Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.

A candle without fire is only wax: complete in shape, and not doing what it was made for. The claim is that a person is similar, and that the practical business of a life, however well kept, is not the whole of it. What the flame stands for is a spiritual life, the part of a person turned towards what is deepest, and for many that is inseparable from their faith.

Wherever you stand, it is worth asking whether that part of you has had any room lately among the obligations. Giving it a regular place in the week, in the form it already takes for you, tends to matter more than waiting for a large occasion. A flame is kept by steady attention.