It was a practical way of prayer, written by a soldier, and lends itself to Australian bluntness and humour – Ignatius was “quite a boyo,” writes O’Sullivan.

There is no beating about the bush from this Jesuit: “Is there a sign we are really trusting? Speaking from experience, I can say that we will feel scared, defenceless and vulnerable.” An aspect of prayer long-neglected and even feared in the mainstream churches – “affectivity” (anything relating to or arising from our emotions) – is front and centre in the author’s narrative. “Faith devoid of any affectivity is something of an anomaly,” he writes.

This book is a narrative, just as The Spiritual Exercises were the story of a journey, but with a text book character, teaching something which used to be as natural as breathing but which somehow went missing from our cultue – prayer. The question of how we can tell whether our devotion is faith or superstition receives a delightfully pragmatic illustration. The problem of opting for the Gospel’s preference for the poor gets a 21st Century context: “Much easier said than done... because we live in a society, the consumer society, that is not concerned abot truth, and even cultivates unreality.”

The environment of persuasion in which we live militates against prayer. Vulnerability is replaced by control and performance, intimacy is replaced by voyeurism, and fidelity is replaced by opportunism.

The journey of the heart, by contrast, broaches the infinite space within. Although it is deeply personal it affects the whole community.

Chapter headings such as ‘Sin and the family’ and ‘Fractured relationships and exposing evil’ dismiss the fog of sentimentality and briefly get to grips with sources of dysfunction. Did you know that there is a crucial difference between hypocrisy and self-deception – and that the latter is a symptom of lack of intimacy?

O’Sullivan’s view of the qualities of children, by contrast to his pragmatic approach elsewhere in this book, is somewhat sentimental – for instance that children are not devious and manipulative and do not role play.

Fear is named as a grave inhibitor of God’s action in our hearts – not feeling fear (which Jesus did), but acting out of fear, which never achieves anything except allowing our fear to grow. Having courage means being able to act differently, not feel differently.

Contemplative prayer is described simply as a very human sort of experience, available to anyone with a willing heart and the courage to face reality. For one of the first things we get to know and experience in contemplative prayer is our own sinfulness and fragility.

The basic acceptance of one’s own sinfulness is a prerequisite for effective social action because without it one inevitably divides people into Goodies and Baddies – them and us. There is valuable teaching on discernment in the chapter ‘Prayer – help in following Jesus’, along with pithy advice such as “Forgiveness is a journey; revenge is a cycle”.

In contrast to the aspirations of our society the chapter ‘Dispossession and loss – a way to Jesus’ talks about actually treasuring such experiences, for it was through dispossession and loss that Jesus found us.

There are some frightfully useful lists – the sort you see in magazines which give you scores for proficiency. But these are lists of signs that one is following Jesus; that Jesus is present; and how to tell the difference between good and bad spirits. Vital signs. The Sunday liturgy adjures us to pray, but seldom does it describe how to go about it.

The author quotes Teilhard de Chardin in a discussion of suffering, describing it as an essential part of the evolutionary process of our world, and also a foreshadowing of death.

A modern take on mortification is being prepared to go out of one’s comfort zone regularly so that one’s own agenda never gets in the way of one’s relationships. O’Sullivan is Brisbane born and he tosses in some family folklore from the time of Archbishop Duhig who was a friend of his father, a state parliamentarian.

I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who is committed to the way of prayer, however long ago or recently they embarked on the journey.