He longs, above all things, to test his secret in the light of day.
The problem that Isaac Hecker had to solve, as he described it himself, was whether his life was real--using the word "life" to denote its truest meaning, the interior life.

We have been careful to make the reader aware of how deep and continuous were the inner touches of the Holy Spirit which led him on.

Before applying for admission to the Church, there was no truth that he could believe more firmly than that he was the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Of that he had the certitude which is called personal and the teaching of God which is most direct.

Yet something was lacking, and therein lay his agony, for he knew that his fellow-men were entitled to all that he had of truth and virtue.