The function of faith is not to reduce mystery to rational clarity, but to integrate the unknown and the known together in a living whole, in which we are more and more able to transcend the limitations of our external self.
Every age has a need of "the contemplative life," and ours is no exception to the rule. The soul needs a chance for spreading its wings, for looking beyond itself, beyond the immediate environment, and for quiet inner growth.
~ from THE RELIGIOUS CONSCIOUSNESS by James Bissett Pratt