Cool Books to Read

[puellapaschalis]

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Searching-God-Cardinal-Basil-Hume/dp/0852445636/"]Searching for God[/url] by Basil Hume OSB (God rest his soul .

[johnnydigit]

hm i feel kind of out of place since i've never considered myself much of a book reader. it's a miracle i even got through highschool, bs'ing every essay and skimming every book as quickly as possible. ever since i got into the faith, i have taken a liking to scripture and i love reading short pamphlets and daily meditations. they are like the "..for dummies" books. maybe later on i'll get deeper into leisure reading. so i just finished a book cover to cover, probably the first in at least a decade i've actually read through, which was
[u]Interior Castle[/u] by Saint Teresa of Avila.
i don't know if i would recommend it to the general audience, especially since i was told (not utnil after i finished it!) that it was one of her more difficult books. oh well. i liked it because i seemed to relate to a lot of the stuff she said and mystical stuff intriques me, but towards the end it gets really obscure.

ok now what i would recommend is this big book (500+ pages is big to me) called
[u][b]Monastic Spirituality[/b][/u] by a Benedictine. sorry it's an old one and i can't find the info on it. it's black with blue letters. it really introduced me to what a monk/religious really is, how one should be, how one should think, act, etc. it also goes into the history of monasticism and even general spirituality. maybe you can find something similar by another religious.

the next would be [u][b]The Benedictine Handbook[/b][/u] by someone else i don't know (it's red). it goes into more specifics of the life of a monk and his community. the first 1/2 was the most useful to me, the second half was more about detailed rules in the community.

ok so obviously i don't have a collection of books under my belt to choose from, and the ones i have read obviously came from me visitng a Benedictine monastery. it was very helpful because in them i found what i could not find on the internet. i would suggest that you ask for a recommendation from the vocation director of an order you like.

Edited April 15, 2007 by johnnydigit

[SisterAli]

Mother Angelica's new book

Amata Means Beloved (just finished this...wow its soooo good)

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[i]To Believe in Jesus[/i] and [i]Guidelines for Mystical Prayer[/i] by Ruth Burrows, OCD. She is a very holy Carmelite nun and her writing is beautiful. As prayer is the cornerstone of all vocations, I think these slim but powerful books should be read by all of us.

[Nunsense]

"Don't You Belong to Me?" by Father Paul Konkler OCSO (Trappist Monk and priest) - it is a handbook on prayer and spirituality with some historical background and some practical methods of prayer.

[Chiquitunga]

[i][url="http://www.icspublications.org/bookstore/others/b_others18.html"]From the Sacred Heart to the Trinity: The Spiritual Itinerary of St. Teresa Margaret of the Sacred Heart, O.C.D.[/url]
[/i]
This is a great little read! Differing from the more biographical, [url="http://www.icspublications.org/bookstore/others/b_others15.html"]God is Love[/url], this one focuses primarily on the spiritual life of St. Teresa Margaret - and what an intense one it was! She had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and loved St. Margaret Mary, from whom her religious name comes. This book was out of print for a long time, and is recently being republished. Here's a great site on St. Teresa Margaret - [url="http://stteresamargaret.org/"]http://stteresamargaret.org/[/url]

[SisterAli]

The Perfect Joy of St. Francis by Felix Timmermann

[Ora et Labora]

St. Benedict's Rule. It helped me to learn a lot about the Benedictines charism and lifestyle!!

[Tina44]

Not really a vocation or discernment book but it can be taken as such....

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coehlo.

An amazing book about following one's heart and finding where you truly belong, in the midst of all kinds of obstacles. I'm reading it as a discernment book and let me tell you, it is fabulous!!!

[be_thou_my_vision]

Padre Pio: Man of Hope
It's an excellent book about joyful poverty and heroic obedience.
I love Padre Pio!

[Eureka]

He Leadth Me...Have anyone of you read it? Good book to read for this summer if you are really thinking about giving up your life for the LORD or in HIS house right now. It is about suffering and trusting and finding God's will for one's life. I love this book.

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='Eureka' post='1287876' date='Jun 4 2007, 03:29 AM']He Leadth Me...Have anyone of you read it? Good book to read for this summer if you are really thinking about giving up your life for the LORD or in HIS house right now. It is about suffering and trusting and finding God's will for one's life. I love this book.[/quote]
My dad is always recommending it to me. Thanks for reminding me of it!

Here is it on amazon, [url="http://www.amazon.com/He-Leadeth-Me-Walter-Ciszek/dp/0898705460"]He Leadeth Me[/url]

Edited June 5, 2007 by Margaret Clare

[Starets]

de Waal, Esther. [u]Seeking God: The Way of St. Benedict[/u]. Collegeville, MN, USA, The Liturgical Press. 1984. ISBN 0-8146-1788-8

[Chiquitunga]

[i][url="http://www.ctocds.com/books/ann.htm"]The Autobiography of Blessed Anne of St. Bartholomew, O.C.D.[/url] "Inseparable Companion of Saint Teresa"[/i]

I can't find it available to buy anywhere, but the above link is a scan of the entire book. I've seen it before as a very old book - likely to be out of print.

A picture & a little info on Blessed Anne, [url="http://carmelnet.org/galleries/Saints/Saints_1/Anne/anne.htm"]here[/url] & [url="http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id333.htm"]here[/url]

[Chiquitunga]

[url="http://www.catholictreasures.com/cartdescrip/10757.html"][i]The Eymard Library[/i][/url] - I have Vol. 2 "Holy Communion" and I love it!! Have been rereading it and using it for mediation for several years now!

There's also a shorter version of it that was published not long ago, [url="http://www.catholiccompany.com/product_detail.cfm?ID=1740"][i]How to Get More Out of Holy Communion[/i][/url]

[url="http://www.blessedsacrament.com/theology/emmanuel/orderinfo.html"]The Blessed Sacrament Fathers[/url] have the best price for the complete Eymard Library of 9 Volumes. St. Peter Julian Eymard is great!

[Chiquitunga]

[url="http://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/14/keywords/Holy+Name/"]The Spiritual Legacy of Sr. Mary of the Holy Trinity[/url], Poor Clare of Jerusalem &

[url="http://www.tanbooks.com/index.php/page/shop:flypage/product_id/35/keywords/way+of+divine+love/"]The Way of Divine Love[/url], by Sr. Josefa Menendez

[she_who_is_not]

[i]Tools Matter for the Spiritual Life[/i] by Sr. Mary Margaret Funk. This book has made a profound difference in my spiritual life.

[Deus te Amat]

[i]Imitation of Christ[/i] -- Thomas a Kempis (its absolutely AMAZING!)

[i]Imitation of Mary[/i] -- Alexander De Rouville (who wouldn't desire to strive to be more like Mother Mary?)

[Deus te Amat]

double post sorry!

Edited July 1, 2007 by Deus_te_Amat

[Chiquitunga]

[i]My Beloved: The Story of a Carmelite Nun,[/i] by Mother Catherine Thomas of Divine Providence, O.C.D.

This was the first book I read on Carmel is it was [i]wonderful[/i] with lots of great quotes from St. Teresa & St. John of the Cross - a great introduction to Carmel! Some reviews I have read online are critical of some aspects of it, as it was written before Vatican II. But the way of life described in this book is really exactly like the life in traditional Carmels today, with a few very minor changes. There is definitely nothing extreme at all.

It doesn't seem to be available to buy anymore, but you could try the library. Here's something on it on a blog [url="http://anglocath.blogspot.com/2005/11/back-in-good-old-days.html"]here[/url], and also on the [url="http://www.okcarmel.org/"]Oklahoma Carmel's site[/url], where Mother Catherine was (search 'Catherine' & you'll find it right away).