(1) Choose Good Books
When it comes to the books we read, we must be on guard to protect ourselves from bad influences. "Apart from the influence of our holy religion," says Fr. Morgan Sheedy, "there is no one thing which enters deeply into the warp and woof of our character than the books we read."
St. Alphonsus Ligouri further warns us: "As the reading of bad books fills the mind with worldly and poisonous sentiments; so on the other hand, the reading of pious works fills the soul with holy words and good desires."
They have the power to influence us for good or for bad. For this reason, Rev. Matthew Russel said, " Be scrupulous in your choice of books; often ask yourself what influence your reading exercises on your conduct. Do not hesitate to give up readings that would poison your life and endanger your eternal happiness."
(2) The Benefit of Spiritual Reading
"There is one means," says Bishop Hedley in his pastoral letter On Reading, "which will both make us more regular in our daily prayers and deepen our earnestness in that sacred duty. This is spiritual reading. No one should be without a book about our Lord, His sacred heart, His blessed mother, or the saints. No one should be without a book on the Mass. Besides one's prayer-book, one should have manuals of meditation and of instruction on Christian virtues. All Catholics, whatever their condition, should make use of spiritual reading."
"Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book," said St. John Bosco. This rang true for Fr. Francis J. Finn. As a boy, Francis was a voracious reader and was deeply impressed with Cardinal Wiseman's famous novel of the early Christian martyrs, Fabiola. At age twelve, he desired to become a Jesuit priest; however, his faith began to wane. A priest, named Fr. Charles Coppens, urged Francis to apply himself to his Latin, to improve it by using an all-Latin prayerbook, and to read good Catholic books. Fr. Finn credited the saving of his vocation to Fr. Coppen's advice.
"Read some chapter of a devout book," counsels St. Francis of Assisi. "It is very easy and most necessary, for just as you speak to God when at prayer, God speaks to you when you read."
St. Padre Pio gave similar advice: "Help yourself during this troubled time by reading holy books. Reading provides excellent food for the soul and conduces to great progress along the path of perfection. By no means is it inferior to what we obtain through prayer and holy meditation. In prayer and meditation, it is ourselves who speak to the Lord, while in holy reading it is God who speaks to us."
St. John Baptist de la Salle says: “Read your book as you would read a letter which Jesus Christ had sent you to make known His will, and what He expected of you.”
Do you reject the duty of spiritual reading because you are not a religious living in the solitude of a cloister? This objection is by no means new, and St. John Chrysostom, in his day, answered it as follows: “What do you say? The reading of these good books does not concern you? But I find this duty more incumbent on you than on those living in the security of the cloister. For you who sail on the open sea, whether you will it or not, are beset by a thousand occasions of sin. Thus, the aid of a spiritual book is for you a necessity. A religious cannot be wounded, because she is far from the combat. But you who are in the midst of the battle must protect yourself with the buckler of holy thoughts drawn from good books.”
(3) The Importance of Spiritual Reading from St. Alphonsus Ligouri:
"To a spiritual life the reading of holy books is perhaps not less useful than mental prayer. St Bernard says reading instructs us at once in prayer, and in the practice of virtue. Hence, he concluded that spiritual reading and prayer are the arms by which hell is conquered and paradise won. We cannot always have access to a spiritual Father for counsel in our actions, and particularly in our doubts; but reading will abundantly supply his place by giving us lights and directions to escape the illusions of the devil and of our own self-love, and at the same time to submit to the Divine Will. Hence St Athanasius used to say that we find no one devoted to the service of the Lord that did not practise spiritual reading. Hence all the founders of religious orders have strongly recommended this holy exercise to their religious. St Benedict, among the rest, commanded that each monk should every day make a spiritual reading, and that two others should be appointed to go about visiting the cells to see if all fulfilled the command; and should any monk be found negligent in the observance of this rule, the saint ordered a penance to be imposed upon him. But before all, the Apostle prescribed spiritual reading to Timothy: ‘Attend unto reading’ Mark the word attend’, which signifies that, although Timothy, as being bishop, was greatly occupied with the care of his flock, still the Apostle wished him to apply to the reading of holy books, not in a passing way and for a short time, but regularly and for a considerable time.”
(4) Advice from Monsignor P. Lejeune (Counsels of Perfection for Christian Mothers)
Do you think of God only in the morning and at night, when you recite a few prayers mechanically? That is indeed a poor program for the spiritual life. Can you thus attain the end for which God has created you, for which He descended upon earth, and instituted the Holy Eucharist? You understand, then that God must play the principal part in our lives. Hence we do a great injustice to ourselves when we offer exterior piety sourcing from routine. The interior life is the soul of the exterior life. Let me suggest spiritual reading as a first means of becoming fervent.
By spiritual reading I mean all reading which enlightens the mind and determines the will to do good.
Manuals of religious instruction and works of apologetics are not always the best spiritual reading, because the acquisition of knowledge, even spiritual knowledge, comes second in importance. Some read solely with their minds: their one aim is to satisfy their need of knowledge and instruction. If you should attempt spiritual reading with this end in view, it would be just as well to lay down your book. You would only waste your time. Spiritual reading is primarily an instrument for perfection and holiness, acquiring knowledge is secondary.
Devote at least a quarter of an hour every day to spiritual reading. Take it in the form of a talk, an intimate conversation with God, and I promise that it will not be long before you witness a happy change in your life.
The author of the pious work which you read plays the part of a very rich friend, who opens up his treasures and shares them with you. You will enrich yourself, then, with the spirit of the saints; you will absorb their sentiments; you will be benefited by the fruits of their experience.
Why have the saints so highly extolled the advantages of spiritual reading? It arises from the fact that spiritual reading is one of the principal sources whence we draw light. The value of spiritual reading is that it furnishes us with the principles of the science of the saints, as well as with practical councils, and precious examples.
God has given you the means to instruct yourselves in spiritual science, and you’re bound to use these means. Now if the reading of pious books is one of these means, you are bound in conscience to read them.
If one does not make progress in the spiritual life, it is due to the fact that their minds are not enlightened, and that their intellectual vision is defective. And what will rectify this defective vision? The words of a master drawn from spiritual reading.
Read seriously and slowly. Take time to assimilate the thoughts of the author. These are precious counsels given us by the saints.
Before opening a book, ask God in a short prayer to grant that your reading may be profitable both to the mind and to the heart. Ask Him to grant that you will understand it, relish it, and put it into practice.
Do not bind yourself to read a certain number of chapters per day. How much could sink into the mind of a person who swallows a whole chapter of the Imitation? Maxims such as those contained in that work must be dwelt upon in serious meditation if we wish them to sink into the mind, and to be relished in the heart. A spiritual book cannot be read like a novel; it requires meditation, since it is not a mere amusement for the mind.
You must learn how to digest in your reading. You should re-read a passage several times if need be, until you have grasped the thought of the author.
The Gospel is entitled to a special place in preference to all other books. You should never permit a day to pass without reading at least a page of it.
My advice for one opposed to spiritual reading is to read the life of some saint, where a charming style and interesting narrative can take the edge off the lessons of austerity.
One book which has remedies for all the wounds of the soul, consolations for every trial, and rules of life for all imaginable situations, is The Imitation of Christ.
(5) Advice on Spiritual Reading from St. Francis de Sales:
St. Francis De Sales wrote to Madame Brulart, an accomplished woman of the world: “I wish that you would not permit a day to pass without giving an hour, or a half hour, to the reading of some spiritual book.”
In another letter to the same woman, he says: “Read as often as you can, but only a little at a time, and, above all, read with devotion.”
In his book, Introduction to a Devout Life, he completes his counsel: “Have always before you some good and pious book and read a little in it each day with devotion, as if you were reading letters of the saints to show you the way and encourage you to follow it."
(6) Advice from Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P., taken from his work The Three Ages of the Interior Life: Volume I
"Among the great means of sanctification offered to all, should be included spiritual reading, especially that of Holy Scripture, of the works of the Masters of the interior life, and of the lives of the Saints."
Holy Scripture "'The reading of sacred letters,' says St Ambrose, 'is the life of the soul; Christ himself declares it when he says: the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.'"
It was this reading that prepared St Augustine to return to God when he heard the words: take and read. A passage from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans gave him the decisive light which tore him away from sin and led him to conversion. When Augustine opened the Epistles of St Paul, which were lying on the table, and read these words: "Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ!" from that moment, his heart was changed; he retired for some time into solitude and asked for baptism.
From what book can we better draw life then from scripture, which has God for its author? Especially the Gospels, the words of our savior, the facts of His hidden, His apostolic, and His suffering life should be the living teaching to which the soul must ever turn. Christ knows how to make the loftiest and most divine things accessible to all by the simplicity with which he speaks.
The divine words of scripture are spirit and life, which contain for us a special grace that if we read them with humility, hope, and love, daily inclines us more to imitate the virtues of Christ: His meekness, patience, and heroic love on the cross. Besides the Holy Eucharist the true food of the Saints is to be found in the Scriptures; the word of God, transmitted by his only son, the word made flesh. Hidden under the letter is the living thought of God, which, if we are docile, the gifts of understanding and wisdom will make us penetrate and taste more and more. After the Gospel, nothing is more nourishing than the divinely inspired commentary on it, the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles. The teachings of Christ lived by His first disciples, who were given the task of training us.
Spiritual Works of the Saints
Next to the Scriptures, the reading of the spiritual works of the saints greatly enlightens and warms the soul, because these works, though not composed under infallible inspiration, were written with the lights and the unction of the Holy Ghost. We should not ignore the chief spiritual works of: St Augustine, St Jerome, Cassian, Saint Leo, St Benedict, Saint Gregory the Great, Saint Basil, Saint John Chrysostom, Dionysus, Saint Maximus the Confessor, Saint Anselm, Saint Bernard, Richard of Saint Victor, Hugh of Saint Cher, Saint Albert the Great, Saint Thomas Aquinas, St Bonaventure, Saint Catherine of Siena, Bl. Henry Suso, Bl. Angela of Folign, Bl. John Ruysbroeck, Thomas a Kempis.
The Lives of the Saints
To the reading of books of spiritual doctrine should be joined that of the lives of the saints, which contain examples that are always admirable and often imitable. Their deeds were often performed in most difficult circumstances by men and women with nature like ours who at the beginning had their weaknesses and defects, but in whom Grace and charity gradually dominate nature by healing it, elevating it, and vivifying it. In these lives we must seek especially what is imitable, and in what is extraordinary we must see a divine sign given to draw us from our lethargy and make us understand what is most profound and most lofty in an ordinary Christian life when the soul is truly docile to the Holy Ghost. The examples of the saints, their humility, patience, confidence, overflowing charity, are more efficacious in making us practice virtue than abstract doctrine is.
Dispositions for profitable spiritual reading:
A prayer well said before we begin to read will obtain for us the actual grace to read Sacred Scripture or spiritual books with the spirit of faith.
We must also, with a sincere and keen desire for perfection, applied to ourselves what we read, instead of being content with a theoretical knowledge of it.
It is also well for beginners to catch a glimpse of the extreme loftiness of Christian perfection, without however covering the ground too quickly and trying to go faster than grace.
If beginners and the advanced have a keen desire to sanctify themselves, they will find what is suitable for them in Holy Scripture, and in the spiritual writings of the Saints. That this may be so, they must read slowly each devout book; they must be penetrated with what they read. Then spiritual reading will be transformed little by little into prayer, into intimate conversation with the interior Guest.
It is also well after a few years to re-read the very good books which have already done us much good life is short: we should be content to read and read again whatever bears the mark of God and not to lose our time on things that are lifeless and of no value. St Thomas Aquinas never wearied of re-reading The Conferences of Cassian. What souls have not gained greatly by often re-reading the Imitation? To be profoundly penetrated by one such book is far better than to read all spiritual writers superficially.
Finally, we must begin without delay to put into practice what we read. “Everyone therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock... and everyone that heareth these words and doth them not, shall be like the foolish man that built his house upon the sand.” “Not the hearers of the law," says St. Paul, "are just before God; but the doers of the law shall be justified."
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