Gold is tested in fire before its value is assessed . A man of distinction in all the fields he served , Charles was no pious religious as a youth . His voracious reading on modernism carried him out of the purview of religious teachings . However , the restlessness , loneliness , aimlessness and meaninglessness of life kicked him to and for until he found Fr Havelin who was instrumental to his conversion . From then on his was a life after the example of his own poor Master , Jesus of Nazareth . Today , several religious congregations of men and of women hark back to him and consider him the father of the spirituality and the style of religious life they have adopted . This book , thus , is the deeply moving story of an exceptional man of our century and his profound , yet simple spirituality .