Feeling is a rare, delicate thing in spiritual life, often a fleeting experience and not within our control. When we try to seize it forcefully, it tends to escape like air when we try to grasp it. God often takes it away so that we do not cling to it selfishly and can move on towards Him. Saint Thérèse said that she spent most of her life in Carmel in desolation. She interestingly remarked, “I have joy, but I do not know that I have it.” Certainly, we can similarly say: I have love, but I do not know that I have it.
(P. Metoděj Minařík, OCarm. /1912–2003/, correspondence, 1993)
