St. John Bosco once said, “Only God knows the good that can come about by reading one good Catholic book.”
With summer beginning, more free time than usual, and my abhorrence with the California heat waves, there’s no better time to brush up on spiritual reading. I’ve always been a bookworm anyway. In elementary school I was one of those kids who helped in the library, just to be around the tangy scent of books and to get away from my sweaty, overheated peers out on the blacktop, under the scorching sun.
Okay, it wasn’t that bad but the point is I preferred books to playing.
So, as time allows I’ll be straining my eyeballs and strengthening my poor soul through the spiritual books listed below.
The Life of St. Gemma Galgani by her Spiritual Director Ven. Fr. Germanus, C.P
The World’s First Love
Mary, Mother of God by Ven. Fulton J. Sheen
The Glories of Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori
Preparation for Death by St. Alphonsus Liguori
It’s going to be a very Liguori summer, I’ve already started The Glories of Mary and it’s one of the most beautiful Marian books I’ve ever read. It won’t be surprising if it takes a whole year to finish, because it’s one of those works where you have to stop and really think about what you just read. Simply amazing.
Anyway, this reading list is short but more books might be added on as time passes. What’s on your summer reading list?
Praise be to baby Jesus, I'm done with high school. With that part of my life now being over, it's time to let the blogging juices start flowing once more. St. Teresa of Avila, pray for me. In the meantime, enjoy the cluster of my personal favorite saint quotes. We have much to learn from the saints, and we can't learn from them unless we know them. Without further ado, I present to you my most beloved quotes from our friends in Heaven.
"Foolish is he who follows the pleasures of this world, because these are always fleeting and bring much pain. The only true pleasure is that which comes to us through faith." -Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati
"Until we have a passionate love for our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we shall accomplish nothing." -St. Julian Peter Eymard
"Love that cannot suffer is not worthy of that name." -St. Clare of Assisi
"The life of a Christian is nothing but a perpetual struggle against itself; there is no flowering of the soul to the beauty of its perfection except at the price of pain." -St. Padre Pio
"I adore You, Lord and Creator, hidden in the Most Blessed Sacrament, would that I be transformed into a hymn of adoration of You." -St. Faustina
"God would never inspire me with desires which cannot be realized; so in spite of my littleness, I can hope to be a saint." -St. Therese of Lisieux
"Our perfection does not consist in doing extraordinary things, but to do the ordinary well." -St. Gabriel Possenti of Our Lady of Sorrows
"Oh Jesus, how are you doing in my heart? In the narrow cell of my chest in love with You, tell me, oh Jesus, how are you doing there? Oh fire always burning, without ever dying down, if only you would let all of me go up in flames? Would You let this fire perfect me? Oh Jesus, oh Love! My life, my sustenance, my strength!" -St. Gemma Galgani
"If you have devotion to Mary, Help of Christians, you will see what miracles are." -St. John Bosco
"As mariners are guided into port by the shining of a star, so Christians are guided to Heaven by Mary." -St. Thomas Aquinas
Until next time, pax.
