Book recommendations

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JaredR

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I’m trying to build my little spiritual library. So far I have:
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • The New American Bible
  • a Catholic prayer book
  • The Imitation of Christ
  • Divine Intimacy
  • No Greater Love (Bl. Mother Teresa)
  • Through the Year With Padre Pio
  • Introduction to the Devout Life
  • The Screwtape Letters
I am probably going to purchase The Spiritual Combat soon too, because that is one of my favorite classics. The Practice of the Presence of God and Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are other titles that I’m thinking of ordering online but am not totally sure I should get.

So, which Catholic classics are absolutely essential for me to have in my library? What would you recommend? :yup:
 
Divine Mercy in My Soul -St. Faustina
Story of a Soul -St. Therese of Lisieux
Men, Women, and the Mystery of Love- Christopher West (I think)

-Jeanne
 
You should take a look at the Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan put together by the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC. It’s a list of 100 books that Catholics should read during their lifetime. It’s an excellent list.

The essentials in my library include the following works of St. Josemaria Escriva:
The Way
Furrow
The Forge
Christ Is Passing By
Friends of God

Oh, and I just remembered this little gem when I looked through the Reading Plan:
[/INDENT]Uniformity With God’s Will, by St. Alphonsus Ligouri
Betsy
 
JaredR said:
I’m trying to build my little spiritual library. So far I have:
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church
  • The New American Bible
  • a Catholic prayer book
  • The Imitation of Christ
  • Divine Intimacy
  • No Greater Love (Bl. Mother Teresa)
  • Through the Year With Padre Pio
  • Introduction to the Devout Life
  • The Screwtape Letters
I am probably going to purchase The Spiritual Combat soon too, because that is one of my favorite classics. The Practice of the Presence of God and Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius are other titles that I’m thinking of ordering online but am not totally sure I should get.

So, which Catholic classics are absolutely essential for me to have in my library? What would you recommend? :yup:
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The ones you’ll read.
What are you interested in?
 
baltobetsy said:
The essentials in my library include the following works of St. Josemaria Escriva:
The Way
Furrow
The Forge
Christ Is Passing By
Friends of God
Click to expand...
Thank you for that link. Which is your favorite of St. Josemaria’s, or which would you recommend for someone who’s never read one of his books? I’ve had some exposure to him while reading the Navarre Bible series, and I’m sure he’d be a good author to add to my collection.
graceandglory said:
The ones you’ll read.
What are you interested in?
Click to expand...
I like ascetical theology like in The Imitation of Christ and The Spiritual Combat; I have a harder time getting into mystical theology at this point in my spiritual life (I forgot to mention I also own Interior Castle). I have struggled through autobiographies and biographies, except for the one I read on the life of St. Faustina.
 
There are so many …but if you have particular areas let me know …

here are a few…

RSV CE Bible
Jesus of Nazareth Pope Benedict XVI
The Joy of Knowing Christ Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer and Intelligence -Jacques and Raissa Maritain
These frjacquesphilippe.com/books/books.html by Jacques Philippe
A Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation -St. Thomas More
The Three Ages of the Interior life-- Garrigou Lagrange
The Navarre Bible Expanded Edition (etc)
The Ways of Mental Prayer -Lehodey
Spiritual Autobiography of Charles de Foucauld (now Blessed) -Six
The Prayer of the Presence of God -Dom Guilleerand
They Speak by Silences -A Carthusian
Where Silence is Praise- A Carthusian
 
(Regarding the Spiritual Combat…get the new one by Ignatius Press…not the same one…it is different…though he draws on the original)
 
Union with God by Blessed Columba Marmion

Transformation in Christ by D. Von Hildebrand
 
Anything by Blessed Columba Marmion, especially Christ the Life of the Soul. His books have to be digested in small portions I find, not because they’re really difficult but because there’s just so much there.

Another good one is This Tremendous Lover by Dom Eugene Boylan, an Irish Trappist abbot.
 
Funny, I was also going to recommend Transformation in Christ. Not exactly a page turner, but like Marmion you could read that book over and over throughout your life and still find something new every time.
 
the one book most Catholics need and don’t have, which will actually give you time to read all those other books, is Time Management for Catholics by Dave Durand, from Sofia Institute Press. He also has a good reading list to answer OP’s question as an appendix.
 
JaredR said:
Thank you for that link. Which is your favorite of St. Josemaria’s, or which would you recommend for someone who’s never read one of his books? I’ve had some exposure to him while reading the Navarre Bible series, and I’m sure he’d be a good author to add to my collection.
Click to expand...
The Way, Furrow and The Forge are books of points for meditation. The best known and most important of these is The Way. That’s the one that really synthesizes Escriva’s spirituality.

Christ Is Passing By and Friends of God are collections of homilies for the various feastdays through the Church year. One is as good as the other. It’s probably easier to start with these, because there’s time to get immersed in an idea in the longer selections. For me, these books lead me to love God by showing His goodness. They don’t beat the reader about the head with all kinds of “you should” messages. I like that in a book. 🙂

Betsy
 
Fundementalism and Catholicism by Karl Keating is a great book to have, espically if you associate with alot of Protestants like I do. It really helps you to understand where Anti-Catholic setiments have come from.

I just ordered Imitation of Christ and am very much looking forward to it.

Fulton Sheens Wartime prayer book is a great lil prayer book that is very small and easy to carry around.
 
  1. Interior Castle by Saint Teresa of Avila
  2. Memorize the Faith and Most anything else by Kevin Vost
  3. The Fathers of the Church by Mike Aquilina
  4. The Faith of the Early Church Fathers by Father Jurgens (3 volume set)
  5. The Catholic Bible Dictionary by Scott Hahn
  6. Revised Standard Version Bible - Catholic Edition
  7. The Catholic Church through the Ages by John Vidmar
  8. Love and Responsibility by Karol Wojtyla (JPII when he was a Bishop)
  9. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
This list for me hits all necessary spots… From the mystical, to the teachings of the Church, memorizing church teachings and anything else, Bible reading, to the faith of the early church, the sacredness of sex/sexuality and the overall history of the Catholic Church.

God bless
 
consider adding
The Rule of St. Benedict and Esther deWaal’s wonderfull commentary Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict.
Father James Martin: My Life with the Saints It is a marvelous account of his own spiritual journey and interesting accounts of some well-known and less well-known saints.
Thomas Merton: The Seven Story Mountain A compelling account of Merton’s search for God through the monastic life.
Malachi Martin: Hostage to the Devil: The Possession and Exorcism of Five Contemporary Americans Not precisely spiritual reading but a powerful reminder of the reality of the devil. Don’t read this one alone at night.
The recently released Ignatius Catholic Study Bible ((New Testament only)
CAF’s own Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on “Romanism” by “Bible Christians” Very good and very readable apologetics.
Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness by Christine Valters Paintner and Lucy Wynkoop. A very good guide to an ancient spiritual exercise.
 
Classic texts read by Catholic monks through the centuries include:
  • Lives of the Desert Fathers
  • Sayings of the Desert Fathers
  • John Cassian, Institutes
  • John Cassian, Conferences
In that vein, a classic text on the prototypical Desert Father is:
  • Athanasius, Life of Anthony.
A suggested sampling of great texts through the ages would include:
  • Augustine, Confessions
  • Rule of Benedict (best purchased with a commentary)
  • Little Flowers of St. Francis
  • Cloud of Unknowing
  • Julian of Norwich, Showings
  • Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ
  • Teresa of Avila, *Collected Works *(ICS) – at least Autobiography and Interior Castle
  • John of the Cross, Collected Works (ICS) – at least Dark Night of the Soul
  • Ignatius of Loyola, Autobiography and Spiritual Exercises
  • Brother Lawrence, Practice of the Presence of God
  • Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
  • Therese of Lisieux, Life
Running out of gas. I’m sure others have many others to add, including more recent authors.
 
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