An Ardent Absence

This essay addresses a formidable subject, rarely treated today. It is a matte rof knowing what “experience” of God can reach a human being, whether he or she seeks God without knowing it or naming God, or that he or she affirms, as a Christian believer, God's historical manifestation in Jesus Christ. Once the symbols, the words, the images, the concepts, the rites, are passed, can we join a je ne sais quoi of the reality of God, and how? In a language that combines theological rigor and poetic approach, the book addresses the search and desire of God, with its pathways, its nights, and what can be glimpsed at the end of all these steps. Without being a “confession” or a testimony, this personal, and therefore partial, itinerary is rooted in many experiences of past and present. It is addressed to those who, by human paths and from the bottom of their faith, seek the face of the God of Jesus Christ, present, close, but always stealth behind darkness, the faithful companion of the mystics.