Inner Search by Hubert Van Zeller


Inner Search
Title : Inner Search
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0912141964
ISBN-10 : 9780912141961
Language : English
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 230
Publication : First published January 1, 1957

Sometimes real breakthroughs in your spiritual life only come about after searing self-examination. Even in the 1950s, when books on Catholic prayer and spirituality could become bestsellers, the works of Dom Hubert van Zeller were exceptionally popular. A Carthusian monk (and good friend of Msgr. Ronald Knox), van Zeller had the rare gift of translating monastic spiritual wisdom developed over centuries into clear, practical advice for ordinary Catholics seeking to deepen their own prayer lives. The Inner Search, one of his most enduring and readable books, takes as its point of the departure the Psalmist's exhortation to "Seek the face of the Lord always!" Indeed, writes van Zeller, "the whole of our effort of faith, excercised throughout life, amounts precisely to this" -- and when it is pursued properly and consistently, countless benefits, spiritual and otherwise, soon follow. A handful of van Zeller's helpful teachings: The single most powerful “vitalizing factor” in the spiritual life Explained: “The saints are those in whom there is least obstacle to the life of Christ within the soul” 5 things that foster the gift of spiritual “discernment” 3 common excuses for neglecting the duty of corporal penance: do any of them sound familiar? False ideas about God's will that impede our progress toward sanctity. How to recognize and correct them The bad habit to which almost every excess in the spiritual life can be traced 2 ways of looking at the world: one leads to perpetual frustration, the other to happiness What it means to "discover God present in the soul” (an important step in spiritual progress) Spiritual “over-eagerness”: what it is, how it can hamper the action of grace 3 ways God “exactly fits” our spiritual sufferings to the specific needs and capacities of our souls.

Inner Search Reviews

  • booklady

    Why this book isn't better known is a sin itself. That I owned it and waited to read it for so long makes me sad, but I also know I wouldn’t have appreciated it before now. Truly do I ‘get’ it now? I’m not sure. When I finished it, I felt the need to run home (from Adoration) and read something light. What does that tell you about me? (sigh)

    This book is way above my usual reading level, but of course it’s good to stretch oneself. It is certainly beyond my reviewing abilities. To adequately review it I should have begun taking careful notes from the first chapter ... or anyway tried to.

    Dom Hubert van Zeller, a Benedictine writer and sculptor, lived from 1905 to 1984 and was noted for writing about human suffering from a Catholic perspective. He was known to be deeply devout, his sole possessions during his monastic life were a toothbrush and a typewriter. He was close friends with Monsignor
    Ronald Knox, who came to him for spiritual direction*. Apparently van Zeller suffered most of his life with some illness and yet he ‘maintained an optimistic worldview’.

    Despite the title, The Inner Search, isn’t about navel gazing. It is about our singular purpose as Christians—union with Christ and to become as much like Him as is possible. Van Zeller’s primary recommended source (of course) are the Sacred Scriptures, but he also encourages and draws from the Fathers, saints, and papal writings. His own writing flows so uniformly I would often not even realize all his sources until I came to the end of the page or section, although it was nice to scan them and see the breadth and depth of his knowledge.

    Van Zeller believes we should strive for the mystical state but first we must be ascetical. He recommends fasting one day a week.

    Van Zeller writes about advanced states of spirituality which he clearly knows something about. However, this was where he often lost me and I was the child listening in on an adult’s conversation. Fortunately I hung in there until near the end and was rewarded with three chapters (18-20) about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Soul. Here I found material which was more ‘graspable’ to me. I can see the mystical allusions while I’m reading about them, but they seem to evaporate like the morning fog as soon as I close the book, whereas praying to and thinking about the Holy Spirit is something which stays with me and therefore is more helpful.

    Two other things I liked about this book: 1) quotes from the works of St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, someone rather neglected in our times, and 2) two chapters devoted to explaining Mary’s role and relationship to the Holy Spirit.

    This is a book I want to return to. I wish it were available as an audiobook. Excellent.

    *Van Zeller dedicated this book to Knox.

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    This book has been on the shelf f-o-r-e-v-e-r, though I don’t have one specially designated, ‘Patiently waiting its turn’*. I don't even remember when I brought it. But it has been nagging at me especially loudly lately, “READ ME!”

    It is indeed wonderful. I only wish I had made notes on every chapter like I did with
    Growth In Holiness because I like this better. It is simpler and cleaner. Growth was more systematic. Van Zeller seems to assume his readers are in need of an overall approach to their spiritual life rather than a set of rules, that they are already past requiring lists and repetitive disciplinary measures so essential to beginners. I know I would not have grasped what he was talking about—or I would have been scared out of my wits—had I read this book years ago when I first bought it.

    Well, I’m only just over ½ through… more thoughts to come.

    *My friend, Gold Gato, here on Goodreads has a shelf here with that amusing title. ☺