Despite signs in recent decades of a crisis in the Church, a countercurrent of intense interest in prayer and serious spiritual life is clearly at work today. A deeper esteem for a contemplative dimension of spiritual life has accompanied this turning to prayer, and many people have a need for some form of direction and guidance.

Written by a recognized expert on contemplative spirituality, this book concentrates on the mystery of interior trial and difficulty in contemplative prayer. The hardships experienced in the interior life by souls who give themselves to God wholeheartedly are often little acknowledged; yet they are seen with some regularity in contemplative lives.

This work offers more than a summary of the symptoms of trial in a contemplative spirituality. The poignant observations have a source in the author's long years of experience in retreat work with souls of contemplative depth. Personal experience, not simply knowledge of the spiritual tradition, informs these insightful reflections. The concise, carefully crafted comments of this book delve into spiritual difficulties and conundrums in a uniquely personal and penetrating manner.

Throughout the book, the writing invites the reader to ponder the subject of spiritual darkness and perplexity and simple struggle in the spiritual life always in the light of the loving hand of God drawing the soul into a greater surrender to himself. The work offers a unique aid and stimulus in the quest for a deeper spirituality.