Pesachim 13a - May the messiah come soon, but not when it's inconvenient

"Said they to him, it has long been assured to Israel that Elijah will come neither on the eve of the Sabbath nor on the eve of Festivals, on account of the trouble."

Reading this line made me really happy, as something about it seems to sum up something of the essence of Judaism.

A practical kind of messianism, that we believe in but trust that it won't disrupt any of our ritual or halachic obligations; a powerful mythology brought into the human realm of the weekly and yearly cycles of the calendar; a practical kind of mysticism.

I can't get enough of it!