Gods Evening and Morning: Finding Purpose in Dark Seasons

This morning I invite you to open Sacred Scripture to Genesis chapter 1, where we find a profound truth that speaks to our hearts and our lived experience as Catholic faithful. As we meditate on the creation account, we discover a pattern that our loving Father establishes from the very beginning. Look at verse 5: "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." This isn't just ancient timekeeping, but reveals God's providential design for how life unfolds. This divine order - evening comes first, then morning - is repeated throughout the creation week. Verse 8: "And there was evening and there was morning, the second day." Verse 13: "And there was evening and there was morning, the third day." Six times our Creator repeats this order - darkness before light. This teaches us something profound about how God works in our lives and in His creation.

 

Why does our merciful God consistently place evening before morning? Because this reveals His divine providence in how we experience life's seasons. In God's economy, darkness comes before light, suffering before glory, the cross before resurrection. Consider even the natural world - seeds must be buried in the dark earth before they can sprout into the light. A child develops in the darkness of the womb before being born into the light of day. Night comes before the dawn breaks. This is the way of Divine Providence. This pattern teaches us that God uses our dark seasons - our "evening" times - for a sacred purpose. These aren't accidents or divine punishment. They're part of His loving plan for our sanctification. Just as He spoke light into the darkness on that first day, He brings light into our dark seasons through His grace. The Hebrew word for evening, "ereb," suggests a time of transition and preparation. Our difficult seasons aren't just something to endure - they're times when God is preparing us for greater union with Him and deeper service to others.

 

Let's apply this evening-before-morning principle to the sacrament of marriage. Every strong Catholic marriage goes through its "evening" seasons - times of struggle, misunderstanding, financial pressure, or the daily challenges that can test our commitment to love as Christ loves. Perhaps you're in one of those seasons right now. Maybe you and your spouse are facing financial difficulties, health challenges, or feeling disconnected from each other. It feels dark, like evening has settled over your marriage covenant. But remember God's pattern - evening comes before morning. These difficult times aren't the end of your love story. They're preparing you for deeper grace. When Catholic couples walk through dark seasons together, united in prayer and holding fast to the sacramental bond, they emerge with stronger faith and deeper love. I think of couples in our parish who've weathered the storm of a sick child, unemployment, or the pain of infertility. Those "evening" seasons were incredibly difficult, but they taught them to depend on God's grace and on each other in ways they never had before. Their "morning" - the deeper intimacy and trust that followed - reflected more perfectly the love between Christ and His Church. Don't despise the evening seasons in your marriage. God is using them to prepare you for a morning of deeper sacramental love than you've ever known.

 

The same principle applies to our relationship with material goods. As Catholics, we're called to practice evangelical poverty and trust in Divine Providence. God often allows us to go through seasons of financial "evening" - times when money is tight, when we must practice detachment from worldly goods and trust Him for our daily bread. These lean times aren't punishment but preparation. God uses our financial "evening" seasons to teach us contentment, to show us the difference between wants and needs, and to develop the virtue of prudence. He's preparing our hearts to handle His provision with proper stewardship and generosity to the poor. I've witnessed this in many Catholic families. Young couples who start their marriage living simply, perhaps in a modest apartment, learning to budget and practice good stewardship - they're building something solid on the rock of Christ. They're not trying to have everything at once but following God's evening-before-morning pattern. Compare this to those who start with everything - the large house, new cars, all bought on credit. They've tried to skip the evening and jump to morning. But without the character that comes from walking through lean times, they often find themselves in financial trouble later, unable to be generous to the Church and the poor. God's way is better. Let Him use your seasons of financial simplicity to prepare you for the abundance He has planned. Trust His timing and His providence. Evening comes before morning, but morning always comes.

 

Now you might wonder - why does our loving Father allow these dark seasons at all? Why not give us constant morning, constant light, constant blessing? Because darkness serves a sacred purpose in God's plan of salvation. Just as our physical bodies need rest during nighttime hours, our souls need "evening" seasons to grow in holiness and virtue. It's during these times that we learn to trust God when we cannot see the way forward. It's in darkness that our faith is purified and strengthened. The evening seasons teach us humility and dependence on God's grace. They show us our need for the sacraments, for prayer, for community. They strip away our self-reliance and pride, preparing us to receive God's blessings with grateful hearts rather than entitled attitudes. Consider the Israelites in the wilderness. Those forty years felt like a long, dark evening. But God was using that time to prepare them for the Promised Land, teaching them to depend on His providence, to follow His leading, to trust His provision. Without that preparation in the desert, they wouldn't have been ready for the abundance He had waiting. Your dark season isn't wasted time. God is using it to prepare you for something beautiful - perhaps deeper holiness, greater service to others, or simply a more profound trust in His love. Trust His process. Trust His timing. Trust that He who spoke light into the darkness on the first day of creation can speak light into your darkness too.

 

So how do we live as faithful Catholics in light of God's evening-before-morning pattern? First, if you're in an evening season right now - whether in your marriage, your finances, your health, or any other area - don't despair. Don't think God has abandoned you. Remember that evening comes before morning. God is preparing you for something beautiful, perhaps deeper holiness, greater service to others, or even sainthood. Second, don't try to rush into morning before God's timing. Don't use debt to skip financial evening seasons. Don't abandon your marriage vows when times get difficult. Let Him work in your life during the dark times through prayer, the sacraments, and spiritual direction. Third, look for God's grace in your current circumstances. He's not absent during dark times - He's actively working through His grace. Just as His Spirit moved over the face of the waters in darkness before He spoke light into existence, He's moving in your situation too. And finally, remember that morning is coming. It always does in God's providence. The psalmist reminds us that "weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning" (Psalm 30:5). Your evening season has an expiration date. God's morning light is on the horizon. Let us pray together, asking our Blessed Mother to intercede for us, that we might trust God's evening-before-morning pattern in our lives, knowing that He who began a good work in us will complete it in the day of Jesus Christ. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.-F.D.