The short reading from Romans at Mass today is a great favourite. There is so much to wonder at, in ourselves and in the world about us, so much that allows us glimpses of God. We live close to Harwell, where researchers are contantly pushing the boundaries of our knowledge and understanding . . . but, as the author of The Cloud of Unknowing reminds us, God cannnot be grasped by thought alone. It is love which unites us to Him. I've always liked George Herbert's calling prayer "the heart in pilgrimage". Somehow the idea of prayer as a "research lab" doesn't have quite the same ring to it. Can anyone suggest a contemporary image that would be helpful in expressing the inexpressible?