"'If my past and present life can be described as 'active' , let us not forget that the 'act' par excellence of each day is the Holy Mass, which constitutes the most perfect synthesis of prayer and the heart of our meeting with God in Christ. Over thirty years' experience of priestly life has taught me that to reach this summit, to arrive at this synthesis and this fullness, one must approach it through prayer and emerge from it towards the prayer of the whole day, knowing perfectly well that this day will be filled to overflowing with activities and engagements of every sort. Everyone knows that the priest's day is liturgical, not only thanks to the Mass but also through the liturgy of the hours, which confers on the day its special rhythm. On the whole, work takes most of the time, but all activities should be rooted in prayer as though in a spiritual soil. The depth of this soil must not be too thin: inner experience teaches us how to form it, day after day, so that it is sufficient.'"

(John Paul II, in André Frossard, Be Not Afraid! p 33)