If my spirit is bleeding inside, I can approach him with that and grasp the hem of his garment. My prayer can be holding that garment; power continues to go out from him.
If my spirit aches sorrow or loneliness, I can sit with him as at table, in a prayer that holds that ache before him; his presence still speaks welcome and healing into that.
If I am aware of the waters of death, prayer can mean stretching out my hand, in the faith that he clasps my wrist. Prayer could be staying with that: the hand clasping the wrist.
Father Iain Matthew, O.C.D.
The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross
Chapter 20: Prayer, a ‘Being With’ (excerpt)
Matthew, I 1995, The Impact of God: Soundings from St. John of the Cross, Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd, London.
Photo credit: Codex Egberti, fol. 27v. | Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Carmelite Quotes 
Sitting online at 23.30 lonely and sorrowful, with serious illness in the family, and this pops into my inbox! “Though I make my bed in Sheol, behold,You are there…” God is amazing!! I know how this author felt, in the depths of my being.