WHAT TO READ:
Ok, you’re eager to increase
your faith and learn as much as possible as soon as possible. Study the Bible, which
is the inspired Word of God. These are the sacred words God has left for us to
help us to get to know Him.
Try the Catholic Study Bible (NAB….Oxford University
Press)
If you don’t have the official “Catechism
of the Catholic Church,” try to get one today. It contains the
Church’s official teaching on almost every topic you could imagine, including
Early Church writings to back it up. It’s a darn good read. It’s divided into
tiny sections by topic, so you can skip around and just go to the parts that
interest you. Great beach reading.
I predict it will answer at
least one question you’ve always wondered about, but were too shy to ask your
religion teacher. This is not just opinions we’re talking about, it contains
truthful teaching preserved for 2,000 years by the Church that Jesus founded
and promised would be guided into “all truth” by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
And….it gets five stars from
the pope….!
For the free online version
of the catechism, see www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/index/c.htm
Why not read books that were
written by real lives saints?
Here are a few:
The Autobiography of St.
Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul (John Beevers, translator)
Thoughts of St. Therese:
The Little Flower of Jesus Carmelite of the Monastery of Lisieux, 1873-1897
by St. Therese of Lisieux
The Confessions by St. Augustine
The City of God by St. Augustine
Letters of St. Augustine of Hippo
Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas
Interior Castle by St.
Teresa de Avila
The Letters of St. Teresa
de Avila
The Dark Night of the Soul by St.
John of the Cross
Dialogue
by St.
Catherine of Siena
The Dolorous Passion of Our
Lord Jesus Christ by the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. An
alternative version is located here.
Spiritual Exercises by St.
Ignatius Loyola
The Exercise of Virtue by St.
Francis de Sales
The Sermons of St. Francis
de Sales on Prayer
St.
Therese of Lisieux on Prayer
St. Therese of Lisieux on
Suffering
The
Holy Eucharist by St.
Alphonsus Liguori
He Came to You So That You Might Come to Him by St.
Anthony Padua
Other books, listed by
category, can be found at:
http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ57.HTM
Also consider: Encyclopedia of Catholic History
by Matthew Bunson (publisher: Our Sunday Visitor)
Encyclopedia of Saints by Matthew Bunson (publisher: Our Sunday
Visitor)
If you live in the Philadelphia
area, you’ll want to subscribe to the Catholic Standard & Times, which
covers local events and subject matters that are…. au courant.
Get yourself to a Catholic
bookstore such as St. Jude (www.stjudeshop.com). Even if you thought religion
was a bore, you are bound to find titles that spark your interest, whether it’s
in philosophy, Christian history, the apostles, the wild stories of the saints,
canon law, insane miracles, the fall of the angels, heaven, hell, marriage,
divorce, the appearances of Jesus after He rose, world religions, Schism,
Reformation, Christian saints who have subsisted on no food or water, but only
daily Eucharist…
BOOKS CAN BE
ORDERED ONLINE AT:
http://dubruiel.tripod.com/id3.html
http://www.ignatius.com
http://www.catholic.com/library/Apologist_Bookshelf.asp
http://www.nativityukr.org/resources/publishers_mags.html
http://www.discountcatholicstore.com/books.htm
http://catholicapologetics.com/
http://www.staycatholic.com/reading_list.htm
(book list)
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=22915&sec_id=43792
(buy the Guide to the Passion)
Read the biographies of the
great saints, starting with St. Teresa of Avila, St. Therese of Lisieux (the
Little Flower), St. Bernadette, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Clare of Assisi,
and St. Francis of Assisi. How about reading about the Philadelphia area
saints: St. John Neumann, Mother Katharine Drexel (niece of Drexel University’s
founder), etc.
Some Saint books are at http://www.catholicfamilycatalog.com/saints.htm
and http://www.jaminmark.com/cc/Bks_cat50-2.html
BOOKS ON
SPIRITUALITY, PRAYER AND MASS
1.
The Power of the Cross: Applying the Passion of Christ to
Your Life by Michael Dubruiel
2.
The Words We Pray by Amy Welborn
3.
Praying the Rosary with the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and
Glorious Mysteries
4.
. The How-To Book of the Mass
5.
Praying in the Presence of Our Lord with Fulton J. Sheen
7. The
Rosary Prayer by Prayer: How and why We Pray the Christ-Centered Rosary of the
Blessed Mother (New)
From the Ashes by Janet W. Butler
If you hang around a lot of
people who challenge your faith, and you want to defend the Church kindly,
lovingly, politely and prayerfully, you can start with the booklet: “Beginning Apologetics I: How to Explain and Defend the
Catholic Faith” and some Catholic Answers tracts. You might read
Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism. You might
subscribe to an apologetics magazine such as “The Rock,” “Envoy” or “The
Catholic Answer” Other publications are listed at http://jerome2007.tripod.com/catholic_communication_media.htm#magazinesandjournals.
There are also countless apologetics web sites: www.catholic.com, www.catholic-defense.com, http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/, http://www.cin.org/users/james/ and http://ic.net/~erasmus/RAZ206.HTM
http://www.salvationhistory.com/library/apologetics/index.cfm#
(St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology)
Why not take a class at your
local Catholic university?
Or a Bible study at your
parish church?
With fewer of us attending
Catholic colleges, we have got to educate ourselves continually on the truths
of our faith. It is a lifelong responsibility.
If you live in the
Philadelphia area, check out St. Charles of Borromeo Seminary (www.scs.edu) in Wynnewood,
which offers classes and a master’s degree program for lay people. People come
from all over the East Coast come to learn at this prestigious institution,
which also opens up its vast library to the public. (scroll down for course
offerings)
Courses at the International
Institute for Culture in Phila (www.iiculture.org) include:
*two-month Greek and Latin
Institute each summer to help Catholics
connect with their roots, and to read original works of St. Thomas Aquinas and
St. Augustine
*three-week seminar in
Bavaria on the relationship between faith and culture
*six-week total immersion
Spanish program in Mexico for seminarians
Stuck at home? Catholic
Distance University (CDU) offers master’s degree programs in Catholic Studies
that you complete from the comfort of your home. But beware . . . heavy reading
is required! whole program is between $7,000 and $8,000. See
http://www.cdu.edu/
NON-CATHOLICS who wish to
learn more about the Catholic faith can sign up for RCIA (Rite of Christian
Initiation for Adults) at any parish church. The course can also serve as
preparation for Baptism (if the individual was not baptized) as well as
Confession, the Eucharist and Confirmation.
CLASS INFO AT
ST. CHARLES SEMINARY IN WYNNEWOOD, PA (http://www.scs.edu/div/relstudy/relstudy.html)
Recent evening
courses at the seminary included:
Introduction to the Old Testament
Introduction to Biblical
Spirituality
Liturgical Celebration of
the Sacraments
Catechism of the Catholic
Church: Pillars II and IV
Issues of Social Justice in
Catholic Teaching
Johannine Literature
African Saints and
African-American Holy Men & Women
Greek and Latin Roots for
Theological Studies
Leadership Training
Catechism of the Catholic
Church: Pillars II and IV
For info, e-mail relstudies@adphila.org
or call 610-785-6287
If you already know
everything, teach a class at your parish on your pet subject. Organize a Bible
study. Talk to your priest.
Below
are some classic Catholic works.
The
Confessions of St. Augustine
Enchiridion
(On Faith, Hope and Charity) by St.Augustine
Uniformity of God’s Will by St.Alphonsus Liguori
On Loving God by St.Bernard of Clairvaux
The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin
by St. Catherine of Siena
The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
The
Spiritual Exercises St.
Ignatius of Loyola
Ascent of Mount
Carmel by St. John of the Cross
Dark Night of the
Soul by St. John of the Cross
A
Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom Christ by St. John of the
Cross
The Way of Perfection
by St. Teresa of Avila
The Imitation of Christ
by Thomas a Kempis
Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas
Finally, there is always the 232-page book, The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan (by John A.
Hardon), which provides a lifetime plan for reading all the important Catholic
writers through the history of the Church and up to today.
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