Here there begins an eternal hunger, which shall nevermore be
satisfied. It is the yearning and the inward aspiration of our faculty
of love, and of our created spirit towards an uncreated good. And as
the spirit desires joy, and is invited and constrained by God to
partake of it, it is always longing to realise joy. Behold then the
beginning of an eternal aspiration and of eternal efforts, while our
impotence is likewise eternal. These are the poorest of all men, for
they are eager and greedy, and they can never be satisfied. Whatever
they eat or drink, they can never have enough, for this hunger lasts
continually. For a created vessel cannot contain an uncreated good, and
hence that continual struggle of the hungry soul, and its feebleness
which is swallowed up in God. There are here great banquets of food
and drink, which none knoweth saving he who partakes of them; but full
satisfaction of joy is the food which is ever lacking, and so the
hunger is perpetually renewed. Yet streams of honey flow within reach,
full of all delights, for the spirit tastes these pleasures in every
imaginable way, but always according to its creaturely nature and
below God, and that is why the hunger and the impatience are without
end. If God were to grant to this man all the gifts which are possessed
by all the saints, and everything that He has to offer, but were to
deny Himself, the open-mouthed eagerness of his spirit would be still
hungry and unsatisfied. Emotion and the inward contact with God are the
explanation of our hunger and our striving; for the Spirit of God gives
chase to our spirit, and the closer the contact the greater the hunger
and the striving. This is the life of love in its highest development,
above reason and higher than all understanding; for in such love reason
can neither give nor take away, for our love is in touch with the
divine love. And I think that once this point is reached there will be
no more separation from God. The contact of God with us, so long as we
feel it, and our own loving efforts, are both created and of the nature
of the creature, and so they may grow and increase all the days of our
life.