Speaking Of Books ...

[the_rev]

To give a seminarian's perspective, we do about 40 minutes of spiritual reading or lectio divina every morning Monday-Friday. I personally do additional spiritual reading before bed. Usually a chapter of a book I'm reading for the morning.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='vee8' date='25 March 2010 - 11:26 PM' timestamp='1269570389' post='2080243']
Im wondering how much time roughly does a sister/nun (cloistered in particular) get for reading during the day? Also are secular books like The Lord of the Rings allowed?
[/quote]


In formation we had an hour of spiritual reading scheduled in every day. Once missioned, however, you just had to squeeze it in if you could.

In our library we had a lot of secular books -- mostly non-fiction, but there was also a good bit of "The Classics", like Greek plays, Shakespeare, poetry, etc. C.S. Lewis was also allowed; however, "The Lord of the Rings" was not. (I never really understood why and never got a very good explanation of why it was not allowed, except that, "There are SO many good spiritual books, why waste your time reading anything else?") That Sister had a good point. (Nonetheless, [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i] is still my favorite work of fiction EVER. In university, I was planning on writing my honors senior thesis defending Tolkien's statement: "[i]The Lord of the Rings[/i] is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.")

In the summer time, you could ask permission to read secular books and get those books approved by the superior. One of the Sisters read [i]The Chronicles of Narnia[/i]. One summer I had permission to read Lewis' [i]Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold[/i]

[cmaD2006]

"Peter on the Shore: Vocation in Scripture and Real Life" by Fr. Anthony Bannon, LC. I loved that book!

Link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Shore-Vocation-Scripture-Real/dp/0965160106

[vee]

[quote]That probably didn't make any sense... sorry if that was confusing![/quote]

Yeah you lost me at "reading"

[quote]Personally I wasn't very motivated to read secular books... we had so many spiritual books that I hardly had enough time to read! We had an amazing library though. sigh. [/quote]

Even now I dont feel very motivated to read secular books anymore and would love to be in a place that has all the fantastic spiritual books one can imagine. Its nice to know most if not all communities have some secular books around though just in case.

[quote](Nonetheless, [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i] is still my favorite work of fiction EVER. [img]public/style_emoticons/default/lol.gif[/img][/quote]

I never would have guessed what with your location being Imaldris of all places .


A book Id like to add for the list is The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. My goal is to actually finish them too

[Sister Marie]

In my community we are required to have two hours of spiritual reading a week although it always seems to me that in formation there is so much to read that the majority of our time is spent in spiritual reading! I love Saint Alphonsus as some others do too and I highly recommend [i]Visits to the Most Blessed Sacrament and Most Holy Mary[/i] with the commentary by Father Dennis Billy. Also [i]The God Who Won't Let Go[/i] and[i] [/i]any of Father Timothy Gallagher's books on Ignatian Spirituality. In particular [i]The Examen Prayer [/i]and [i]Discernment of Spirits [/i]are quite helpful[i].


[/i]I found the [i]Discernment of Spirits[/i] to be especially helpful during my formation because it puts everything into spiritual perspective. I know this is not the thread on difficulties leaving religious life, but this book was a huge help for me when I was going through a tough spot in formation because of things that didn't seem right to me. Without this book, and of course God's good grace, I would not have been able to sift through what was going on and hear how God was speaking to me through that difficult experience.

We are allowed to read secular books. I love to read memoirs and usually during the summer when schedules are a little bit more flexible I try to find the books I have heard about all year long and borrow them to enjoy a little free time.

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='vee8' date='28 March 2010 - 09:00 PM' timestamp='1269820803' post='2082275']

I never would have guessed what with your location being Imaldris of all places .
[/quote]



I bet Imladris has a HUGE library... if it were [i]real[/i].... Hahaha!

[quote name='vee8']
A book Id like to add for the list is The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius. My goal is to actually finish them too
[/quote]

I second that recommendation! Especially in regards to Ignatius' "Discernment of Spirits". Sheer practical brilliance.

Edited March 29, 2010 by laetitia crucis

[Divine Mercy 9999]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='28 March 2010 - 07:28 PM' timestamp='1269822520' post='2082286']
[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/bigshock.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/blowkiss.gif[/img] I bet Imladris has a HUGE library... if it were [i]real[/i].... [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/sadder.gif[/img] [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/whistle.gif[/img] Hahaha!



I second that recommendation! Especially in regards to Ignatius' "Discernment of Spirits". Sheer practical brilliance. [img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/caption_yes.gif[/img]

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/twothumbsup.gif[/img]
[/quote]

I'm reading "The Discernment of Spirits: An Ignation Guide for Everyday Living" Excellent, excellent book.

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='CherieMadame' date='25 March 2010 - 11:27 PM' timestamp='1269574023' post='2080270']
Secular books, in my community, WERE allowed, but only certain very specific books and under specific circumstances. The novices were not allowed to read secular books. Our community was divided on "Lord of the Rings," so by the time I left it still was not included in the library. But C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," portions of Shakespeare, some Irish stories, and some other secular books and stories were included in the library.
[/quote]

[i]The Chronicles of Narnia[/i] but not [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i]? I love Laetitia Crucis' comments on it further in the thread! I have just reread it and now I am reading Tolkien's letter (ed. by Carpenter). I REALLY like him, I find.

My (Deo volente) future community doesn't allow novels etc. I did ask about that! Ah well, win some lose some.

Visiting at one popular Benedictine monastery, I was very surprised to hear from one sister that she had just been re-reading "Charlotte's Web"--first that they would have it, and then that one would be reading it, as a thirty-something nun. Thought-provoking for me.

*edit: Oh! Laetitia Crucis again--"Till We Have Faces" is such a Catholic book! Much more than Anglican or Protestant in any way! Don't you find? Not in solid form, just in the glimmers of things that Psyche says.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Thomist-in-Training

[Cherie]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='31 March 2010 - 09:22 PM' timestamp='1270084940' post='2084447']
[i]The Chronicles of Narnia[/i] but not [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i]?

[/quote]

I know it -- I LOVE the parallels in Lord of the Rings ... and since I ordered books for the bookstore, I was a big proponent of it being in the convent library (since I could easily order it if need be)!

I honestly think they were in the process of trying to get it when I left -- I suppose getting it wasn't on the top of the Sisters' priority list, though!

[laetitia crucis]

[quote name='Thomist-in-Training' date='31 March 2010 - 10:22 PM' timestamp='1270084940' post='2084447']
[i]The Chronicles of Narnia[/i] but not [i]The Lord of the Rings[/i]? I love Laetitia Crucis' comments on it further in the thread! I have just reread it and now I am reading Tolkien's letter (ed. by Carpenter). I REALLY like him, I find.

My (Deo volente) future community doesn't allow novels etc. I did ask about that! Ah well, win some lose some.

Visiting at one popular Benedictine monastery, I was very surprised to hear from one sister that she had just been re-reading "Charlotte's Web"--first that they would have it, and then that one would be reading it, as a thirty-something nun. Thought-provoking for me.

*edit: Oh! Laetitia Crucis again--"Till We Have Faces" is such a Catholic book! Much more than Anglican or Protestant in any way! Don't you find? Not in solid form, just in the glimmers of things that Psyche says.
[/quote]

Tolkien's [i]Letters[/i] is fantastic! One course I took in a summer study abroad (in England) had that book as required reading -- it was a course on Tolkien.

And I also must agree -- [i]Till We Have Faces[/i] is most definitely SUCH a Catholic book!! Really, I believe Lewis would be a Roman Catholic had he lived today. I need to find that book and read it again. SO good!

[i]Charlotte's Webs[/i] -- Hmmm.. that makes me ponder, too. I remember loving that book as a child. I suppose it probably has some good insights if read from a good Catholic point of view.

[Thomist-in-Training]

[quote name='laetitia crucis' date='01 April 2010 - 08:33 AM' timestamp='1270125188' post='2084735']
And I also must agree -- [i]Till We Have Faces[/i] is most definitely SUCH a Catholic book!! Really, I believe Lewis would be a Roman Catholic had he lived today. I need to find that book and read it again. SO good!
[/quote]

For myself I wish it could be so but I believe that he had enough chances to convert and chose in the end not to. Sad though it makes me. He was a very intelligent man and did not die young. Indeed articles that go into depth on Lewis and Tolkien's friendship mention that Tolkien found some of Lewis' views and writings on Catholicism off-putting, basically insuperably prejudiced. (I tried to think of another word than insuperably but couldn't ) One anecdote: his 'Pilgrim's Regress' has a character named Mother Kirk who says Latin is the language of her country. This led reviewers to assume Lewis had become a Catholic. He was quite annoyed.

Happy Easter!

[laetitia crucis]

I'm always looking for good books to read and just now came across this lovely list for discerners:

[url="http://foryourvocation.org/discerning-women/upload/recommended-reading-women.pdf"]Recommended Reading for Discerning Women[/url] (from the [url="http://foryourvocation.org"]For Your Vocation[/url] website.)

* Please note, this is a .pdf link!

[krissylou]

[quote name='MaterMisericordiae' date='24 March 2010 - 11:12 PM' timestamp='1269486733' post='2079522']
[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/caption_yes.gif[/img]

Sr. Francis gave us this book when I was there.
[/quote]

I read this a bit quickly and thought you said that ST Francis gave you that book.

[img]http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/public/style_emoticons/default/shock.gif[/img]

Then I would DEFINITELY read it!

[Divine Mercy 9999]

I'm reading The Admirable Heart of Mary by St. John Eudes. I started the City of God a few weeks ago. That one is going to take me a really long time to finish.