Summer Reading
As I’ve been preparing to take some time to rest for the month of July, I’ve been thinking about two or three books I’d like to read. Throughout the year I’m usually “reading a bookshelf,” as a friend of mine once put it. That is, I’m always reading a few pages at a time from a few books at a time. It’s a little utilitarian. Those books help me to stay recollected and connected, which helps my preaching. But the summer months are for reading a book solely for the duty of delight.
Even audiobooks, while they serve their purpose, do not really fulfill my desire to be reading a book. There’s just something about the feeling of holding the book in my hands and turning its pages. Maybe it’s my Italian romantic side, but I don’t see myself ever getting rid of my books. Nor have I ever enjoyed reading on a screen.
In any case, I think it’s important for us always to be reading. I’m always mindful of what a priest said to us while we were in the Seminary. “Gentlemen,” he said, “there’s very little difference between the man who doesn’t read and the man who can’t.” He’s right, of course. Just as there are many believers in God who live as practical atheists, so too there are those who can read, but who are practically illiterate.
So, I’ve done some thinking about a few book recommendations for you. I recommended these to a women’s book club that reads together here in the parish.
The first is LIFE: My Story Through History, by Pope Francis. I’ve skimmed it. It looks terrific. And it’s an easier, lighter read.
The second is A Rocking Horse Catholic, by Caryll Houselander. I’ll be reading it in July. It’s autobiographical, short, poetic, to be read more slowly (with a cup of tea).
The third is the The Heart of Perfection, by Colleen Carroll Campbell. I’m actually just finishing it now. Can’t put it down. I read her memoir a few years ago. This book on spiritual perfectionism is even better. I love Colleen Campbell. You will too.
As for works of fiction, Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh is the greatest work that I could recommend. But I don’t read much fiction, so I can only recall some classics I’ve enjoyed, and which you may enjoy, like The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, or the anonymous Russian classic, The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way. Both splendid.
Such are my humble recommendations. If you feel called to go in a different direction, you should follow your heart, but I do think these are all worth considering. +
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Goodbye for a little while. Thank you for welcoming Father Jose into your heart and home. He likes staying here for the month of July, which is a testament to all of you. Please know that I am working on getting an Associate Pastor for us going forward. In the meantime, thank you for your goodness to the visiting priests. I’ll see you in August.