What keeps me going as a priest? Why do I do this? To be sure, there are joys, as well as sorrows; benefits as well as losses, but what has kept me going despite the challenges? Why have many of my brothers in priesthood stayed, but other have left? Why do some come to the end of their days with a sense of gratitude and fulfilment (despite an awareness of mistakes, or wounds inflicted by the challenges of life) yet others – fortunately few in my experience – face death with a sense of waste and futility? Meaning, it seemed to me, might be a useful ‘lens’ to adopt to explore this subject.