Books for advancing quickly in holiness?

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sdegutis

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I want to grow very quickly in holiness and be formed in the image of Jesus Christ very soon, for the glory and honor and praise of God. I know it’ll be very painful and I’m ready for that by the grace of God.

Can anyone recommend any books with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that teach how to do this? In particular I want some that teach me how to live my life and think and pray in a way that will teach me how to be like Christ very quickly, ones that have practical timeless advice. (Books like Summa Theologica are great but hard for me to use for this purpose.) So far I have the following but I want more and more:

The Holy Bible
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Mary
True Devotion to Mary
Introduction to the Devout Life (aka Philothea)
The Necessity and Power of Prayer (by St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Can you recommend any others that would help me quickly advance in holiness when combined with fervent prayer and deep trust in God? Thanks in advance my holy friends.
 
any thing by St. John of the Cross or St. Theresa of Avila,
Also “on Loving God” by St Bernard of Clavaux.
“Story of a Soul” by St. Terese of Liseaux

Get a Kindle because you can get all of these and a ton more and carry them around with you, read them any time any where and a number of them are very inexpensive.

There is so much good Catholic stuff to read, it will take a life time!
 
“Consoling the Heart of Jesus”

I am halfway through this… It is made to do as a three day retreat or at your leisure.
 
See my Signature…I don’t know about “quickly” but it is an excellent book.

Peace
James
 
Saint John of the Cross wrote specifically on how to advance in holiness, in “The Dark Night of the Soul” and “Ascent of Mount Carmel.” He is a great saint who is a doctor of the Church. It is better to begin with “Dark Night of the Soul.” You are right, following the path to holiness is demanding. Saint John of the Cross says that since this is demanding, many people falter and remain in a lifetime of spiritual mediocrity. It is better not to expect to grow quickly, since how quickly this occurs is up to God and not only up to ourselves; growth in holiness involves God’s supernatural grace. But our own efforts are vital too. People ordinarily are filled with many things they should work at to root out.
 
I’d love to advance quickly in holiness as much as you do, my friend, but even the greatest of saints had to persevere! 😃

Unfortunately, holiness doesn’t work that way. In fact, sometimes God allows us to make what looks like slow progress, just to make us see how little we should depend upon ourselves for our sanctification.

But here:

Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of Mary Magdalen, which contains meditations for every day of the year, is very good and has an absolute wealth of information about the spiritual life.

Don’t be discouraged by your falls when you have them. I’m a young Catholic woman who discovered the spiritual life almost for the first time when I was 19, at the beginning of last year, and you sound very much like I was - it’s a good thing to be hungry for the knowledge of God and how to live a happy and holy life in his service! But the quicker you try to race ahead, the slower you become, and the more discouraged, if you don’t know that even your progress is in God’s hands. 🙂

God Bless you in your endeavours!
 
sdegutis said:
I want to grow very quickly in holiness and be formed in the image of Jesus Christ very soon, for the glory and honor and praise of God. I know it’ll be very painful and I’m ready for that by the grace of God.

Can anyone recommend any books with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that teach how to do this? In particular I want some that teach me how to live my life and think and pray in a way that will teach me how to be like Christ very quickly, ones that have practical timeless advice. (Books like Summa Theologica are great but hard for me to use for this purpose.) So far I have the following but I want more and more:

The Holy Bible
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Mary
True Devotion to Mary
Introduction to the Devout Life (aka Philothea)
The Necessity and Power of Prayer (by St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Can you recommend any others that would help me quickly advance in holiness when combined with fervent prayer and deep trust in God? Thanks in advance my holy friends.
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It helps greatly to know how the soul grows, and advances - what are the “stages” to expect, and look for, and cooperate with? The Ordinary Path to Holiness, by R. Thomas Richard
 
Dear sdegutis,

You’ve received some good suggestions, and I would particularly second fide’s recommendation: The Ordinary Path to Holiness. I have read this book and go back to it often because it is so helpful in understanding the growth of the interior life. We really do grow in stages, as the author verifies through scripture and the writings of the saints. This is a book written by a lay man which also is helpful. Many of our spiritual classics were written by, and often for, Religious, and may not touch on the lay person’s call to holiness as this book does.

I noticed that you already have St. Louis de Montfort’s True Devotion, and if you have read and already made the 33 Day Preparation and Consecration, you have already begun an excellent way to grow in holiness. I found a similarity with the three stages, which R. Thomas Richard explained so well in the Ordinary Path, and the stages in the 33 Day preparation for Total Consecration which De Montfort outlines in True Devotion.

To advance “quickly” depends on God’s Grace and our cooperation with Him. Some saints died young, like St. Therese, while others lived longer to accomplish His Will. Our Blessed Mother may have lived into her seventies, and she continually grew in holiness. 🙂 Let me close with some words from True Devotion:
  1. As all perfection consists in our being conformed, united and consecrated to Jesus it naturally follows that the most perfect of all devotions is that which conforms, unites, and consecrates us most completely to Jesus. Now of all God’s creatures Mary is the most conformed to Jesus. It therefore follows that, of all devotions, devotion to her makes for the most effective consecration and conformity to him. The more one is consecrated to Mary, the more one is consecrated to Jesus.
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That is why perfect consecration to Jesus is but a perfect and complete consecration of oneself to the Blessed Virgin, which is the devotion I teach; or in other words, it is the perfect renewal of the vows and promises of holy baptism.
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In Baptism, we were all called to holiness. Living our Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary is the work of a lifetime, but St. Louis encourages us:
  1. This devotion is a smooth, short, perfect and sure way of attaining union with our Lord, in which Christian perfection consists.
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Please let us pray for one another and for the Church that we like Mary may grow in His Grace, and bring Him to the world.
 
You will not advance quickly in holiness. In fact, such a request shows spiritual immaturity.

We advance through the transforming grace given to us from God.

We open ourselves to the grace, but there is nothing we can effect in our souls that will transform us.

Our path toward holiness is submission to God’s will, and the time it takes is proportional to the amount of imperfections we have. Getting over perfections isn’t something we can do without the grace of God and until we become totally dependent on Him, we will continue to feed imperfections.

St John of the Cross expresses the need for detachment from our ideas and agendas, in order to allow God’s will to become our purpose. The only way this happens is for us to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, so that his love will transform us to become as he is, love.

St John says that as a lover takes on the characteristics of the beloved, so it is that as we love our beloved, Jesus Christ, we will take on his characteristics. We will love as he loves.

Prayer is the way to grow in this relationship.

Jim
 
Jim,
I thought this too, but did not wish to dissuade our brother/sister from their pursuit. One thing I think we can count on is that the spiritual reading herein recommended will make clear that “quickly” is not likely to happen…

Of course - then again - “Quickly” is a relative term…

Peace
James
 
mdgspencer said:
Saint John of the Cross wrote specifically on how to advance in holiness, in “The Dark Night of the Soul” and “Ascent of Mount Carmel.” He is a great saint who is a doctor of the Church. It is better to begin with “Dark Night of the Soul.” You are right, following the path to holiness is demanding. Saint John of the Cross says that since this is demanding, many people falter and remain in a lifetime of spiritual mediocrity. It is better not to expect to grow quickly, since how quickly this occurs is up to God and not only up to ourselves; growth in holiness involves God’s supernatural grace. But our own efforts are vital too. People ordinarily are filled with many things they should work at to root out.
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I would suggest starting with the Ascent of Mt. Carmel as that is the first of the two volumes that John uses the poem the Dark Night to explain the journey to union with God. The Ascent begins with the dark night of the senses, which is necessary before anyone can advance to the dark night of the soul. Also, with regard to the dark night, it is not something that one works to achieve, it is a pure gift from God. In fact it is a gift that those who experience it found almost terrifying as one is filled with desolation. Also, as had been mentioned in other threads, the dark night is not like depression and often the person has no idea they are going through it. It also only occurs among those who are spiritually very mature.
 
sdegutis said:
I want to grow very quickly in holiness and be formed in the image of Jesus Christ very soon, for the glory and honor and praise of God. I know it’ll be very painful and I’m ready for that by the grace of God.

Can anyone recommend any books with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that teach how to do this? In particular I want some that teach me how to live my life and think and pray in a way that will teach me how to be like Christ very quickly, ones that have practical timeless advice. (Books like Summa Theologica are great but hard for me to use for this purpose.) So far I have the following but I want more and more:

The Holy Bible
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Mary
True Devotion to Mary
Introduction to the Devout Life (aka Philothea)
The Necessity and Power of Prayer (by St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Can you recommend any others that would help me quickly advance in holiness when combined with fervent prayer and deep trust in God? Thanks in advance my holy friends.
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I know that you are asking for book recommendations. I can also give you some of ideas of things to do which have helped me tremendously. They are:
  1. Attend daily Mass and receive daily Holy Communion
  2. Go to weekly confession
  3. If 1. and 2. are too difficult at present, participate in both the 1st Saturday’s devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the 1st Friday’s devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (you can start with one followed by the other - depending on your schedule).
I am in awe at how doing these things have helped me overcome sin and have opened my eyes to see things more in the way that God’s sees them. Our Lord is very good and He will help you.

For a book recommendation, consider studying the “Discernment of Spirits” of St. Ignatius of Loyala. Fr. Gallangher wrote a series of books on this. EWTN has also run a show with him discussing this. It’s entitled “Living the Discerning Life.”

Another book I found helpful was “Light and Peace” by R.P. Quadrupani. This book has both the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. I love this book and I often refer to it when I’m having doubts.

I hope this helps.

houston1
 
Rosepetal7 said:
“Consoling the Heart of Jesus”
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This sounds like a great book! My recommendation, which was given me by the Carmelite nuns, is “Abandonment to Divine Providence.” This book changed my life!

Living in abandonment to Divine Providence is the only sure way of becoming a saint. This was one of St. Therese’s favorites. This book and the bible.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
You will not advance quickly in holiness.
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Just need to have 15 Sins Or Less to get in the Express Holiness Lane! 😉

As far as quickly, what is the Psalm about a thousand years to us is like a day for God?
 
sdegutis said:
I want to grow very quickly in holiness and be formed in the image of Jesus Christ very soon, for the glory and honor and praise of God. I know it’ll be very painful and I’m ready for that by the grace of God.

Can anyone recommend any books with Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur that teach how to do this? In particular I want some that teach me how to live my life and think and pray in a way that will teach me how to be like Christ very quickly, ones that have practical timeless advice. (Books like Summa Theologica are great but hard for me to use for this purpose.) So far I have the following but I want more and more:

The Holy Bible
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Mary
True Devotion to Mary
Introduction to the Devout Life (aka Philothea)
The Necessity and Power of Prayer (by St. Alphonsus Liguori)

Can you recommend any others that would help me quickly advance in holiness when combined with fervent prayer and deep trust in God? Thanks in advance my holy friends.
Click to expand...
First of all i just want to say, be patient with yourself, and be content with growing on Gods time, because He knows what is best for you, and often times when He makes us wait for something, it is because He has much more planned for us than we bargained for, so don’t rush yourself,
of course we should want to avoid all sin in our lives and never willingly commit a sin, but even in that regard we must be patient with ourselves, because in order to overcome sin we must learn virtue, and that simply takes time, though God may give you the grace to grow more quickly, but one way or the other we must accept things as they come, with prayer and the sacraments and good spiritual reading, etc.

but the books i would recommend are these -
archive.org/details/meditationsday00bacouoft
archive.org/details/theheartofthegos00donnuoft
archive.org/search.php?query=Teacher%27s%20handbook%20to%20the%20catechism

i believe the best things a Catholic can learn are the simple truths of their faith, because those simple truths are what give foundation to the rest of our faith, so because of that, the third link there will take you to a set of older catechisms, all church approved of course, which are in my opinion some of the best catechisms i’ve read, very informative on things you never really hear of in more modern catechisms.
and then the other two books i think you will just instantly fall in love with, the “heart of the Gospel” will teach you to know Jesus, and the “Meditations for every day in the year” will guide you in holiness a day at a time, both books i consider my absolute favorites, so i hope they will help you.

alright, hope this helps, take care.
 
For those who may be more of a solitary…I am…

-Seeds of Contemplation
-Carlos de Foucauld-Spiritual Itinerary.

I always return to these.
 
Don’t let anyone discourage you. If you want to advance quickly ask Jesus. He can do anything with anyone who is willing. He is a miracle worker.

Do this and you will become a saint very quickly, “Give God whatever He wants, no more and no less.” or as Mother Teresa says, “Give whatever He takes and take whatever He gives.”

God bless you and give you the desires of your heart!
 
I also recommend Introduction to the Devout Life and Imitation of Christ.

I also found St Faustina’s Diary to be awesome.
 
My all time favorite classic which is out of print, but can still be purchased as a used copy from some suppliers, was the giant step that moved me forward quickly after my conversion many years ago. “My Dear Child” by Colin Urquhart, is written like an intimate lettter with the Lord speaking directly to the soul. Many subjects are touched upon that help the soul to spread its wings in love for Christ and fidelity to His teachings.

Similarly, “My Other Self” by Clarence J. Enzler, is still available and has a similar foremat. Both are excellent. After these, I moved on later to other books already mentioned in this thread – all of them rich sources of piety, devotion, and holiness.
 
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