Inquiry into reading the Catholic Mystics

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Wesley32186

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Hello all,
This is my first post. I’m 22 and a convert of about two years. I am coming out of drug addiction but I studied theology and philosophy in college and it’s where my passion lies and I believe it’s what the Lord has called me to. I’ve always been interested in the mystics, starting with St.Padre Pio and I now have a massive collection of mystical texts such as dark night of the soul, imitation of Christ, collect Hildegard bingen, Ascent to Truth, lots.ofnbrother Lawrence, etc. the list goes on. Now I know this stuff cannot be approached academically, even by definition, but I have to have a way to read this stuff in way where I won’t forget it. The drugs did a lot to my brain and I have a hard time retaining things. I understand that mysticism is the practice of offering up your will in place of the Lord’s but I work in a methodical, academic way; it’s the reason I converted, on the whole. So how could I take notes on these great masters without diminishing the integrity of intent with my own words? What are your techniques for note taking in this area? What are the ways you read the mystics? God bless!

Deo gloria!
 
May the Lord lead you in your interest in the “mystics”. I suggest, for instance, that you take one saint at a time and read some books about that particular saint’s life and background, and then begin to read a few books that can explain what the deep spiritual books mean.

Note taking is something I have always done as well, and it helps me to remember what I have read.

My favorites are St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, and there are many good and inspiring books to be written about the journey to be one with God.

I will stop here and go to find a site you can go to and browse at. (I don’t know how to exit what I am typing and then find it again).
 
Welcome to CAF @Wesley32186! It sounds like you must have an amazing testimony. So glad you were delivered from the drugs and brought home to the true Church. God bless! 😊
 
Here is a site you may want to explore:

www.icspublications.org

Products

www.icspublications.org www.icspublications.org

When I take notes I jot down what stands out to me the most about what I am reading.
You may have another way of taking notes. And, when you start reading and taking notes over a period of time, you may change the way you take notes.

A suggestion…Ask the saint to intercede for you to get what you need out of what you are reading.

Peace!
 
@showerofrosesThanks so much! The Lord has had a guiding hand in my life whether I’ve wanted it or not and I just know he’s leading me to something redemptive, even if I can’t see it yet. God bless!
 
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Thank you, Dorothy! That’s very helpful, I’ll scour that website! It’s proven to be an interesting journey so far, so thank you! God bless!
 
May God bless you on your journey Wesley! I am glad to hear that site is helpful.
 
I “take notes” with a system of pencil markings in the text itself. This means that context is always right there. If I later want to pull something out to use in musings or a paper, I’m much less likely to use it inappropriately. I also make drawings - such as they are - to illustrate concepts the saints describe using images like trees and ladders. I usually do that on a separate sheet and tuck it in. This puts me in a position where I’m directly engaging and manipulating the concepts, so they are much more easily grasped and retained.

This is just a personal system:
  • I simplify sentences by underlining select words in such a way that they still spell out a complete sentence and still retain the main idea.
  • I will bracket a block of text that gives context, then underline just a sentence or two that contains the main idea (sometimes in the fashion listed above)
  • I use single- or double-stars to indicate something important, then write a note along the top of the page so I can see what they’re about when I’m flipping through
  • For extremely important bits, or things I’m certain I’ll want to find later, I dog-ear the page and write two or three key words on the dog-ear for reference
I like this system because the note-taking is integral to the reading itself. It doesn’t pull me away.

Most importantly, when I’m done reading the book, I go back and read just the underlines and stars. This tells me what I got out of it, and also leaves me with a specifically tailored impression of the book to take away with me – which takes a lot less mental space than trying to retain every idea. And if I want details, I can always go back and find them again later.
 
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@MrsAngelala Oh thank you, so so much! That is incredibly helpful for someone with a brain like mine! Oh you have no idea how helpful that is, God bless you, sister! I’ve been trying to find a system that works for me so I appreciate it deeply!
 
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A highlighter works well. Whenever I see something I like in a book, I get the highlighter out and highlight away.

Sometimes when I go back to the book, I’ll skim through and see what I highlighted if I don’t want to take the time to find the page or read the whole thing again. It jumps right out.
 
Well, don’t kill yourself! First, remember that you are reading these works not for academic knowledge but to increase in holiness. So go slow. Many of these works are quite advanced spiritually and difficult. I myself always use critical sources to understand such works as, say, John of the Cross. That is, look for good explanatory texts that will help you understand the context and spiritual import of what you reading. If you have a Catholic college near you, they may have some good resources in their library.
If I were just starting on mystical literature, I would start with Therese of Lisieux Story of a Soul, Teresa of Avila Life and Interior Castle, and Julian of Norwich Revelations of Divine Love. Also, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. These tend to be the most accessible works.
 
You’re quite welcome! It might interest you to know that last year, the pastor at my church gave my husband a book to borrow. I read the relevant chapter too, and saw that the original owner of the book had used a note-taking system that was almost identical to the one I described here, which I’ve been using for years. I was reading through it thinking, “Is this an actual system?” I don’t think it is; I think it just works! But it was pretty funny. 🙂
 
Thank you for the insight! I’ll take anything so thank you! So this might be a confusing question but how should I take it slowly? I do have a copy of revelation of divine love, but it’s in old style English presentation so should I just focus on a section at a time or should I reread each chapter multiple times? Thank you, friend! God bless!
 
My favorite saint is St. Faustima. I didn’t want to forget some passages, so I used highlighter and underlining. The book is also tagged with many, mini-stick up notes. Like my Bible. You just have to make it a habit of re-reading it. Keep them by your bedside, your constant companion.
 
It is best to do a little research to get good translations of works. A bad or old fashioned translation can really be a turn off.
Consider getting books from the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality series. They have all the major mystical works, in good translations, with helpful notes and introductions.
Reading slowly means not rushing through, but meditating on what you are reading, taking notes if you want. Maybe a chapter or a couple chapters at one sitting, depending on the work. My point is simply not to hurry through to get to the next mystic–that won’t bring you any benefit.
 
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