Robert J. Wicks is professor and chairperson of the graduate programs in pastoral counseling at Loyola College and the author of over 30 books. The spurs to spiritual growth covered in this spiffy resource are (1) nourishing a spiritual attitude, (2) developing a practice of prayer, and (3) fostering simple compassion. The paperback concludes with a set of spiritual tenets and a month of reflections, questions, suggestions, and prayers.

At the outset, Wicks ponders certain spiritual virtues such as faithfulness, openness, simplicity, gratefulness, remembering, self-esteem, and being present. The section of the book on forming a "little rule" (a set of practices which broaden and deepen our prayerfulness and move us toward everyday spirituality) is excellent. Here Wicks covers silence, conversations with God, sacred reading, and faith sharing with others.

The author's conception of "completing the circle of grace" includes some cogent commentary on the spiritual practices of kindness, hospitality, nobility, and "offering balm for tears in the souls of others."