The Whispering Call from Within

This book consists of thirty four short chapters which were originally part of an e-mail correspondence between the author and his brother. It is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in thanks for her intervention when the author was a small child suffering from tubercular meningitis. The main focus of the book is prayer: silent contemplative prayer, which allows the Spirit of God to enter the heart and mind of the supplicant. In John s Gospel there is the account of Nathaniel praying under the fig tree and the author is prompted to wonder about the inner disposition of the man. What was in his heart and mind as he tried to communicate with his God? Reading the stories of the lives of the Saints gives us only part of the picture but reading the written prayers of the Saints tells us much more about their inner disposition. In using a Saint as a role model for prayer and as help in getting in touch with God it is easier to appropriate the prayer of a Saint than to imitate their very foreign life-style . The Scriptures are a vitally important tool for anyone seeking to understand the Catholic faith as well as practice it, but the author warns of the perils of letting the reading of the Scriptures get in the way of our communication with God. The human intellect is a gift from God but we should be wary of it too. There has to be a leap of faith and this point is emphasised throughout the book.