Father René Voillaume – founder of the contemplative-in-the-world religious orders Little Brothers of Jesus, Little Brothers of the Gospel, and Little Sisters of the Gospel – in one of his books tells this story.

Someone asked him if, after everything he had lived through and begun, he “still believed in Saint John of the Cross.” Is, for example, all this stuff about a dark night of the soul true?

He said, “Yes.”

The story he told ends here. I think that’s exactly where it either needs to end or begin.