Faith, as it always does, lets a streak of light into the darkness; God is there and it is only to make the soul more sure of this that He permits the darkness. If the soul can find and recognize God in the darkness then it knows Him very intimately and this is what God wants--a love so great that it detects the Beloved One at once. Does darkness make any difference to the intercourse of those who love? They rather prefer it, so that all may be shut out except each other. This is what God wants from those whom He is teaching to be interior--He puts them into prison and leaves them in the dark. Are they going to be unhappy, to repine and complain, longing for consolation and all the sweet things with which God fed them when they hardly knew Him? Not if they have faith; and if their faith is strong, they will hardly be able to distinguish desolation from consolation, God's absence from His presence, yea the very darkness itself from the light! For is it not their God who is the cause of all that is happening to them, and is not that enough for those who love? They only want His Will, not their own, and His Will is to keep them in prison and in the dark and so to unite them more closely to Himself Who for their sake faced for nine months the darkness of the womb. In the terrible moments when despair seems so near us, let us hold on to the fact that we _want_ to please God and therefore that we are His children and that He loves us and is arranging everything--this is the little ray of hope in the darkness, the line of light, and in it we read the words: "I give them life everlasting and they shall not perish for ever; and no man shall pluck them out of My Hand." (St. John X. 28). _Colloquy_ with JESUS, the Light of the world, imprisoned in darkness for me. _Resolution._ To lean upon my God in times of darkness. _Spiritual Bouquet._ "I form the light and create darkness." (Is. XLV. 7). THE INTERIOR LIFE. (4) HIDDENNESS. "Verily, Thou art a hidden God, the God of Israel the Saviour." (Is. XLV. 15). _1st. Prelude._ JESUS hidden in Mary. _2nd. Prelude._ Grace so to find Him that I may live the hidden life. POINT I. "THOU ART A HIDDEN GOD."