Which book should I start with?

[MrsMeganMc]

So I ordered a few books from Amazon which arrived yesterday.

Which one should I start with?

True Devotion to Mary
Five Loaves & Two Fish
Story of a Soul

Thanks!

 

[AveSantaMaria]

Yay for your book arrivals!! :clapping:

I’ve never read Five Loaves and Two Fish. Maybe you might share why you decided to buy it! As for True Devotion to Mary and Story of a Soul, I tend to think of the books this way: True Devotion to Mary is like reading a chapter in a chemistry book when you want to be a doctor. One must read and re-read it slowly even if one is bored by it, because it contains clear, lucid, valid, and important precepts for the spiritual life. It may not be the kind of thing you read once, but the kind of thing that you re-read every so often to refresh your knowledge. As His Holiness Pope John Paul II wrote, he “read and re-read it in seminary” and it was a “decisive turning point” in his life. Reflections on True Devotion to Mary by His Holiness Pope John Paul II http://www.michaeljournal.org/montfort.htm

Story of a Soul is like a encouraging letter written to you by an older, wiser, sweeter, and holier sister. It helps you to remember why you even care about following practices in books such as True Devotion to Mary. Of course, it has been quite a while since I have read either and you’ve just reminded me to finish my re-reading of True Devotion to Mary so my words come with a grain of salt.

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. *

Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse. Come Holy Spirit, come by means of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, your well beloved spouse.

For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world! For the sake of his sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!

*Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with Thee. Blessed art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of Thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen *

 

[MrsMeganMc]

Yay for your book arrivals!! :clapping:

I’ve never read Five Loaves and Two Fish. Maybe you might share why you decided to buy it! As for True Devotion to Mary and Story of a Soul, I tend to think of the books this way: True Devotion to Mary is like reading a chapter in a chemistry book when you want to be a doctor. One must read and re-read it slowly even if one is bored by it, because it contains clear, lucid, valid, and important precepts for the spiritual life. It may not be the kind of thing you read once, but the kind of thing that you re-read every so often to refresh your knowledge. As His Holiness Pope John Paul II wrote, he “read and re-read it in seminary” and it was a “decisive turning point” in his life. Reflections on True Devotion to Mary by His Holiness Pope John Paul II http://www.michaeljournal.org/montfort.htm

Story of a Soul is like a encouraging letter written to you by an older, wiser, sweeter, and holier sister. It helps you to remember why you even care about following practices in books such as True Devotion to Mary. Of course, it has been quite a while since I have read either and you’ve just reminded me to finish my re-reading of True Devotion to Mary so my words come with a grain of salt.

I felt the same way about The Reed of God as you described True Devotion to Mary - there was just SO much in there that I need to read it again!

I got Five Loaves & Two Fish as I heard it has some great reflections of how we can live the gospel daily in our lives. It is also kinda short - so that is always good

I like how you described Story of a Soul - I think I will really enjoy reading that…

Hmmmm…decisions, decisions

 

[Epistemes]

Hello,

I hope your retreat was as refreshing as you needed it to be!

As for your books, I’ll briefly describe my experience with two of the three and let you decide:

True Devotion to Mary – I read this book only a few weeks prior to initially consecrating myself to Mary, back in 2007. My copy is full of underlining, marginal notes, and large chunks of text blocked and highlighted because it is truly revelatory in what it says, but almost every sentence is chock full of profound insight. I found myself playing connect-the-dots, so to speak, reading further but always going back and re-reading what had been said earlier. It was a slow initial read for me. (I haven’t done successfully well with the consecration, mind you, but that’s another topic for another day.)

**Story of a Soul **-- This was a relatively simple, light-hearted read. Therese regards life with such joy that it can be downright infectious. I found myself smiling alot while reading this one because Therese is so *real *and has no difficulty in communicating this and thereby relating to so many of us.

If you finish these any time soon, I might recommend some Henri J.M. Nouwen for some great spiritual reading.

 

[MrsMeganMc]

Hello,

I hope your retreat was as refreshing as you needed it to be!

As for your books, I’ll briefly describe my experience with two of the three and let you decide:

True Devotion to Mary – I read this book only a few weeks prior to initially consecrating myself to Mary, back in 2007. My copy is full of underlining, marginal notes, and large chunks of text blocked and highlighted because it is truly revelatory in what it says, but almost every sentence is chock full of profound insight. I found myself playing connect-the-dots, so to speak, reading further but always going back and re-reading what had been said earlier. It was a slow initial read for me. (I haven’t done successfully well with the consecration, mind you, but that’s another topic for another day.)

**Story of a Soul **-- This was a relatively simple, light-hearted read. Therese regards life with such joy that it can be downright infectious. I found myself smiling alot while reading this one because Therese is so *real *and has no difficulty in communicating this and thereby relating to so many of us.

Sounds like I will really enjoy both of them. I don’t think I can handle something super heavy right now - so I will probably start with Story of a Soul.

Also - the retreat was a life-changing experience for me. Thank you for asking me. If you would like to hear more - feel free to PM me as I really would rather not openly write about it here…but would be more than willing to share privatly.