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When we feel weak and incapable

One of my top five books is Dom Marmion's Union with God, a collection of some of his letters of spiritual direction.

An excerpt:

You must not pay too much attention to the fluctuations which are ever passing over the surface of your soul. Like the sea, it is constantly ruffled, but in its depths it is all God's. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you an abundance of His gift of fortitude, nothing so honours God as to lean on Him in full confidence, just when we feel weak and incapable, 'When I am weak, it is then that I am strong . . . I glory in my infirmities that His strength dwell in me.' May you be filled with Christ's strength, the spouse is never so pleasing to her beloved as when she bears all her weight on the strong arm of her beloved.

And another:

Abandon yourself blindly into the hands of this Heavenly Father Who loves you better and more than you love yourself.

More to come . . .

Behold, there He stands . . .

Another of James Tissot's paintings and another of my favorites. It came to mind as I was pondering returning to Ordinary Time. Yet He still stands behind our wall, speaking to us:

"Behold, there he stands behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
"Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
for lo, the winter is past,
the rain is gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come. . . .
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the covert of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice." (Song of Songs 2:9b-12a, 14)

Some of the Church fathers see the "cleft in the rock" as the pierced Heart of Jesus. . .