Years ago, as a young priest confronting the realities of celibate living outside the walls of the seminary, I realized I needed to taste two fundamental experiences to survive both humanly and spiritually.  (Yes, I know that what is truly human is spiritual and what is authentically spiritual is always grounded in the human.)  My soul longed—forgive this melodramatic language—for regular experiences of intimacy and transcendence.  Without these two ego-collapsing and soul-lifting “out of time” moments, I tended to wither as a human being and as a Christian.  With them, I not only survived, I tended to flourish.  And drawing on their energy, I had the ability to be a “beneficial presence”—a healing witness in the Reign of God.  That’s our common destiny as Christians: to allow the Christ in us to render us beneficial.  –Donald Cozzens “Notes From the Underground: The Spiritual Journal of a Secular Priest”

Thoughts to be lifted up, buoyed by the light of St John of the Cross and others darkness.