We find people who like the taste of God in one way but not
in another, and they want to have God only in one way of contemplation, not in
another. I raise no objection, but they are quite wrong. If you want to take God
properly, you should take Him equally in all things, in hardship as in comfort,
in weeping as in joy, it should be all the same to you.
~Meister Eckhart
Thank you for the useful quote from Meister Eckhart: “I raise no objection, but they are quite wrong.”
The saints who have helped me most in understanding how to experience the joy of God while suffering are St. Therese of Lisieux (Story of a Soul), St. Faustina (Divine Mercy in My Soul), St. Catherine of Siena (The Dialogue), and Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta (Hours of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ).
Taking God in all things reminds me of a book called _The Friendship of Christ_ by Robert Hugh Benson. Each chapter was about friendship with Him in a different form: Christ in the saint, Christ in the sinner (think a friend held hostage by sin), Christ in the Church, Christ in the priest, Christ in the Blessed Eucharist. You could also add things like Christ in creation, Christ the Word — really any work or role of Christ you can think of is a new way to become friends with Him. (Indeed friendship is itself only one facet of our relationship with him.)
We encounter many people who have a special preference for one of these, or a natural predilection to recognize Him in one, but find it hard to find Him in another (especially finding Him in nature or other people, but not in the Church or the Eucharist).
The trick is getting ourselves to seek out whatever it is that we lack in our knowledge of Him despite our natural predilections. I may know you as a Catholic and a Dominican, but not know all your interests, fears, traits, and accomplishments; but if I want to really know you (assuming you want this too), I have to be willing to learn your role in things that wouldn’t have interested me at first. I have discovered many joys in life, in areas that I hadn’t expected, simply because they involved or inspired people I care about.
Only God knows us truly (better than we know ourselves); and if we seek to return the favor and learn to appreciates all the “tastes” of God, we can have a fuller knowledge of Him and really “take Him equally in all things.”