The supreme answer to prayer is the Beatific Vision, in the next world. But here below, the supreme response to real prayer is the entrance into the transforming union of the saints, like Saint John of the Cross, like Saint Teresa, entrance into great sanctity, into the life of the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, and Knowledge, the great tempest of the Holy Spirit carrying souls. We must ask, banging our head against the bars until they are broken.
Charles Cardinal Journet (1891–1975)