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Dawn follows the darkest hour
If the familiar saying that the darkest hour precedes the dawn has even a glimmer of practical application, a dawning must surely be on the horizon to uplift once again a community reeling with sorrow. There cannot be a darker hour for many than the midnight killing of at least 12 people and the injuring of 50 more in a Colorado movie theater. That tragedy, added to the recent shooting of innocent victims, including children in Chicago, triggers the tearful question, how can we comfort the sorrowing hearts?
Perhaps the most powerful and poignant example of dawn following a horrific dark hour was the crucifixion of Christ Jesus centuries ago. It can be comforting to realize that God had not left His loved son alone in that dark hour. God’s dear love and protecting power were with Jesus every moment. And in spite of the material sense evidence, God’s presence and power remain constantly with all those touched in any way by the tragic event in Colorado.
That violent attempt to make Jesus a victim served only to hasten the advent of healing Christianity, the dawn of a new day for all mankind. It changed the world. Jesus’ patient expression of the spiritual love, the agape, that had already healed the sick, fed the multitudes, and stilled a storm, also enabled him to forgive those who had put him on the cross. In that one selfless act of forgiveness, he proved that the violence of hatred and fear was forever godless, self-destructive, without spiritual authority, and could not prevent the progressive activity of great good that he had initiated throughout his ministry.
Christly qualities of faith and the understanding of God as Love carry us through dark hours.
While the tragedy in Colorado may not be as world changing as Jesus’ crucifixion, those whose lives have been directly touched by it—especially those whose loved ones are no longer with them—no doubt feel their world has changed immensely. Our prayer is for them to so feel God’s precious love embracing them that they are tenderly uplifted and comforted in ways that will be deeply meaningful to them; that they may feel the light of dawn overturning what has felt like this darkest of nights. May the dawning of hope in our prayers begin to mend hearts, remembering that Aurora literally means, “the redness of the sky just before sunrise.”
A poem written by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of the healing power of Christianity, warms and comforts hearts with hope and promise.
“Mourner, it calls you, —‘Come to my
bosom,
Love wipes your tears all away,
And will lift the shade of gloom,
And for you make radiant room
Midst the glories of one endless day.’ ”
(Poems, p. 75
)
That one endless day is the light of the Christ dawning on human thought. It comforts aching hearts, quiets outrage, and even stills the storms in human thought that would commit such violent acts. Christly qualities of faith and the understanding of God as Love carry us through dark hours and at last bring us to the light of the prayer that embraces our neighbor with the love of Christ. It knows no barriers, no limitations, no resignation to evil. It acknowledges only the protection and progress of humane, sane ideas that lift thought to the safety of the Christ-spirit tenderly promising, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you” (Luke 10:19 ).
About the author
Marian English is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher. Her home is Colorado Springs, Colorado.