Edward Hays is "an artist of prayer" who has already gifted us with two masterworks on the subject: Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim and Prayers for the Domestic Church. In this imaginatively conceived and delivered volume, he presents 148 original psalms designed for those who are moving from the known to the unknown, from one place or stage in life to another. He invites us to recognize that this is a natural state: "God is freedom from all gravity and all predictability. God is eager to visit and invite brave spiritual explorers to become gravityless emigrants of the Imageless and Unimaginable God. Those who prefer that the ground always remain beneath their feet and that God remain predictable would be prudent to refrain from anwering the door should God happen to knock."

Hays writes: "Strive to make your prayers like Roman candles that explode in a seemingly endless series of brilliant splashes of colored fire." He has certainly followed this advice. Among the gems in this parade of psalm prayers are ones to enliven habit prayers, to handle the crossing of various borders of aging, to deal with mistakes, to search for the Holy One with a detective's eye, to engender devotion, to commune with God, to come alive to Jesus' parables, to be aroused by the Holy Spirit, to handle regret and penance, and to appreciate the rich traditions of all religions.

Accompanying these psalm prayers are brief reflections by Hays delivered with his inimitable respect for the variety of spiritual wisdom in church tradition, literature, cross-cultural study, and popular culture. One example will suffice: "To pray for anyone is to be wedded to that person in the endless instant of God. . . . A love prayer is a mystical aphrodisiac of the heart."

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