We Work While the Light Lasts

by Hubert Van Zeller

"If my correspondence is anything to go by," writes Benedictine artist and author Dom Hubert Van Zeller, "the problem which men and women living in the world most want to discuss is that of how to handle the affections." The fruit of Dom Hubert's experience as a spiritual director, these 42 short reflections are culled from his correspondence, and engage with questions surrounding the cultural upheaval which followed World War II, the first stages of the sexual revolution, and the modern world's apathy towards God. Dom Hubert's witty and incisive reflections draw on a varied and colourful array of sources, including Tacitus, Milton, Evelyn Waugh, and Saint Benedict, and address such topics With insights that remain relevant today, Dom Hubert provides advice helpful for young and old, for the spiritually motivated and listless alike, in a short book which clearly presents the universal call to holiness.

228 pages, Paperback

Published May 30, 2022

About the author

Dom Hubert van Zeller lived a life of spiritual adventure and holy renunciation. He was born in Egypt when that nation was a British protectorate, and entered the Benedictine novitiate at age nineteen. His soul thirsted for an austere way of life; at one point he even left the Benedictines to enter a strict Carthusian monastery. However, he soon returned to the Benedictines. A talented sculptor as well as a writer, his artworks adorn churches in Britain and the United States. He was a friend of the great Catholic writers Msgr. Ronald Knox and Evelyn Waugh, and is the author of Holiness: A Guide for Beginners, Holiness for Housewives, and Spirit of Penance, Path to God.

Reviews

[Caleb Shaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped clarify the following concepts for me:

- how the totality of our work in this world is assigned to us by God and leads toward our sanctification

- how sin, even the slightest, disfigures our character and how virtue, even the slightest, confirms our Character to Christ (I’m leaving this book with a much stronger conviction to avoid sin at all costs and to practice virtue at all costs)

- that God a) truly desires our sanctity and that b) he without fail provides the grace for that sanctity. With this said, it is literally up to us whether or not we accept and respond to the grace that is ALWAYS, UNFAILINGLY present - therefore, we are truly without excuse

- that our everything (peace, joy, security, faith, etc.) resides in God Himself, not our thoughts or feelings about God - in other words, in God, we have everything- even in sensible insecurity, we have security - even in sensible anxiety, we have peace - even in sensible sorrow, we have joy - I’ve never encountered this reality explained so clearly as in this text

- complete and utter simplicity in all things - this simplicity is tied to a single desire, which is to live in the Will of God despite any other factor whatsoever

- happiness, true happiness, is a byproduct of true holiness

There were many other things that resonated, but I will be reading through again to digest and incorporate all of these things and more