Sometimes real breakthroughs in your spiritual life come about only after searing self-examination. Dom Hubert van Zeller encourages “seeking the face of the Lord always,” adding that “the whole of our effort of faith, exercised throughout life, amounts precisely to this.” When it is pursued properly and consistently, countless benefits, spiritual and otherwise, soon follow.

A Carthusian monk, Dom van Zeller produced works that became exceedingly popular in the 1950s. He had the rare gift of translating monastic spiritual wisdom, developed over centuries, into clear, practical advice for ordinary Catholics seeking to deepen their prayer lives. The Inner Search, one of his most enduring and readable books, takes as its point of departure the psalmist’s exhortation to seek the Lord’s face continually and reveals:

• The single most powerful “vitalizing factor” in the spiritual life
• Five things that foster the gift of spiritual “discernment”
• What spiritual “over eagerness” is, and how it can hamper the action of grace
• The bad habit to which almost every excess in the spiritual life can be traced
• The worldview that leads to perpetual frustration — and the worldview that leads to happiness
• Three ways God “exactly fits” our spiritual sufferings to our souls’ specific needs and capacitie