This spiritual classic began as a simple request from one friend to another. Fred Bratman, a secular journalist and writer, asked friend and reowned author Heri Nouwen to write a book explaining the spiritual life in terms that he and his friends could understand, avoiding theology and technical language. “Speak to us about a vision larger than our changing perpectives and about a voice deeper than the clamorings of our mass media. Speak to us about something or someone greater than ourselves. Speak to us …about God.”