God is not an object. How can we expect to test for his presence, expose him to investigation? He holds in the palm of his hand—or so we understand it—all that he has made. How could he be within it, susceptible to perception? Only the Incarnation makes possible the touch on the shoulder, the pierced hand against the tunic, bread and wine—that and the frail aerials of the prophets, picking up, through the hiss and stutter of culture and common knowledge the unmistakable signals of the Spirit…
All else, in our time, is as Eliot saw
…hints and guesses,
Hints followed by guesses; and the rest
Is prayer, observance, discipline, thought and action.(Four Quartets: The Dry Salvages)
Lord God, give us grace to persevere, discipline to keep on…
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. (Psalm 119.176)
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