Dominica XVIII post Pentecosten - Spiritual Life (Spiritual Reading)

Latin Mass 2020 • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

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LESSON: Spiritual reading supplements direction

We are now entering the homestretch of our Spiritual Life series, so let us quickly review where we have been so far. We have examined the importance of the Spiritual Life itself, and briefly noted that sadly, most Catholics never progress beyond Spiritual Childhood.

We have then looked at two of the external means for progressing in the Spiritual Life. First, Spiritual Direction, which we said was not optional, but an essential component of spiritual progress. One thing I have yet to mention, is that for parents, particularly with young children, Spiritual Direction is of particular importance, because you are their spiritual directors.

For young children, the role of parents is, of course, to introduce them to the life of prayer by teaching them vocal prayers, bringing them to church, and ensuring that they receive their Sacraments.

When a child reaches high school age though, or even from the time of their Confirmation, if the parents judge that they are ready, they should start to be introduced to more advanced concepts in the Spiritual Life, such as mental prayer, penance and mortification, the elimination of vice and the active acquisition of virtue.

As any good spiritual director knows, it’s impossible to be a good spiritual director if you are not receiving spiritual direction yourself.

We have also looked at the necessity and usefulness of having a plan of life, to bring order to our day, and regularity to our spiritual life.

Today, we will examine another essential component in our spiritual repertoire, Spiritual Reading.

No matter how good or how intelligent a spiritual director might be, it’s impossible for him to know absolutely everything about the spiritual life. Most classic text books on the spiritual life run between 700 and 1000 pages, and that is just scratching the surface.

Spiritual reading supplements spiritual direction, and when carefully chosen in consultation with a spiritual director, spiritual reading can provide not only additional teaching in spiritual doctrines and disciplines, but can also provide ample material for one’s life of prayer.

ILLUSTRATION: The types of spiritual reading

Spiritual reading falls into two main categories, the first is naturally, the reading of Holy Scripture, especially the New Testament.

Any truly pious soul will take delight in reading the Gospels, finding Our Lord’s teaching and examples. There really is no better education in solid piety and nothing more powerful than imitating the Divine Model. Christ provides us with the perfect example of humility, meekness, longanimity, chastity, charity, and self-sacrifice. Reading the Gospels facilitates the practice of virtue and should be an act of Divine Worship.

The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles likewise supply food for our piety. They are the teachings of Christ lived out by His disciples, explained, commented on, and adapted to the needs of the faithful by those to whom Our Lord entrusted the care of His flock. They are a commentary on the Gospel by its first hearers.

The Old Testament can be a bit more challenging but nonetheless rewarding. The Psalms, take pride of place in the life of the Church, and are prayed daily in the Divine Office, but they can also be used productively by those not committed to praying the Breviary.

The Wisdom Books can also be read profitably by pious souls. The historical and prophetic books require a certain preparation and understanding of the proper methods of interpretation, but they do offer a picture of God’s providential action over His chosen people recalling them again and again despite their unfaithfulness.

The second type of spiritual reading can be broken down into two broad categories, that of masters, and that of mentors.

The masters are the spiritual writers who have learned and lived the life of perfection, and who can offer us insight into the principles and rules of perfection. They strengthen our conviction to aim at sanctity, they point us to the means to be employed, show us the effectiveness of these means, and they exhort us to follow the path they lay out for us. They are all the more helpful, since they are always available.

The mentors are of course the saints themselves, and the reading is the books of their lives. They give us an ideal to follow, allowing us to recognize our good qualities and our defects, the stages of holiness we have reached, and those we still have yet to traverse. They gives us a standard for self-examination, and urge us to generosity in our spiritual resolutions.

APPLICATION: Employing spiritual reading profitably

Before I get into how best to make use of our spiritual reading, there is one other category that broadly falls into the definition of spiritual reading, and that is spiritual conferences, or as we might title them today, spiritual YouTube videos.

There is in fact a double advantage to these means. First, they are usually designed for a certain class of souls, often for the beginners, so they can be better adapted to the particular needs of their audience. Second, the appeal of the spoken word is usually stronger and its power is greater than the written word, particularly when the speaker is also visible. The eye, the voice, the gesture of the speaker work to capture the mind and bring out the importance of the thought expressed.

That being said, there are two cautions to keep in mind. First, modern technology has made spiritual conferences far more abundant and far more available than they would have been just one generation ago, so it is easy to allow ourselves to binge on such things, and this aid to our spiritual life suddenly can become a hindrance.

Second, spiritual conferences are not (and I repeat, not) a substitute for spiritual reading. The constant noise of the modern world has left us unable to think or focus for long periods of time, and this is a great obstacle to pursuing mental prayer and other spiritual disciplines. Therefore, we need to learn how to regain our concentration which spiritual reading can help. If we only rely on spiritual talks and videos, while we might be gaining knowledge, we are also filling our minds with more noise.

How then are we to make good use of this means of growth in the spiritual life? With respect to Scripture, if you are not already reading Scripture on a daily basis, you can start that right now, even without a spiritual director. Read one chapter of the New Testament every day. It will take you between five and 10 minutes, and you will get through the entire New Testament in less than nine months.

With regard to spiritual reading, again, it is best to first consult with one’s spiritual director. It is very easy fall into the trap of choosing something either too advanced and falling into discouragement, or choosing something too basic and wasting one’s time.

When you have chosen a good spiritual book, spend no more than 15 minutes a day on spiritual reading. It should be just enough to give us a good thought to reflect on for the rest of the day. The object is quality, not quantity.

Finally, with regard to spiritual conferences and videos, again, consult with your spiritual director, but be very careful not to go to excess.

This week, if we are not already doing so, it is time to take on the challenge of spiritual reading so that we may continue to grow in our life of holiness, and desire for the life of perfection.

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