The Hidden God

A dense fog lies on the land. In the distance, the ghosts of trees stand silently in the still air. There are no mountains in my vision; all is shrouded in whiteness and haze. God, too, is silent. He, once as clearly seen as the mountains, is hidden beneath a veil of obscurity. Yet, my soul, by faith you know He is near you, though you cannot see, or feel, or sense Him. How deep is your yearning for Him! How severe the trial of obscurity! Trust that this trial is God's will to draw you closer to Him, to purify your love and your intentions, to cause the sweet flower of profound humility to blossom within you. This is faith--to love without knowing, to follow without sight, to be certain of the hidden God.
"God hidden in his veils gives himself with His grace in an altogether unknown way, for the soul feels nothing but feebleness under its crosses, disgust with its obligations, while its attractions are only to very commonplace exercises...It feels itself lost in this dreadful state; it has no support, neither that of the thoughts which used to guide and animate its actions nor that of grace no longer perceptible; but in this loss of everything it finds everything restored, for that very grace that it cannot perceive in, so to say, a new form, gives the soul the hundredfold of what it has taken away, by the purity of its secret effects... To live by faith is then to live in joy, assurance, certitude, confidence in what one must do and suffer at each moment at God's command. God then disguises Himself to raise the soul to pure faith, thus teaching it to find him under all sorts of disguises...." Self-Abandonment to Divine Providence, Fr. J. P. Caussade