The prayer exercises are structured in terms of a specific spiritual "desire," leading to an interrogation of Scripture, as well as of the self, about the best way to attain that desire (for example, the desire to "grow in the inner freedom needed to commit my life to God" or "to hear God's call when it comes and to be willing to respond generously.") What differentiates this lovely book from so many prayer guides is its attention to the difficulty of prayer, its understanding that to pray requires discipline and structure, that ecstatic communion only follows after long, hard concentration and labor, the readying of the soul for God.