“A contemplative priest will have a deep and absorbing sense of union with Christ as priest and as offering in the Eucharistic sacrifice–so much so that his Mass will be going on within him not only when he is at the altar but when he is away from it, and at many different moments during the day.”

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation. Introduction by Sue Monk Kidd. New York: New Directions Books, 2007, ©1961, p. 161.

This strikes me as quite congruent with the way we (some of us, anyway) say that contemplation is carried through one’s day, or that we can “pray without ceasing” by inhabiting the Jesus Prayer.