness-the darkness of faith that would not give up affirming what it believed-yet in that darkness wonders of grace happened." Barbara Dent, My Only Friend is Darkness Barbara Dent is a retired English teacher in New Zealand and the mother of three. A Secular Carmelite, she has published numerous aticles and books throughout the English-speaking world, and now spends much of the time in "prayer and study, writing, and giving spiritual and psychological guidance to those who turn to me for it."