From "Thoughts In Solitude" by T. Merton

"If we can, by God's grace, turn ourselves entirely to Him, and put aside everything else in order to speak with Him and worship Him; this does not mean that we can always imagine Him or feel His presence.  Neither imagination nor feelings are required for a full conversation of our whole being to God.  Nor is intense concentration on an "idea" of God especially desirable.

Hard as it is to convey in human language, there is a very real and very recognizable (but almost entirely undefinable) Presence of God, in which we confront Him in prayer knowing Him by Whom we are known, aware of Him Who is aware of us, loving Him by Whom we know ourselves to be loved.  Present to ourselves in the fullness of our own personality, we are present to Him Who is infinite in His Being. His Otherness, His Self- hood.  It is not a vision face to face, but a certain presence of self to Self in which, with the reverent attention of our whole being, we know Him in Whom all things have their being.

The "eye" which opens to His presence is in the very center of our humility, in the very heart of our freedom, in the very depths of our spiritual nature, Meditation is the opening of this eye."

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[ As a unpaid (by choice ) employee of author Thomas Merton, I came to know some of his writings.  (I received my Epiphany from this book.)  T.M  was a born-again Roman Catholic priest and monk.  How I (a Methodist) came to be his typist is a very LONG story that I may tell you in heaven.]