If You Could Choose Five Books...

[Saint Therese]

[font="Franklin Gothic Medium"]If you conly take five books with you into religious life, and one holy picture which would you choose?
This is especially difficult for me, because I'm an avid reader, and I have alot of books.
[color="#0000ff"]Your Bible and catechism are givens.[/color]
1-[color="#ff0000"]Witness to Hope[/color] by [color="#afeeee"][color="#9acd32"]George Weigel[/color]
[/color]2- [color="#ff0000"]The Transformative Relationship between St. Therese and her novice Sr. Marie of the Trinity[/color] by [color="#afeeee"][color="#9acd32"]Pierre Descouvement [/color]
[/color]3-[color="#ff0000"]Story of a Soul[/color] by[color="#afeeee"] [color="#9acd32"]ST. Therese[/color]
[/color]4-[color="#ff0000"]Diary of Divine Mercy[/color] by [color="#afeeee"][color="#9acd32"]St. Faustina[/color]
[/color]5-[color="#ff0000"]Fire Within[/color] by [color="#afeeee"][color="#9acd32"]Fr. Dubay[/color]
[/color]OR
5-[color="#ff0000"]St. Teresa of Avila[/color] by [color="#afeeee"][color="#9acd32"]Marcelle Auclair[/color]
[/color]
And the holy picture would be a tie between a picture of the Immaculate Heart and a photo of St. Therese [/font]

Edited August 14, 2008 by Saint Therese

[A Yearning Heart]

only 5 ?

definately divine mercy in my soul by st. faustina.

I'd have to think about others.

Also, I would take the option to call a friend: here is my library card number....go get these 5 this week....another 5 next week....

that is also assuming that whatever convent/cloister it is DOES NOT have or have access to a library...

[TotusTuusMaria]

Since I would probably be entering Carmel and a lot of the books I would choose to bring they would probably already have in the library, (diary of St. Teresa and St. Therese, Hidden Face, etc.) I would bring:

1) The Spiritual Life by The Very Reverend Adolphe Tanquerey
2) The Way of Divine Love by Sister Josefa Menendez
3) The Diary of St. Faustina by St. Faustina
4) The Spouse of Jesus Christ by St. Alphonsus de Ligouri
5) True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort

hmmm for a holy card.... I would probably bring my favorite Holy Card of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel that the Brooklyn Carmel sent out for the novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel this past July. Very pretty.

Speaking of Holy Cards, here are two I found online (they were found in an old Carmelite Prayer Book that someone had; they scanned them and put them online) that I have meant to post here on the forum, but haven't:

[url="http://imageshack.us"][img]http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/9944/nun13lm8.jpg[/img][/url]

[url="http://imageshack.us"][img]http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3016/nun03gh4.jpg[/img][/url]

Edited August 14, 2008 by TotusTuusMaria

[CatherineM]

The Holy Longing by Fr. Rolheiser

Doors to the Sacred by Martos

By What Authority by Gaillardetz

Ignatius Catholic Study Bible by Hahn (I know it's a bunch of smaller books, but I'd glue them together)

The Creed by Marthaler

My Micah 6 poster

[TotusTuusMaria]

[quote name='CatherineM' post='1626572' date='Aug 14 2008, 12:15 AM']Ignatius Catholic Study Bible by Hahn (I know it's a bunch of smaller books, but I'd glue them together)[/quote]

[Fr. Antony Maria OSB]

Hmm...this is sort of difficult, but the first two would be for sure:

1. The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Liseiux
2. The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila
3. Christ: The Ideal of the Priest by Bl. Columba Marmion
4. The Conferences of John Cassian
5. either No Man is an Island or Thoughts in Solitude by Thomas Merton

and the holy card would most definately be the Divine Mercy Image

[TeresaBenedicta]

Five books? FIVE BOOKS?! You're killing me! (Actually, this is something I've thought about... I love my books... those would be some of the hardest to get rid of...)

Let's see...

1) Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
2) The Confessions of St. Augustine
3) Rosencrantz and Gildentern are Dead
4) The Sea Wolf by Jack London
5) Jane Eyre by Bronte

Yeah, I know.... they're not all religious books lol. But still.

[VeniteAdoremus]

This is a huge problem for me, since my first language is Dutch, and the community I'm discerning with isn't. So I will have to be a [i]very[/i] good girl to be allowed any books at all (since the rest of the community wouldn't really have access to them, it'd come very close to personal property).

I would bring:

1) The Confessions
2) The Interior Castle (I'm so original!)
3) The Summa
4) Jesus of Nazareth by Papa
5) ... too many candidates.

[Rising_Suns]

1. Diary of Saint Faustina
2. Letters of Padre Pio to his spiritual directors
3. Complete writings of Saint Francis of Assisi
4. True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis De Montfort
5. Poem of the Man-God, by Maria Valtorta

I would also like to take;
-Biography and writings of Saint Gemma Galgani, by her spiritual director Fr. Germanus
-Autobiography of Saint Margret Mary
-Meet Solanus Casey, by Brother Leo
-Biography of St. Maximilian Kolbe
-Notetbooks of Maria Valtorta

Blessings,

-Davide

Edited August 14, 2008 by Rising_Suns

[Selah]

Story of a Soul by St. Therese- VERY YES! I am reading it right now, and I love it.

St. Francis of Assisi and His World- This book introduced me to St. Francis <3

St. Francis: A Saint's Way- This is a book told from the perspective of a man who goes on a pilgrimage to Assisi and visits and contemplates on the saint.

The Song of Bernadette- I haven't read it yet, but I've heard such good stuff about it...plus, I <3 St Bernadette!

Jesus of Nazareth by the Holy Father

[rosamundi]

[quote name='Rising_Suns' post='1626677' date='Aug 14 2008, 02:25 PM']5. Poem of the Man-God, by Maria Valtorta[/quote]

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/valtorta.txt"]Are you sure?[/url]

[FiliaMariae]

There are a number of books which have really made an impact on my life, but if I were to choose between them all, the final choices would remain:

[b][color="#FF0000"]1. The Holy Bible[/color]

[color="#2E8B57"]2. Our Divine Friend -by Rev. Joseph Schryvers[/color]

[color="#FFA500"]3. Spiritual Combat - by Dom Lorenzo Scupoli[/color]

[color="#800080"]4. Humility of Heart - by Fr. Cajetan Mary da Bergamo [/color]

[color="#0000FF"]5. Growth in Holines (aka Progress of the Spiritual Life)[/color]

[color="#696969"]5.1 Introduction to the Devout Life - St. Francis deSales[/b][/color]

[Selah]

Oh golly, almost forgot: "The Imitation of Christ"

How could I not take that?

[DiscerningSoul]

The true spouse of Jesus Christ by St.Alphonus De Liguori ( I call this the nun manual, want to be a saint? read this and read it over and over)
One or Both books on Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity
Divine Mercy
St.Margaret Mary
St.Bernadette Soubirous by Abbe Francois Trochu

[pan!c139]

I don't read much religious books, but I'll do my best.

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
The Bible
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
The Twilight Series as one (Stephanie Meyer)

[Rising_Suns]

[quote name='rosamundi' post='1626759' date='Aug 14 2008, 11:38 AM'][url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/scriptur/valtorta.txt"]Are you sure?[/url][/quote]

Yes ([url="http://www.maria-valtorta.net/"]see this link[/url]). Maria Valtorta's writings are some of the most spiritually edifying writings I have ever read.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Rising_Suns

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='pan!c139' post='1626886' date='Aug 14 2008, 08:09 PM']I don't read much religious books, but I'll do my best.

Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis)
The Bible
Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
The Twilight Series as one (Stephanie Meyer)

[/quote]

Oh... I want to take P&P. Didn't want to post it here, though, that's bad for my catholic nerd-status

[pan!c139]

Pfft. I'm a literary/Catholic nerd and PROUD of it. Hahaha.

[stlmom]

Obviously not going into religious life, but I'd take these with me anywhere:

Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis DeSales
Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton
A Life-giving Way, A Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict, by Esther deWaal
Compassion, A Reflection on the Christian Life, by Henri Nouwen, D. Morrison, D.McNeil
Otherwise (a book of poetry) by Jane Kenyon

My holy picture would be either the Madonna of Czestochowa or JP2

Interesting thread!

[Domine ut Videam]

1. The Rule of St. Benedict
2. Collected Works of St. John of the Cross
3. Best of Keats
4. Flannery O'Connor
5. Divine Mercy in my Soul