Holy Mass

Out of the darkness of my life,
so much frustrated,
I put before you the one great thing
to love on earth:
the Blessed Sacrament…

There you will find
romance, glory, honour, fidelity,
and the true way
of all your loves upon earth,
and more than that:
Death: by the divine paradox,
that which ends life,
and demands the surrender of all,
and yet by the taste
(or foretaste)
of which alone can what you seek
in your earthly relationships
(love, faithfulness, joy)
be maintained,
or take on that complexion of reality,
of eternal endurance,
which every man’s heart desires

J.R.R. Tolkein
in a letter to his son, Michael