There’s so much noise. Everything can seem like a distraction. Distraction, in fact, seems like it is our oxygen. When was the last time you saw people talking on an elevator? We seem to plug in everywhere. We don’t even look up from our earphones and screens, never mind find time for silence. Our hearts need quiet. How are we ever going to pray otherwise? How could we ever possibly know God’s love and will—and the truth about ourselves and the world—without resting in him?

Resting in him. What does that even mean? In A Year with the Mystics, popular National Review journalist and commentator Kathryn Jean Lopez, who writes and speaks frequently about faith, public life, prayer, and the church, offers listeners a tour of the magnificent variety of mystical writing in the heart of the church. This audiobook features reflections from both household and contemporary names like Saint John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and Edith Stein, as well as historic figures such as St. Catherine of Siena and John of the Cross. The words of these holy men and women of prayer are presented in accessible doses ideal for daily prayer amidst the seemingly all-consuming busyness of life.

Each section is an invitation to enter more deeply into the life of faith. What does the road to union with God look like? What is a dark night? What is true love of the trinity? What is this church as bridegroom business?

Mysticism is not some foreign and remote life of prayer for poets and saints in heaven. Rather, it is the call for every Christian to draw more deeply and profoundly from the heart of Christ in prayer.

A Year with the Mystics is a tour, a retreat, and a love story in which God seeks you out. With the small commitment of a few minutes a day to prayer with mystic saints and other holy ones, you will be making time for communication and peace in the heart of the trinity. Your faith will grow, and you will see that the life of a contemplative in the world can be yours. It can become for you the air you breathe and a wellspring of renewal in your life as a Catholic rooted in the sacraments.