book recommendations

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lefty22

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Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some books to help deepen my understanding of the faith; I’m 17 and pretty serious about my faith, so any and all suggestions are welcome. Right now the tops on my list are Confessions by St. Augustine, The Diary of St. Faustina, and Story of a Soul.

I came across a book called Letters to a Young Catholic by George Wiegel. It looks good, but I’m wondering if any of you have heard anything about it or read it and can give an opinion. Also I’ve heard a lot about The Imitation of Christ, but know next to nothing about it – would that be a good read?

Thank you,
lefty22
 
I love the “Roman Catechism” (the Catechism of the Council of Trent). I find it much more spiritually enriching than the 1997 Catechism of the Catholic Church. If you have an e-reader, there are a couple of versions available at low prices.

Catholicism for Dummies is also very good.
 
You should consider getting a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, to go to when a question about the faith comes up.
 
Interior Castle, Dark Night of a Soul, Summa Theologica, Little Flowers of St. Francis. 🙂
Have fun reading, God bless you.
 
St. Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul is very good for spiritual depth. (When I first thought about reading this, I thought “Why would a saint write an autobiography? That doesn’t sound very humble!”) But that was before I read it, and before I understood that she was ordered to write it by her mother superior, and she obeyed. Such a short but holy life–it made a big impression on me.

For an intellectual grounding in the basics of theology, I would read Frank Sheed’s “Theology for Beginners,” and “Theology and Sanity.” Karl Keating’s “Catholicism and Fundamentalism” is also a necessity.
 
It is hard to recommend a book for someone you don’t know, because people are so different. For one thing, some people are more intellectual, some less so. What you could do is read a chapter or two of the books recommended here to see which ones are for you.
 
lefty22 said:
Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some books to help deepen my understanding of the faith; I’m 17 and pretty serious about my faith, so any and all suggestions are welcome. Right now the tops on my list are Confessions by St. Augustine, The Diary of St. Faustina, and Story of a Soul.

I came across a book called Letters to a Young Catholic by George Wiegel. It looks good, but I’m wondering if any of you have heard anything about it or read it and can give an opinion. Also I’ve heard a lot about The Imitation of Christ, but know next to nothing about it – would that be a good read?

Thank you,
lefty22
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Hello lefty22.

I hope you can hear this in the positive way in which I intend it. All the books recommended to you are good, and maybe helpful for you - but I want to recommend first the book that is absolutely necessary - the New Testament. Please don’t discount this post thinking “Of course. I know that. That’s not what I meant.” I think that many faithful Catholics take Scripture - and the foundations of their faith - for granted. But that can be a problem, and a great hindrance for them - taking it “for granted.” We must read Scripture so as to hear it - and hearing it, really hear God in it. This is the way faith grows.

I recommend the New Testament. I don’t recommend just “reading” it as if it were any book - but reading and praying it as what it is, the word of God. Few, I find, have learned how to listen to Holy Scripture so as to hear Christ in HIs word, for He is the Word. In the Word you will hear more than in any book.

I can recommend an e-book that is brief, but is a good beginning guide to Lectio Divina - an ancient (monastic) method for listening to Holy Scripture. I must warn you that there are many “guides” and “teachers” of Lectio Divina out there, these days - as there are many “guides and teachers” of prayer, of the Catechism, of the Faith, and so on. Some are good - trustworthy - and some are not. This e-book is available for the LINK - NOOK and the LINK - KINDLE readers (and thus their computer-reader apps).

The title is “Encountering Christ in Holy Scripture with Lectio Divina” - and that is exactly the possibility: we can meet Christ in HIs word. In Him - truly hearing Him - we can grow and deepen in the Holy Faith - in its root and foundations - more surely, I would say, than anywhere else.
 
lefty22 said:
Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some books to help deepen my understanding of the faith; I’m 17 and pretty serious about my faith, so any and all suggestions are welcome. Right now the tops on my list are Confessions by St. Augustine, The Diary of St. Faustina, and Story of a Soul.

I came across a book called Letters to a Young Catholic by George Wiegel. It looks good, but I’m wondering if any of you have heard anything about it or read it and can give an opinion. Also I’ve heard a lot about The Imitation of Christ, but know next to nothing about it – would that be a good read?

Thank you,
lefty22
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Dear lefty22,

You’ve been given good titles, and I’m recommending one more – a really excellent book: The Ordinary Path to Holiness. This is a slim volume which draws from Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and helps us understand more deeply our call to holiness. We are all called to be saints, yet so often we read from saints who were clergy or religious. Today, the laity need to understand that Jesus called all of us to follow Him and to make disciples of all nations. Blessed John Paul II saw this clearly, as has the author of the book I am recommending to you.

God has given you grace to be serious about your faith because He calls you to be a saint in this time of history. In this book, the author presents Catholic Spirituality as it has been taught for centuries. He presents the holiness God desires for us in our everyday living of the Gospel. This is a book for our time, when clergy need (even more than in times past) the collaboration of holy lay men and holy lay women to work with clergy and religious in the building up of the Body of Christ. Each of us is blessed in order to be a blessing to others.

May God keep you “serious” in the best sense of the word, i.e. earnest in pursing the perfection of charity. May your following of Jesus be filled with ever growing faith, joyful hope, and selfless charity! The e-book is the least expensive but the print version of this book is also moderately priced. This is a book you will want to keep and re-read; and you may also want to give as Christmas gifts; it is that good. 🙂 You may want to give it prayerfully to serious persons like yourself – those called to the New Evangelization urged by Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI . You may even give it to someone in order that he/she might become more serious. It is a gem to be treasured and also to be given.
 
Wow, thank you all so much for the suggestions and advice. I really appreciate it!

And fide, thank you, I appreciate you saying what you did; sometimes I think I do get too excited about reading other books on Catholicism when the source of it all is right there in the Bible. 🙂

I’m definitely going to check out some of your recommendations – I already looked at The Ordinary Path to Holiness and it looks great.

Thanks again and if you have any other suggestions, please let me know! 🙂
 
lefty22 said:
Wow, thank you all so much for the suggestions and advice. I really appreciate it!

And fide, thank you, I appreciate you saying what you did; sometimes I think I do get too excited about reading other books on Catholicism when the source of it all is right there in the Bible. 🙂

I’m definitely going to check out some of your recommendations – I already looked at The Ordinary Path to Holiness and it looks great.

Thanks again and if you have any other suggestions, please let me know! 🙂
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Dear lefty,

You are very welcome. So glad you are more aware of the Treasure we have in Scripture. You’ll be blessed, I know, by the book The Ordinary Path to Holiness

I’m sure it will help you to ponder Scripture as the Church teaches and as the saints lived it! 🙂
 
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