A book is a literary compass that has the potential to direct our thoughts and actions:
"Everything we read stimulates our mind to think, and what we think determines what we desire, and desires are the seedbed of our actions. Given this iron law of human nature--from reading to thinking, to desiring, to acting--we are shaping our destiny by the ideas we choose to have enter our minds through print." - Fr. John Hardon, S.J.,
The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan
Welcome to my own personal exploration of life through reading the great books of the world.
I just received this Veteran's Day Prayer in an email from Autom and thought it was worth sharing:
Dear Heavenly Father,
In every age, You call certain persons to defend the human family from oppression, tyranny, and evil. Since our founding as a nation "conceived in liberty," countless American men and women have stepped forward to defend our country and many others from aggressors, and to liberate those held captive.
Today we revere all our veterans: those who rest in honored glory, those who still suffer from the wounds of war, and those who, with us, enjoy the blessing of living in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O God, thank You for the selfless sacrifice of these veterans and of their families. Help us to remember them, to pray for them, and to care for them. Please bring all our departed veterans into Your Kingdom, and console their families with Your unfailing love. Please heal our wounded veterans through the power of Your Holy Spirit, and give to all our veterans the satisfaction of having served You even as they have served us.
Thank You for Your gifts of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. May we fight to keep these rights available to all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Pray the rosary with others around the world via the Perpetual Web Rosary from Catholics United for Life. When you visit the page, start praying the rosary wherever the last person left off, then click the rosary as you finish each prayer. Your prayers are added to the prayers of others.
I found a real gem at the used book store yesterday: Quiet Places with Jesus by Rev. Isaias Powers, C.P. I've been looking for a prayer book to help me concentrate more on the person of Jesus as I pray. I tend to be a bit too intellectual when I meditate and I wanted something that would help tap my imagination.
Fr. Powers wrote these guided meditations in the 1970s and they're very much in the Jesuit tradition of using the imagination to help one pray. What I've been impressed with most so far, however, is Fr. Powers' summary of how to know if one's prayer is successful. He's captured the essence of effective prayer so beautifully that I want to share it with you:
For prayer to be "successful" (that is, for grace to have "worked") does not depend on an emotional "high," or even on the awareness that "I prayed really well." The only criteria is that which was proclaimed by Christ:
"By their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7: 15-20; 12:33)
If the time spent in prayer endows the person with more kindness, patience, hope, joy, gratitude, love, serenity, faith, thoughtfulness, gentleness, courage, humility, wisdom, compassion, a sense of oneness and purpose with all humanity...then God's grace is most certainly at work.
To me, that is one of the greatest explanations of how to know whether or not one is really praying or simply going through the motions. It's not how good we feel during or immediately after the prayer, it's how our actions slowly begin to change for the better.
Fr. Powers ends his introduction with this beautiful blessing:
May Blessed Mary, the greatest example of prayer--and St. Luke, the foremost evangelist of our Lord's insistence on prayer--guide you to a place of peace, a hold on hope, a capacity for unclutteredness...and to such a habit of constant prayer that you will no longer need any manuals or methods...when God will speak plainly--without parables--to your heart.
One in Our Desire for Faith: The World Prayer Project
Sometimes I forget the beauty of other faith traditions. Sometimes I get so narrow in the books I read, the places I visit, the web sites I search for, that I miss out on the presence of God in the wider world.
The World Prayers Project is a collection of adorations, invocations and celebrations from different faiths and faith traditions. It displays humanity's unceasing desire to respond to God's call. As Augustine said, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. The World Prayers Project shows how universal that restlessness is.
Obviously, many of the prayers at the Project contradict what I believe about God and spirituality. Some sources are even what I would consider outrageous or ridiculous. Nevertheless, there is something beautiful in the endeavor to know and communicate to God, regardless of what a person means by the term God.
The World Prayers Project is a testament to the power of God to elicit responses from his people. The varied nature of our responses as documented in the Project is a testament to our need for revelation and discernment, but is also a reflection of the diversity that God so generously distributes.
We may not all be one in faith yet, but we are one in our desire for faith.
Take a trip to The World Prayers Project and spin the wheel to get a random prayer. Today I came across the Hail Mary, Psalm 51 and Ecclesiates 3:1-8.
But I also came across the following:
How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands! The heavens declare Your glory, the arch of the sky displays Your handiwork In Your love You have given us the power to behold the beauty of Your world robed in all its splendor. The sun and the stars, the valleys and the hills, the rivers and the lakes all disclose Your presence. The roaring breakers of the sea tell of Your awesome might, the beast of the field and the birds of the air bespeak Your wondrous will. In Your goodness You have made us able to hear the music of the world. The voices of the loved ones reveal to us that You are in our midst. A divine voice sings through all creation.
--traditional jewish prayer
It is not so important to love all men today as it is that each day you learn to love one more human being.
--urantia book
Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through us and be so in us that every soul we come in contact with may feel your presence in our soul. Let them look up and see no longer us, but only Jesus. Stay with us and then we shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from you. None of it will be ours. It will be you shining on others through us. Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words, but by our example; by the catching force - the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.
-- prayer of Mother Teresa
Oh great and powerful ocean, I fear and respect your beauty. I wish not to take way nor leave anything behind. I only wish to dance with you for a short while.
True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort -- a challenging read, but this book was central to the late Pope John Paul II's formation
The Rosary: Chain of Hope by Fr. Benedict Groeschel -- profound meditations on the different mysteries of the rosary; includes a beautiful work of art for each mystery
A Handbook on Guadalupe by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate -- a fascinating look at the Guadalupe apparition and the tilma of Blessed Juan Diego
One of my favorite spiritual writers is Thomas Merton, and one of my favorite prayers comes from his book Thoughts in Solitude:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.
It's a great prayer to print out and slip inside a graduation card.
How is it God, that you have given me this hectic busy life when I have so little time to enjoy your presence? Throughout the day people are waiting to speak with me, and even at meals I have to continue talking to people about their needs and problems. During sleep itself I am still thinking and dreaming about the multitude of concerns that surround me. I do all this not for my own sake, but for yours.
To me my present pattern of life is a torment; I only hope that for you it is truly a sacrifice of love. I know that you are constantly beside me, yet I am usually so busy that I ignore you. If you want me to remain so busy, please force me to think about and love you even in the midst of such hectic activity. If you do not want me so busy, please release me from it, showing others how they can take over my responsibilities.
With the Easter season rapidly approaching, this is a great time to re-commit to daily prayer. Here is my top ten list of the best Catholic daily devotional books. Each of these books is designed to be used every day, and most of them are interwoven with the liturgical year.
The Liturgy of the Hours: Also known as the Divine Office, this is more than simply a daily devotional; the Liturgy of the Hours is the public prayer of the Church, the official set of prayers for each day of the year, as many as seven times a day. Those who pray the Office join with the entire body of Christ in praising God. The bulk of the prayers come from the book of Psalms, arranged for daily use. There is a pretty steep learning curve for praying the Liturgy of the Hours, but the benefits far outweigh the beginning struggles. They are a continual source of inspiration and guidance for me. I'd be happy to help anyone who wants to learn to use them. Email me or leave a comment if you have any questions.
The Vatican II Daily Missal and the Vatican II Sunday Missal: Here you will find the complete texts of the scripture readings used during Mass for each day of the year, accompanied by useful meditations and reflections.
My Daily Catholic Bible: This Revised Standard Version of the Bible is arranged in 20 minute segments that are meant to be read over the course of a year.
Prayers and Devotions by Pope John Paul II: This collection of meditations is drawn from the documents, writings and homilies of the late Pope John Paul II. This is a beautiful edition, containing some of the most eloquent and spiritually nourishing words of the twentieth century.
Fr. Peyton's Rosary Prayer Book: Of the several rosary meditation books I've used, this is the one I keep coming back to. The meditations are clear, simple and relevant to everyday life.
Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel: This book of meditations has probably been the one that has influenced me the most in my spiritual growth. The wisdom pours out of this book like the wine poured out at Cana, miraculous and surprising with each new sip. The only difficulty is that since it was written before the Second Vatican Council, it can be challenging to find the correct meditation for the day. This is not a major problem, though, since a person could read straight through it, regardless of the day. I do NOT recommend the updated version.
In Conversation with God: This set is a major investment, but the price is worth it. You get seven volumes of meditations covering every day of the liturgical year. Each day contains a set of three extensive meditations, usually based on the gospel text for that day's Mass. The reflections are thoughtful, relevant and challenging, and the dust covers are beautiful works of art.
Thirsting for God by Mother Teresa: The profound wisdom of Mother Teresa is served in bite-sized portions in this collection of daily thoughts. Perfect for morning meditation.
Daily Readings in Catholic Classics edited by Fr. Rawley Meyers: This is the one book on this list that I don't yet own. Judging by the brief preview I saw on Amazon it looks terrific. Meditations include excerpts from works by Aquinas, Augustine, Chesterton, Guardini, Maritain, Merton, Pascal, Sheen, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux.
A book doesn't have to be long to have long-reaching effects. Here are 9 books that can profoundly change you, in order from shortest to longest:
The Practice of the Presence of God - Brother Lawrence (96 pp.): Brother Lawrence was a humble monk who cooked for the monastery, but found God in the daily chores of his life. This book contains the lessons he learned about experiencing God's presence throughout his entire day.
The Rule of St. Benedict (112 pp.): St. Benedict wrote this to regulate the lives of the men with whom he lived in community, but it has since become one of the most practical guides to spirituality in the history of Christendom. The Prologue alone is life-changing.
Abandonent to Divine Providence - Jean-Pierre de Caussade (119 pp.): Surrendering to God does not mean losing ourselves in the process. de Caussade's beautiful book should be read slowly and savored deeply.
To Know as We are Known - Parker J. Palmer (125 pp.): Palmer's book explores how our motives for learning shape what we learn. If our reason for learning is to gain power or control, then what we learn will only lead to destruction and misery. Should be read by every student and every teacher.
Prayer for Beginners - Peter Kreeft (125 pp.): Kreeft's simple primer on prayer can work wonders on a person who is beginning to pray, but can also help give focus to those whose prayer life has become stagnant. Like all Kreeft's works, clear and practical.
Life and Holiness - Thomas Merton (128 pp.): Merton writes about how our daily work and activities can lead us to holiness.
The Journey: A Spiritual Roadmap for Modern Pilgrims - Peter Kreeft (128 pp.): Using a journey as a metaphor, Kreeft introduces us to the main schools of modern thought and explores each of them. The readers meets the Skeptic, the Cynic, the Nihilist, the Materialist, the Relativist, and others.
Lying Awake - Mark Salzman (181 pp.): The only novel on the list is a beautiful story of a nun who is a poet and a visionary living outside Los Angeles in the modern day. A realistic yet respectful portrayal of convent life and the struggles and joys of living a life of religious vocation.
I'm planning three video book talks over the next couple of weeks corresponding to the three Lenten activities of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Here is the first one, on The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis:
