One unofficial saint of mine, whom I hope helps shape my life, is Evelyn Underhill, a prominent Christian mystic. The marker on her grave in London says, “Christian – Scholar – Spiritual Guide.” She taught Anglican clergy about the importance of contemplative prayer, and was the first woman to lecture in theology at the University of Oxford.

Underhill wrote at least 28 books, including her Prayer Book, Mysticism, The Inner Life, The Spiritual Life, and more. I often go back to her book Practical Mysticism for insights into contemplation and the heart’s desire.

“Contemplation” is “an act of love, the wooing, not the critical study, of Divine Reality,” she wrote. She says our three great human faculties—love, thought, and will—are drawn inwards as the soul deals with life. The heart’s desire is the perpetual theme of Christian mystics, she said. “We tend to move towards Reality, to enter into its rhythm: by a humble and unquestioning surrender to it we permit its entrance into our souls.”