In Desiring Life, Norvene Vest brings the insights of Benedict's Rule to the wisdom tradition. Desiring Life is the third book in her series on Benedictine spirituality for people living in the world today. Vest asks questions of pressing concern today, such as: What is the "good life" we seek? How can we learn to live with integrity and compassion, despite the growing gap between public ethics and narrow self-interest? How can we live fully and well? What sort of people should we as Christians try to be?

In sections on wisdom, virtue, and ethics Vest describes these contemporary questions and addresses them through passages from Benedict's Rule. Through the recovery of insights from the past, Vest believes, we can draw closer to the heart of our desire for life in all its fullness-union with God.