Mother Frances Streitel: Immersed in darkness

Amalia Frances Rose Streitel aka Mother Frances Streitel, Foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, and, as a Maria Stern Franciscan, known as Sister Angela.  Life is never simple, as we follow Jesus to Calvary and, with Him, go through a dying, a death, a resurrection and a Pentecost in our own lives.  We are reviewing an experience of these events in the life of Sister Angela prior to the actual assignment to take over the administrative position of the Marian Institute in Wuerzburg, Germany.  The pastor is in agony in not having followed through with the Board’s request to assign Sister Angela to that position.  Letters flowed between individuals involved. A couple of those letter were derogatory toward Sister Angela, the one referred to above written by a Sister Elizabeth and another by a Reverend Father Braun, whom Sister Angela described as one who is “hot-headed” and “makes ado about everything.”  Father Beckert learns that the directress of the Institute (perhaps the woman he assigned in Sister Angela’s place) is “someone to be feared.”   His reply is “Oh, why do I first learn of this now?”   Certainly, this is a period of darkness for all involved. We know from the Scriptures that darkness is not darkness to the Lord and that no darkness will destroy the Light.  Sister Angela, I believe, lived in that Light and relied upon the Lord in the situations of her life that were far from ideal and that led her to the foot of the cross.  How do you deal with the dark periods of your life?