In his book, “An Introduction to Devout Life”, St Francis de Sales mentions this, “But these bright days will not last forever, and sometimes you will be so devoid of all devout feelings, that it will seem to you that your soul is a desert land, fruitless, sterile, wherein you can find no path leading to God, no drop of the waters of Grace to soften the dryness which threatens to choke it entirely.”
The above description tell us about the “desert” experience or spiritual dryness, a period where we feel “dry”, where we seem not able to connect with God. When we feel emptiness in prayer and “dryness” in our soul, it is a sign that we have “entered” the realm of the “desolate land of spiritual dryness”.
During one of my “desert” experience, I would say my daily prayers but I did it out of sheer obligation and nothing else. It was a truly faith testing period. I prayed the Psalms but it meant nothing to me. I called out to God but it was as if no one was on the other side of the conversation. I found it hard to stay faithful to my prayer life and nothing I did could remedy that situation. I was longing for my prayers to make some sense, but they never did.
During that time, my spiritual director advised me to persevere and never to lose hope in prayer. Easy words to say but in practise, it took a lot of effort to just pray and not despair. And after slightly more than a month, my prayer slowly took a turn for the better. I could slowly feel the presence of God during my prayer.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Dryness belongs to contemplative prayer when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb...” (CCC #2371)
All of us will go through this “desert experience” but we should not despair. All we need to do is to hope, persevere and never give up. Be faithful to our prayers and to Jesus, and eventually God will lead us out.
