The great irony of faith is that an authentic God experience does indeed make you know you are quite special, favorite, and chosen—but you realize others are too! That is the giveaway that your experience is authentic, although it might take a while to get there.
You are indeed hurting—and others are too. Your only greatness is that you share the common greatness of the whole communion of saints. Your membership in the communion of sinners is a burden you can now carry patiently because others are also carrying it with you. You are finally inside of what Thomas Merton calls “the general dance.” You no longer need to be personally correct as much as you just need to be connected.
—from the book Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi
by Richard Rohr
