My Dear Bunglehorn,

I’m a bit disturbed to hear that your patient is despondent and somber as we approach the season of Lent. This generally isn’t a good sign. I’d be much more pleased had you told me he is filling chipper and keeping himself entertained.

Allow me to respond today, this their Ash Wednesday anew. I know of this “void” that he feels. Caution! It is your job to help him fill that void poste haste! If he is hungry, then he must eat. If he is lonely, then he must pick up the phone. When your patient is hungry and alone, he must fill the void rather than ponder the void for what it is. Unless you act, he’ll naturally begin to ask “Why am I hungry when I have bread to eat? Why do I feel lonely when I am alone?”

He musn’t examine the void, for that risks an encounter with the Enemy. The “Mystical Doctor” of the Enemy’s Church, St. John of the Cross, spoke of this condition:

At the moment of his death Christ was certainly annihilated in his soul, without any consolation or relief, since the Father left him that way in innermost aridity in the lower part. He was thereby compelled to cry out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46). This was the most extreme abandonment, sensitivity, that he had suffered in his life. And by it he accomplished the most marvelous work of his whole life, surpassing all the works and deeds and miracles that he had ever performed on earth or in heaven. That is, he brought about the reconciliation and union of the human race with God through grace…

David says of him: Ad nihilum redactus sum et nescivi (Ps 72), that the true spiritual person might understand the mystery of the door and way (which is Christ) leading to union with God, and that he might realize that his union with God and the greatness of the work he accomplishes will be measured by his annihilation for God in the sensory and spiritual parts of his soul. When he is brought to nothing, the highest degree of humility, the spiritual union between his soul and God will be effected. This union is the most noble and sublime sate attainable in this life. The journey, then, does not consist in recreations, experiences, and spiritual feelings, but in the living, sensory, and spiritual exterior and interior death of the cross.St. John of the Cross († 1591)

You see Bunglehorn, the Enemy wants your patient to contemplate his emptiness in order to bring them closer. The Lenten hunger bridges the spiritual self and the bodily self. It connects feeling with the temporal. Just review the E5 Men testimonials about the effects of fasting.

Therefore, you need to hint to your patient that entering this state is unnecessary. Tell him “You’ll starve!” This is especially helpful in the late morning when the lunch hour seems so far away.

When that fails, suggest that he is equipped with the tools to ease his suffering. Has God not made food plentiful for modern men? Why should he ignore the convenience of that vending machine in the hall?

If neither of those tactics convince, plant this little nugget in between his ears: “God loves me, he wouldn’t want me to suffer. Why would he want me to suffer?” This last bit of logic works wonders. It is rare the individual who contemplates how suffering, how dying to one’s self, is an act of love. How easily they forget the the Enemy’s self sacrifice for them. How easily they forget the martyrs like St. John of the Cross who followed Christ’s example. How easily they give up any attempt to be Christlike.

Avoid the void. Eat and be merry. Life is too short!

Warmest Regards,
Wigglebrick

The Vault

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