Where should I continue?

[Zanarkune]

This is my first time actually posting here, so i’m not sure where i put a question like this, so i found it best if i put it here.
To begin i’d like to say that i am not a CAtholic yet, but i’m going through the process of becoming one this fall. Howeveer, for the past two years or so i’ve been growing on my own, getting answers to my questions, and learning more about the Cathoilc church, and I see eye to eye with everything that is taught.
I’ve been reading the bible daily, and i’ve been skimming through some of the works of the saints, and encyclials, adn my question is, where should i continue my reading? There are just so many Saints and Popes works to read i don’t know where else to go right now, i was hoping for some (name removed by moderator)ut. I’ve been reading things from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome very little though, St. Alphonsas De Legori(?) But other then that, I’m at a loss. May i ask for direction?

 

[DanWelshiMac]

Welcome! I am a Cradle Catholic and I started to take my faith seriously when I was in my late 20s. I would start with the universal catechism; it will give you the best overview of the Church and it’s teachings. The Church is full of charisms and the catechism would give you a good overview. In the mean time I will be praying for you.

 

[Tepeyac]

My suggestions would be:

1. A basic book on prayer.

“The Art of Praying” by Msgr. Romano Guardini is good and solid and not too long. You can probably find an inexpensive used copy online.

Another good one is Spiritual Progress: Becoming the Christian You Want to Be. This one is longer but I think it’s an easy read. It was written much more recently and has a more friendly, conversational tone.

1. A basic book about the Mass.

I think an excellent one is The How-To Book of the Mass: Everything You Need to Know but No One Ever Taught You. It will give you a solid grounding in how the Mass “works” and why that is. Even life-long Catholics would get something out of this book.

It’s part of a the “How-To” series of books by Our Sunday Visitor such as The How-To Book of Catholic Devotions and I think it would be a good idea if you read through the series because it covers the basics that Catholics themselves sometimes take for granted.

 

[candle1]

Tepeyac
thats really interesting list there !!

I will look some of the titles up myself

 

[Catholic1954]

This is my first time actually posting here, so i’m not sure where i put a question like this, so i found it best if i put it here.
To begin i’d like to say that i am not a CAtholic yet, but i’m going through the process of becoming one this fall. Howeveer, for the past two years or so i’ve been growing on my own, getting answers to my questions, and learning more about the Cathoilc church, and I see eye to eye with everything that is taught.
I’ve been reading the bible daily, and i’ve been skimming through some of the works of the saints, and encyclials, adn my question is, where should i continue my reading? There are just so many Saints and Popes works to read i don’t know where else to go right now, i was hoping for some (name removed by moderator)ut. I’ve been reading things from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome very little though, St. Alphonsas De Legori(?) But other then that, I’m at a loss. May i ask for direction?

Maybe it is time to start a prayer life. You can start with a daily rosary, read more about Catholic devotions and add whatever prayers that seem to fit into your life, along with an extra Mass during the week. You could also join a Catholic Bible Study, they may be hard to find, but they are out there.

 

[Monica4316]

This is my first time actually posting here, so i’m not sure where i put a question like this, so i found it best if i put it here.
To begin i’d like to say that i am not a CAtholic yet, but i’m going through the process of becoming one this fall. Howeveer, for the past two years or so i’ve been growing on my own, getting answers to my questions, and learning more about the Cathoilc church, and I see eye to eye with everything that is taught.
I’ve been reading the bible daily, and i’ve been skimming through some of the works of the saints, and encyclials, adn my question is, where should i continue my reading? There are just so many Saints and Popes works to read i don’t know where else to go right now, i was hoping for some (name removed by moderator)ut. I’ve been reading things from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome very little though, St. Alphonsas De Legori(?) But other then that, I’m at a loss. May i ask for direction?

welcome to the Church!

I’m a convert too and I’ve been Catholic for two years now… there is SOO much great Catholic literature out there, especially by the Saints! I haven’t read very much yet… but if this helps, here are the books that i found useful:

• Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict
• Divine Mercy in My Soul by St Faustina
• Story of a Soul by St Therese
• Secret of the Rosary by St Louis de Montfort (and True Devotion to Mary, but if you haven’t read very much about Our Lady I suggest starting with other books for now; this one can be difficult to understand)
• Hail Holy Queen; Rome Sweet Home; and the Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn
• The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
• Imitation of Christ
• The Interior Castle by St Teresa of Avila (and anything by her and by St John of the Cross if you’re interested in learning about prayer and contemplation)
• The Practice of the Love of Jesus Christ by St Alphonsus Liguori
• Visits to the Blessed Sacrament by St Alphonsus Liguori
• Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales (great book!)
• Little Flowers of St Francis, or the Life of St Francis (written by St Bonaventure)
• Imitation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus by Fr Peter Arnoudt
• All about the Angels by Fr Paul O’Sullivan

Other great Saints to read are St John Vianney, St Padre Pio. (for example, these quotes are very inspiring: padrepiodevotions.org/wordsoffaith.asp )

God bless!

 

[InLight247]

This is my first time actually posting here, so i’m not sure where i put a question like this, so i found it best if i put it here.
To begin i’d like to say that i am not a CAtholic yet, but i’m going through the process of becoming one this fall. Howeveer, for the past two years or so i’ve been growing on my own, getting answers to my questions, and learning more about the Cathoilc church, and I see eye to eye with everything that is taught.
I’ve been reading the bible daily, and i’ve been skimming through some of the works of the saints, and encyclials, adn my question is, where should i continue my reading? There are just so many Saints and Popes works to read i don’t know where else to go right now, i was hoping for some (name removed by moderator)ut. I’ve been reading things from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Jerome very little though, St. Alphonsas De Legori(?) But other then that, I’m at a loss. May i ask for direction?

Welcome to the Church!
You don’t want to overwhelm yourself. I think learning the prayer of Rosary with Scripture meditation will be good. And you may like the book The Story of a Soul by St. Therese. It is an easy read, fresh and pure. Her little way is a great way to get started.

 

[EmeraldWings]

Fulton J. Sheen is a great choice, he has both books and shows, you can see his shows on youtube, and some of his talks are on here - alabamacatholicresources.com/archbishop_fulton_j_sheen.html

another very good one is Saint John Vianney, you can find some of his books on here - www.tanbooks.com
that’s actually a very trustworthy site for good Catholic books, so really anything on there would be good, along with these sites here - www.fraternitypublications.com
olrl.org/mm5/merchant.mvc

and here are a couple of really good sites for audio sermons and good traditional catholic shows -
www.audiosancto.org
www.realcatholictv.com

aside from that, here are a few books i think you would really like -
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/147
tanbooks.com/index.php/Blessed-Eucharist
catholicfreeshipping.com/Products/cfs_gensym-152.html
leafletonline.com/catalog/ProductDetails/ProductDetails.aspx?pid={9690cee6-7af7-4937-8efd-8b7b0f9c7b4f}&pname=MEDITATIONS+FOR+LENT&Referer=QUICK_SEARCH&Alias=meditations%20for%20lent&ptct=BS-SR&CTitle=&
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/218
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/113
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/254
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/74/
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/311/
tanbooks.com/index.php/This-Is-Faith
tanbooks.com/index.php/Life-Revelations-of-Anne-Catherine-Emmerich
tanbooks.com/index.php/Life-of-St-Gemma-Galgani
fraternitypublications.com/divineintimacy.html
fraternitypublications.com/blessedbegod.html
fraternitypublications.com/frrogaofourl.html
fraternitypublications.com/catrexofcofo.html
fraternitypublications.com/prfortoco.html
tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/37

well…i think that’s enough for now :3 hope this helps, take care.

 

[Tepeyac]

Tepeyac
thats really interesting list there !!

I will look some of the titles up myself

Thanks. Nice to be of help.

I’d like to make a few more suggestions. After 1. and 2. I wrote above, I suggest among the following:

The Lamb’s Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth by Scott Hahn.
I think someone else already suggested it above but I second it. It explains the Mass in terms of heavenly worship, specifically the way it’s depicted in the Book of Revelation. It will give you a new perspective on the Eucharist. A study guide for the book is coming out in November.

The Mass of the Early Christians by Mike Aquilina.
It will help you understand why the Mass has always been at the height and center of Christian worship.

Voices of the Saints: A Year of Readings by Bert Ghezzi.
I really encourage you to get this book because it will help you to get to know the saints and to understand why people become affectionate with them. Each saint included has a page or two dedicated to him or her with a short biography and quotations related to him or her. You can look up saints by theme or feast day and for each saint you can move “backward” or "forward’ to another saint that’s related in some way because of history or spirituality or life, etc. It’s the kind of book you can keep on your night stand and follow each day or just thumb through in your free time. I really recommend it.

You mentioned that you read the Bible daily. I don’t know if you’re following a specific method or not but if you haven’t started already you could follow the daily readings from Mass. This will get you through a big chunk of the Bible over several years and it wil give you a feeling for the Church year and for the way the Church prays.

One way to follow the readings is to subscribe to a devotional magazine. Lot’s of people recommend Magnificat and it really is excellent. It is, however, a little pricey. If that’s the case I would also recommend The Word Among Us. There’s an edition that includes the readings themselves with meditations and an even less expensive edition that’s just the meditations (that should be okay, you can look up the readings in your bible).

I want to make a quick suggestion of reading books by Fr. Bendecit Groeschel. There are lots of reasons to like him, but I’l point out he writes with humor and a lot of common sense.

Last but not least, there are two books worth getting from Fr. John A. Hardon

The Treasury of Catholic Wisdom
This is an anthology of writings from saints and figures like Bishop Fulton Sheen covering the whole 2000 years of the Church. It’s a an introduction and overview to the Church’s learning throughout history.

The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan
Fr. Hardon lists over a hundred writers worth reading. He gives an introduction to each writer and makes recommendations of their works.

It just so happens there’s a Catholic blogger who posted the list of authors from the book along with a recommendation for each other. You can read it here:

Book List from Hardon’s The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan