The goal of spiritual writing seems to be to approach the sublime through the mundane. Unfortunately, that usually means that somewhere along the way specificity and discernment-the hallmarks of good writing-are thrown over for vaporous abstractions and oceanic mood, in which God is the sum of all being, or the coming together of contradictions, or the mystery we invoke when contradictions refuse to come together. The best of these pieces, like Mary Gordon's prayers asking God to shower His blessings on liars, sex addicts, spendthrifts and mediocrities, take an opposite tack; they lead us from the sublime to the mundane.