What is the use of praying if at the very moment of prayer, we have so little confidence in God that we are busy planning our own kind of answer to our prayer?

Actions are the doors and windows of being. Unless we act, we have no way of knowing what we are.

Conscience is the light by which we interpret the will of God in our own lives.

It seems to me that the darkness that has troubled you ... comes from one very serious source. Without wanting to be in conflict with the truth and with the will of God, we are actually going against God's will and His teaching.

Are they moved by a sense of human need for silence, for reflection, for inner seeking? So they want to get away from the noise and tension of modern life, at least for a little while, in order to relax their minds and wills and seek a blessed healing sense of inner unity, reconciliation, integration?

I will not fear, for you are ever with me and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Love winter when the plant says nothing.