by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, O.P. [E.D.M.] With Eccles. Appr., 1949, Portugal TAN BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS Chapter  9: READING Another easy and effective way of arriving at an eminent degree of holiness is spiritual reading. We have pointed out that the reason for so little sanctity in many souls is not weakness or malice, but ignorance. Spiritual reading dispels this ignorance and helps us to feel all the charm and consolation of God's blessed love. Every Catholic should without fail make spiritual reading daily for ten or fifteen minutes. The neglect of this duty is disastrous. To derive benefit from our reading, we must observe the following rules, which will not only secure satisfactory results but will make our reading attractive and a real pleasure. Read books that appeal to you. It is of elementary prudence to choose proper books, for not every good and excellent book suits all readers. It must be our aim to find a book or books that make an appeal to us personally, that will grip our attention and act as a driving force, a stimulant to our energies. Pray before reading. Next, it is well to say a short prayer, one Hail Mary, before commencing our reading, asking Our Blessed Lady to help us to understand what we are reading and to put it into practice. St. Thomas Aquinas told his fellow Dominican, Father Reginald, that he got his great treasures of knowledge more by prayer than by study. Read your book not once but many times. It is a fatal mistake to read a book quickly or to read it only once. That produces very little good. We must not read a spiritual book as we read a romance. However well-written a book may be, the truths it presents are so great that our poor weak minds only succeed in grasping them little by little. It may treat of the first of all truths, viz., the love of God. Nothing seems easier to understand than that, yet daily experience shows how very vaguely and insufficiently this wonderful doctrine is grasped and, as a consequence, how very little God is loved. One book read slowly does us more good than a hundred read hurriedly. One fact, one conversation, one little story has often changed the whole tenor of a man's life. The following incidents related to the writer by a dear old priest show that even what appears at first sight trivial may exercise a lasting impression on one's conduct. "When a student in college," he told me, "my confessor kindly gave me some advice one day in recreation. It seemed simplicity itself, yet that advice has given me the most profound consolation all the long years of my life and has moreover enabled me to give similar consolation to the souls of many who have consulted me. "A second incident was my hearing a short story about the Mass some months after my ordination. This left a vivid and indelible impression on me so that I have never celebrated the Holy Sacrifice without thinking of it, and as a result I enjoy deep devotion in saying every Mass." A third fact which this good priest mentioned is no less surprising. "A lady friend of mine once said to me, 'I confess that I feel no special sympathy for your young curate. One thing, however, that he does impresses me very much. When he passes in front of the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament, he genuflects so reverently and looks with such devotion at the Tabernacle that it would seem as if he saw God.' This remark was made to me thirty years ago, and never once since then have I myself passed in front of the Blessed Sacrament without imitating the example of my curate. This has given me a notable increase of faith in the Real Presence." If then a short conversation, a little story, a few words of advice can make such a deep impression on one's mind, a book is likely to make much more, for it may contain scores of such facts. St. Augustine was one of the greatest geniuses that ever lived. Unfortunately, he was plunged for many years in error and vice. One of the chief means which made him a great Saint was the reading of a good book, the life of St. Antony of the Desert. St. Ignatius was a rough soldier, trained in the camp and not given much to piety, yet by reading one book he became the great saint that he is. He himself has written a book, The Spiritual Exercises, which has converted and sanctified thousands of its readers. St. John Columbini was a very lax and indifferent Christian. Dinner was delayed one day, and he became very irritated. His wife offered him a book to amuse him until such time as dinner was served. Glancing at the title and seeing that it was a pious book, he flung it on the floor in a fury. Regretting this insult to his wife, he picked it up sat down and began to read it. So great was the impression it made on him that he changed his whole life and became a Saint. La Harpe taught the most impious doctrines, which he published in books very cleverly written, causing great harm to his readers. He was thrown into prison, where the solitude proved almost intolerable. He found a pious book, which though far from his liking, he read for amusement. Gradually, he became engrossed in it and read chapter after chapter. He was completely converted. On leaving the prison, he dedicated the rest of his life to writing charming books, in a noble effort to undo all the mischief he had formerly done. One of the gravest problems. that defied the ablest American statesmen for many years was abolition of slavery. Congress after Congress, Administration after Administration came and went in the effort to help the unfortunate slaves. Finally, a lady writer published a book, the story of a poor slave, which aroused the indignation of all who read it. This book made it feasible for the government to abolish slavery forever in the United States and to set free the millions of slaves who were held in cruel bondage. A good book that appeals to us is the best and most powerful of preachers. It enlightens us, it stimulates us, it consoles us. We ourselves see every day the wonderful results obtained by the reading of even short, pithy pamphlets. A celebrated London barrister, himself a convert, distributes small pamphlets, leaving them in trams and trains, on benches in the parks or streets. By this means he has done considerable good. We shall mention one case. Returning home after a busy day, he put one of these leaflets on a railing in front of a house. A Protestant policeman seeing it, put it in his pocket and went home. As a result of reading it, he and all his family became fervent Catholics. Frank Estis, a young American officer, wounded in the War, found the long hours in bed so tiresome that he asked his friends to bring him something to read. They brought Catholic magazines, which were eagerly read, not only by Frank but by all the men in the hospital ward. At the end of eight months, he was able to count on many conversions of Protestants and lapsed Catholics! On leaving the hospital, he and some others began to visit the hospitals, prisons of the city, the houses of the poor, and they now count hundreds of conversions every year. It is then sheer madness for Catholics not to give ten or fifteen minutes every day to reading some good book. No one should dare to dispense himself from this imperative duty. St. Dominic, great Saint as he was, though constantly preaching, and spending whole nights in prayer, yet found time to read assiduously the lives of the Saints. St. Thomas of Aquinas, a prodigy of learning and sanctity, did likewise and found his delights in such reading. And so, too, did all the Saints. Good reading is so pleasant and easy a way of reaching an eminent degree of sanctity that it commends itself to everyone. BOOKS THAT WE RECOMMEND The E.D.M. series of books are eminently suited to help their readers to grasp the great truths of our holy Religion in an easy and practical way. They are warmly recommended by Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops. [See link below for the O'Sullivan Books [E.D.M.] which is carried by TAN Books. They have the entire set and I think you may be able to purchase them as a set and save some money. The link takes you to the precise page where these books are listed. Each book that the author recommends is marked by our * to designate that it is part of the set; the 2 works by other authors not so marked are out of print and are not sold by TAN. I readily endorse the entire set, which I possess and have read, more than once, and I never tire of them and use excerpts from them on this web site. The value that TAN offers in the set is beyond measure, indispensable to any Catholic library. ------The Web Master] If read in the manner we have just explained, they will prove a wonderful help and stimulus in the spiritual life. "How to Be Happy-How to Be Holy" * This work has some excellent pages on prayer. Hosts of readers declare that by reading them they have learned to pray as they never prayed before. Prayer has become a pleasure to them. They feel that they are speaking to God. This book explains each of our daily prayers, throwing a flood of light on them, which gives the prayers a completely new value. Many Catholics repeat these prayers without even thinking of the words, much less of their meaning! This book, too, gives a beautiful and thrilling account of the Rosary, a story utterly unknown to most of those who are saying the Rosary every day of their lives. It gives an admirable explanation of the Mass which every Catholic would do well to read. It shows how the graces we receive even in one Mass exceed anything we can imagine. His Grace the Archbishop of Evora says, "This book is a veritable manual of piety, eminently practical and suitable to all readers."   His Grace the Archbishop of Aveiro: "When reading this book the soul of the reader is insensibly filled with a feeling of piety and with an earnest wish and desire to be holy. The thoughts are at once elevated and practical, sublime and yet simple." His Lordship the Bishop of Guarda: "This book is worthy of all praise. It is splendid and, if carefully read, will be a powerful help to us in the accomplishment of all our duties." "The Wonders of the Holy Name" * This is what the Mercier Press has to say of The Wonders of the Holy Name. "This little booklet, The Wonders of the Holy Name, is one which every Catholic should read. The average well-instructed Catholic will find much in this book to astonish him regarding the enormous efficacy of the simple repetition of the Holy Name and the abundance of graces and blessings which flow from its recital." Packed into this little work are an explanation of the doctrine of the Holy Name, of its meaning and how to use it. Then follows a collection of the most wonderful stories of delivery from wars and plagues by its recitation, of miracles performed by the Saints through its power. It is a book most timely for our troubled era. This booklet is warmly recommended by Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops. More than 300,000 copies have been sold in a short time. "All About the Angels" * "This book on the Angels comes at a most opportune moment, for no better remedy can be found for the suffering in the world at the present moment than the all-powerful protection of God's Angels. "The Angels are our best friends, and you tell your readers all about them in a way so full and interesting that your book will awaken a great love and confidence in these glorious Princes of Heaven. In return they will obtain for us many graces and deliver us from great evils." -----Peter Ciriaci, APOSTOLIC NUNCIO, LISBON "Accept my warmest thanks for your precious book on the Angels. It is most interesting and opportune. Give us more books of this kind, which will bring comfort, truth and consolation to all." -----Anthony, ARCHBISHOP OF BRAGA "All About the Angels is a book so full of charm and delight that it is with a feeling of regret we reach the last page and find that there is nothing more to read." -----John Evangelist, ARCHBISHOP BISHOP OF A VEIRO The Catholic Voice says: "Written with the object of spreading a devotion largely unknown even among good practicing Catholics, this book on the Angels introduces us to new and startling revelations about the great power and love for us of those glorious beings. Supported by facts and irrefutable proofs, the book reads like a fairy tale. It is a book that will charm all, priests and people young and old. It is certainly one of the most beautiful books on the Angels yet published. Above all, this book on the Angels does all who read it one incalculably great benefit; it makes them know and love their Angel Guardian, whom so many ignore as if he did not exist! Yet he is their most loving, most powerful, dearest friend. He has done them countless favours, for which they have never thanked him! He will do them still greater favours if they only know and love him. They want happiness; he will make them happy." "The Land of the Eucharist" A thrilling story of old Portugal. Its every page is full of interest. "Read Me or Rue It" * "This booklet fully deserves its title. It puts before its readers the great doctrine of Purgatory in a striking way, quoting as authorities the great Saints and Doctors of the Church. It grips the attention from the start and takes a message straight to the heart."-----R. F. "How to Avoid Purgatory" * "It is not too much to say that these pages will confer an inestimable benefit on those who peruse them with attention. The author gives clear and weighty reasons to show that it is quite possible to avoid Purgatory. Best of all, the means he points out to attain this end are well within the reach of all devout Catholics."-----F. D. "St. Patrick and the Irish" "A little work that will fill the heart of every lover of Ireland with a great and just joy." -----A.M. These books form most attractive reading and are very inexpensive, as they are intended for mass distribution. If your Catholic book shop does not stock them, write to the publisher for a copy of those titles currently available. O'Sullivan Books------sold separately or as a set. Contact Us HOME-------------------------PRAYER INDEX-----------CATHOLIC CLASSICS www.catholictradition.org/Classics/saint-ch9.htm