Are You Doing Your Spiritual Reading?

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Just finished ‘Confessions’ by St Augustine and have moved onto ‘The Ascent of Mount Carmel’ by St John of the Cross - powerful stuff, both of them!
 
Annunciata said:
I have finished “the Virtue Drive Life” and will read it again…very good read… “The Diary” on the other hand is very good but I find I have to be in the right disposition to read it…still only a little more than a third of the way through…
I am almost finished “Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace” by Scott Hahn… It’s about his spiritual journey in Opus Dei… Great read…👍
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Thanks Annunciata. Will definitely get “Virtue Driven”. I too am still reading the Diary. I find it tedious to read. It makes me feel so inadequate. I cannot imagine being that pious, so it is hard for me to identify with Faustina.

I was hoping the “Book Club” would get me reading again, but not a whole lot of discussion thus far.
 
I almost finish the 6th notebook of St. Faustina’s Diary. Many days I read it until midnight and could not stop. It is so fascinating.
St. Teresa of Avila’s 7 Mansions help me know where I am on my spiritual journey, but St. Faustina’s Diary helps me have a glance of true communion with God and learn what transforming union is.

I am so immersed in Faustina’s Diary, it definitely is one of my favorite spiritual readings!!
 
Annunciata said:
“The Little Flower” loved it too… I read it many years ago…so many , many books I have read and have yet to read…
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Talking of “the Little Flower” - TAN publishes an account of her by her sister, who was professed as Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face. The English title of it is “My Sister Saint Therese”.​

Life is too short to read all that we might 😃 I’m surprised no one has mentioned
 
Teelynn said:
I just LOVE the way the Lord *nudges *us.😃 And then again, maybe we should give some credit to our guardian angel.:yup:
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That’s why I love St.Teresa of Avila…😉
LilyM said:
Just finished ‘Confessions’ by St Augustine and have moved onto ‘The Ascent of Mount Carmel’ by St John of the Cross - powerful stuff, both of them!
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Indeed…
Indyann said:
Thanks Annunciata. Will definitely get “Virtue Driven”. I too am still reading the Diary. I find it tedious to read. It makes me feel so inadequate. I cannot imagine being that pious, so it is hard for me to identify with Faustina.

I was hoping the “Book Club” would get me reading again, but not a whole lot of discussion thus far.
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I’m glad you said that because I’ve been feeling the same way…🙂
 
InLight247 said:
I almost finish the 6th notebook of St. Faustina’s Diary. Many days I read it until midnight and could not stop. It is so fascinating.
St. Teresa of Avila’s 7 Mansions help me know where I am on my spiritual journey, but St. Faustina’s Diary helps me have a glance of true communion with God and learn what transforming union is.

I am so immersed in Faustina’s Diary, it definitely is one of my favorite spiritual readings!!
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I read St. Teresa of Avila’s" Interior Castle" w/ the aid of an audio done by someone I saw on EWTN…can’t remember his name now and the audio is packed away…😦 It really help a lot too…
 
Gottle_of_Geer said:

Talking of “the Little Flower” - TAN publishes an account of her by her sister, who was professed as Sister Genevieve of the Holy Face. The English title of it is “My Sister Saint Therese”.​

Life is too short to read all that we might 😃 I’m surprised no one has mentioned
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I’ll have to check these out…the only one I’ve heard about is “The Soul of the Apostolate”…🙂
 
Yes.
I have a little devotional that I do every day.
It focuses on just a small piece of scripture at a time.
I find that with scripture…a little says alot.
God really speaks to me through my devotional and His Word is where it’s at!
Karen
 
I read the Virtue Driven Life and liked it but really liked this book from Fr. Groechel:
amazon.com/When-Did-See-You-Lord/dp/1592760686/ref=sr_1_18/105-6348612-5726015?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182937096&sr=1-18

It was written with Bishop Robert Baker. It teaches you things you can do to help when you think you can’t…some thoughts from another reader says a lot:

This is an AWESOME Book by Bishop Robert Baker and Father Benedict Groeschel
This is a beautiful book! It is filled with Icons and the paper is exceptional quality with colored edges, which adds to the beauty. But, more importantly, the contents of this book is beautiful! This is a treasure! It is a book to read over and over! It will be given to my cherished friends and relatives for Christmas!
. It gives an in-depth look at Christ’s mandate to care for the poor. It also provides deep insight into the kind of thinking that prevents people from doing the right thing for their neighbor…all the prideful sins and selfishness that can kill our sense of charity. As a Third Order Franciscan, this topic has special meaning to me. I need such guidance to remind me what the real priorities must be in this life. I heartily recommend this book to everyone–it will touch your heart in many ways!
 
I buy too many books all at once and read a little of this a little of that…attention span of a gnat. So, I am a bit into B16’s Jesus of Nazareth, which is slow careful going but VERY GOOD; and The New Friars, by Scott Bessenecker, an evangelical describing how evangelical young adults are adopting a very Catholicish call to live among the third world poor in voluntary poverty–really beautiful, the new Archeological Study Bible (NIV–incomplete Protestant Bible), which is really aesthetically pleasing, has nice articles, and browsing entries in the Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary.

But, this reading has been set aside for desperate prayer since Monday, some prayer with the Scriptures. (Monday morning I found out that I’ve beaten thyroid cancer but they found breast cancer.) So I have a nice little devotional book “God’s Words of Life for Catholic Women” with short NRSV Scripture quotes arranged by theme and short spiritual articles by women, and also just the Bible, leafing around for consoling Scriptures. Book of Tobit has a gem. Raphael [the archangel] said, “Take courage! God has healing in store for you, so take courage!” and a little later teaches Tobiah about “useful medicines.” So I need to get an icon of St Raphael pronto. 1 Cor 15 is also good, about the resurrection, not like I’m dying but we already possess immortality–the Eucharist is the medicine of immortality–so we can have Easter joy facing anything. Ps 30 is good, too, prayer of thanksgiving for healing from serious illness. Col 1:24 has me dedicated to using my suffering united with Christ to pray for others, so I am going to buy a special blank journal type book and start recording petitions.

It’s good just to leaf around in the Bible, and if you have read it very much, you know generally where to dig up the diamonds. But I must say, I like a concordance (book or online) to use a keyword to find it quickly. I couldn’t remember where consecrated suffering was, so using the keyword “afflictions” I found the Col 1:24 bit quickly. Online I use a searchbox on Steve Ray’s website that links to Crossroads, for a book, I have The New American Bible Concise Concordance ed. by John R. Kohlenberger III. My CBPC St Joseph Edition NAB bible has a doctrinal index in the back pages, too, but it’s kind of short.

See, the Bible isn’t just for beating people over the head in fruitless arguments. Ha! There’s gold in them thar hills. If you don’t dig around in the Bible very much, get one, a version you’ll read, aesthetically pleasing to you…and start digging. Pray with the Scriptures–lectio divina. I go into a sweet swoon!!! Let God whisper sweet nothings into your ear.
 
Hi Kentuckyliz,

I will be praying for you and a speedy recovery. I’m glad you can find solace in the bible and other good books…some can’t and it makes life even harder. My sister is also going through a second bout of cancer and I never was very religious…I pray she comes out of this not only healthy but with some more faith.

I heard the Pope’s new book is pretty dense but a good read. I am still discovering so much after coming back to the faith 2 years ago. I ordered a few CDs from catholiccity.com and Father Larry Richards gave such a beautiful explanation of the mass, I was transfixed for an hour listening to him. It’s hard to go to church and feel the same again. They are nominal in cost, I paid 5.00 a CD once and 1.00 a CD another when I ordered more and didn’t have the money. I plan to pass them on to the church later.
 
Hi,

I restarted reading the daily readings through the year with Padre Pio.An inspirational book:thumbsup:
 
I’m reading True Devotion to the Holy Spirit by Luis M. Martinez (the late Archbishop of Mexico). It’s a wonderful introduction to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Some of you have already read (or plan to read) True Devotion to Mary by Louis (Grignion) de Montfort. True Devotion to the Holy Spirit is the perfect companion book. As Martinez says:

"Devotion to the Holy Spirit must become what St. Grignion de Montfort made of devotion to Mary …

“This is what we are taught regarding Jesus …: ‘He was conceived by the Holy Spirit … of the Virgin Mary.’ That is the way Jesus is always conceived. That is the way He is reprduced in souls. He is always the fruit of Heaven and earth. Two artisans — the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary — must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product. Both the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary are necessary to souls, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ.”
I highly recommend both these books.
 
PhilotheaZ said:
I’m reading True Devotion to the Holy Spirit by Luis M. Martinez (the late Archbishop of Mexico). It’s a wonderful introduction to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Some of you have already read (or plan to read) True Devotion to Mary by Louis (Grignion) de Montfort. True Devotion to the Holy Spirit is the perfect companion book. As Martinez says:

"Devotion to the Holy Spirit must become what St. Grignion de Montfort made of devotion to Mary …

"This is what we are taught regarding Jesus …: ‘He was conceived by the Holy Spirit … of the Virgin Mary.’ That is the way Jesus is always conceived. That is the way He is reprduced in souls. He is always the fruit of Heaven and earth. Two artisans — the Holy Spirit and the most holy Virgin Mary — must concur in the work that is at once God’s masterpiece and humanity’s supreme product. Both the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary are necessary to souls, for they are the only ones who can reproduce Christ."I highly recommend both these books.
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I have read True Devotion to the Holy Spirit …awesome book!..
 
kentuckyliz said:
I buy too many books all at once and read a little of this a little of that…attention span of a gnat. So, I am a bit into B16’s Jesus of Nazareth, which is slow careful going but VERY GOOD; and The New Friars, by Scott Bessenecker, an evangelical describing how evangelical young adults are adopting a very Catholicish call to live among the third world poor in voluntary poverty–really beautiful, the new Archeological Study Bible (NIV–incomplete Protestant Bible), which is really aesthetically pleasing, has nice articles, and browsing entries in the Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary.

But, this reading has been set aside for desperate prayer since Monday, some prayer with the Scriptures. (Monday morning I found out that I’ve beaten thyroid cancer but they found breast cancer.) So I have a nice little devotional book “God’s Words of Life for Catholic Women” with short NRSV Scripture quotes arranged by theme and short spiritual articles by women, and also just the Bible, leafing around for consoling Scriptures. Book of Tobit has a gem. Raphael [the archangel] said, “Take courage! God has healing in store for you, so take courage!” and a little later teaches Tobiah about “useful medicines.” So I need to get an icon of St Raphael pronto. 1 Cor 15 is also good, about the resurrection, not like I’m dying but we already possess immortality–the Eucharist is the medicine of immortality–so we can have Easter joy facing anything. Ps 30 is good, too, prayer of thanksgiving for healing from serious illness. Col 1:24 has me dedicated to using my suffering united with Christ to pray for others, so I am going to buy a special blank journal type book and start recording petitions.

It’s good just to leaf around in the Bible, and if you have read it very much, you know generally where to dig up the diamonds. But I must say, I like a concordance (book or online) to use a keyword to find it quickly. I couldn’t remember where consecrated suffering was, so using the keyword “afflictions” I found the Col 1:24 bit quickly. Online I use a searchbox on Steve Ray’s website that links to Crossroads, for a book, I have The New American Bible Concise Concordance ed. by John R. Kohlenberger III. My CBPC St Joseph Edition NAB bible has a doctrinal index in the back pages, too, but it’s kind of short.

See, the Bible isn’t just for beating people over the head in fruitless arguments. Ha! There’s gold in them thar hills. If you don’t dig around in the Bible very much, get one, a version you’ll read, aesthetically pleasing to you…and start digging. Pray with the Scriptures–lectio divina. I go into a sweet swoon!!! Let God whisper sweet nothings into your ear.
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Fr. Groeschel will be giving some talks about “Jesus of Nazareth” in a few weeks on his Sunday Night Live program…
I will keep you in my prayers… BTW, did you put this in the prayer request forum?🙂
 
I’m doing the 15 Thursday’s with St Rita for a special intention.

A spiritual friend of mine suggested that he had heard that St Rita was the Patron of the Impossible, and we had been discussing some pretty trying issues with members of our family. I noticed that the next day was the Feast of St Rita! what a sign! I do the Novena to her each day, and the special Thursday devotional for 15 weeks. I book about her life (what a great life!) The 15 Thursday walks along with her life so having read about her life it has made my devotion much stronger…I feel I’m getting to know her.

It has been a very powerful experience!
 
My son recently proposed to have a family hour of book reading. Each one reads his/her own book. I now take that as a good motivation to work on my spiritual readings. The two things on the plate now are the diaries of Saint Faustina and the Theology of the Body (I am starting with an introductory book first and then the new translation to follow).
 
Cristiano said:
My son recently proposed to have a family hour of book reading. Each one reads his/her own book. I now take that as a good motivation to work on my spiritual readings. The two things on the plate now are the diaries of Saint Faustina and the Theology of the Body (I am starting with an introductory book first and then the new translation to follow).
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This is a lovely habit! We do this daily every summer and as often as possible during the school year. The children read ‘regular’ books, but I often do spiritual reading during that time. Right now I am finishing a bio of St Teresa of Calcutta.

Every evening before bed we also read from a children’s Lives of the Saints and from the Bible.

There are some wonderful suggestions on this thread–I’ll be making a list!
 
My reading comes in spurts. I often refer back to the pastoral letters of the late Bishop Lucker. I also refer back to the social justice books I received going through JustFaith I and JustFaith II. We did not read all the books but it is also good to review the material a few months after the fact.
 
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