“This is the spiritual logic: affliction comes to those who follow Christ because He is the source of all goodness, love, and truth. Invariably, the world will seek to evade or silence any intrusions on its territory, for the ruler of the present darkness strikes out against the Light.” (Dynamis 10/30/2018)
“God’s people are to be a light in darkness. Because Christ the Light lives in the Church, she uniquely reveals His glory. It shines within her despite the darkness of disbelief, confusion, and sin that covers the earth. His glory enables rulers and nations who receive illumination to walk in light and brightness (Is 60:1-3)…Only the God of Love understands the full depth of human anguish and ecstasy. Christ was able to identify with us in our confusion and longing; He was able to enter into our suffering with the utmost empathy and compassion, precisely because His heart was filled with incomprehensible Light.” (Dynamis 4/30/2019, Jonathan Jackson)
"...before the Fall, Adam in his natural state had a heart illumined by the All-holy Spirit. Adam’s partaking of the Tree disrupted the natural balance of perception, and his reasoning capacity became the primary faculty of perception. This caused a usurping of the primary faculty of the heart, resulting in confusion and a darkening of perception…A profound and hidden mystery is the fall of man. It is quite impossible for a person to understand it by his own powers. This is because among the consequences of the fall is mental blindness, which prevents the mind from seeing the depths and darkness of the fall. Our fallen state appears to be a state of triumph, and the land of exile seems to be an exceptional field of progress and enjoyment.....What a different picture, brethren, and how terrible is the sight that meets our gaze when the mystery is disclosed to us!” (Archimandrite Sergius, St. Ignatius Brianchaninov)
“The light that blinded Saul prepared him to receive the True Light that came into the world to dispel the darkness of sin. This personal encounter with the risen Christ changed Saul from a fire-breathing persecutor into a dynamic preacher who was not ashamed to publicly claim the crucified Man from Galilee as his Lord and Savior…before his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul was suffering from paranoia, was out of his right mind. And afterwards he was in a state of metanoia—and metanoia means being turned around, repentant, being in a healthy state of mind.” (Foundation Study Bible, Acts 9:4-5, Madeleine L'Engle, Sara Zarr & Lindsay Lackey)
“Actions you take (and decisions you make) in the darkness of confusion and despair will likely be mistakes.” (Todd Hafer and Jeff Hafer)