Vita nascosta

My example, of course, is Bernard Lonergan, whose whole life has been one of renouncement of the immediate small gain for the sake of the great harvest of the future.  We should be clear on the degree of sacrifice involved in such a decision.  To withdraw from the hunt when there is quarry immediately before one and postpone the pursuit while giving oneself to the forging of a new and vastly superior instrument; to be willing to spend one’s entire life at the task, hoping that the long-term benefits will make it worthwhile, but knowing with certainty that one will not see the full harvest and realizing that at best one’s efforts will be appreciated only by a small band of attentive readers and students; to live the long years perseveringly, hopefully, unwaveringly, in the labor of creating an adequate organon of incarnate spirit – that withdrawal, renouncement, willingness, decision, and perseverance is not the act of a drifter or a self-seeker (41).

 Fred Crowe’s published three-part lecture series The Lonergan Enterprise