How spiritual reading helps me & why you NEED to do it

How spiritual reading helps me & why you NEED to do it

How it began

As a child, I enjoyed reading. At the age of twelve, I stopped reading in my spare time because video games were a higher priority. As an adult, I aspired to get back into reading and finally tried again at about twenty-six. I read a few books during that time and my reading started to become more routine. At this time, I had inherited some books from a family estate including some Bibles as well as hooker books. I was really enjoying reading the hooker books. I had started with one which was the memoir of a hooker from around the 60s or 70s. She was quite successful. Anyway, I stopped reading that series when I opened the Bible finally and began my conversion.

At this point, I tossed the hooker books in the trash can. On Father’s Day of 2024 my wife gave me Imitation of Saint Joseph, a book I thoroughly enjoyed. Imitation of Saint Joseph interestingly sparked an interest in Mary. My wife had been engaged in spiritual reading for a few months up to this point, so I knew she had the goods. I asked my wife if she had any books about Mary. She handed me True Devotion to Mary by Saint Louis de Montfort. It was straight downhill from there.

How it grew

After Saint Louis de Montfort enraptured my love for Mary, I needed more. I needed more of these books. Spiritual reading was an irrevocable life changing form of God’s grace. My wife reminded me of the $5 book sale from TAN books. I had previously told her we couldn’t afford it but all of a sudden, we now had room in our budget. I started by reading one book at a time, then two, then three. Some would say I had a problem, but the only problem I had was the fact that there were more books than I could read. We were able to stay on top of our reading with the books we were ordering but with time, the bookshelves filled faster than we could empty them. I dare not count the books we have yet to read, mostly because I could spend that time reading. But in all seriousness, it was an amazing thing to read such timeless works from amazing authors.

How its going

We finally decided we will stop ordering books for a while, although we still have to actually act on this, so there is that. Why did I spiral out of control so quick? Because spiritual reading is an amazing way to spend time. We all like to grow closer to God each and every day but many of us struggle to carve out time. Morning and evening prayer is always a good place to start as well as prayer before meals or any significant activity. Spiritual reading particularly gives us an opportunity to slow down and relax while growing close to God. We can turn off the TV and put down the phone to be alone with the writings of amazing authors, many of which are saints.

Why you should engage in Spiritual reading

If you take time to read just 30 minutes a day, you will experience amazing spiritual growth.  There are many ways to start spiritual reading. As I mentioned, there are book sales. Each month, publishers such as TAN Books and Sophia Institute Press offer sales so we can purchase books at prices that don’t hurt. This gives us the opportunity to try a number of books and follow God’s path through the writings He has given us through these countless authors. I also understand it can be challenging to try to find 30 minutes a day for reading; after all, 30 minutes for a workout, 30 minutes for family time, 30 minutes for this get-rich-quick scheme, all add up to more time than you have. But I promise you that 30 minutes of spiritual reading will be time well spent. I have a list of 5 reasons why you should prioritize spiritual reading.

Reason 1

Spiritual reading offers an easy means to make time to let God into our lives. We live in the modern world, a world that is constantly trying to shove itself into our souls. If we do not make time to allow God into our lives, then we leave space for the world, space that is better filled by God. Time spent in spiritual reading is the solution to this. I have heard from a number of people that prayer is when we speak to God and spiritual reading is when God speaks to us. God does this by speaking through the countless authors that He has inspired with fervent love and devotion. We can read their writings to help us hear God through their love for Him.

Reason 2

Spiritual reading helps us better understand the Word of God in the Scriptures. Catholic books are filled with references to the Holy Scriptures, sometimes with explanations and other times with using verses to develop the context for their writing. These books offer us the opportunity to read the Scriptures in various contexts to increase our familiarity and understanding with the Bible. This also helps inspire us to read the Bible more frequently, with the benefit of a stronger understanding. Additionally, spiritual reading gives us the opportunity to truly enter into the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church. These authors left us historical writings and recounts from their lives, immersing us in the various aspects and development of the beautiful Catholic Tradition. This Tradition helps us build a truly Catholic life so that we may better understand the Scriptures.

Reason 3

Spiritual reading helps to develop and reinforce our faith. We live in an anti-Christian world. It is important to be constantly developing our faith to strengthen us as a Christian in this secular world. There are many people who will lovingly oppose us from various walks of life. It is our responsibility to be lovingly prepared for this friction and opposition by being educated in the faith. I have heard all sorts of wild statements in opposition to the Catholic Faith, many of which I have already been blessed to lovingly combat through the means of spiritual reading. This will also help us to be grounded in our faith and to remember that we may not know an answer, but we know there is a book on it!

Reason 4

Spiritual reading helps cultivate virtue. Many of these books are written by true Saints who recorded their own practices and teachings that have helped them become saints in heaven. We can reap this beautiful harvest of knowledge by reading their words and applying their teachings to cultivate virtue within ourselves. These virtues help us to become better people and an expression of the fruit of the Catholic Church.

Reason 5

Spiritual reading forces us to slow down. Reading a book is not that same as YouTube and podcasts. This may sound weird from someone on YouTube, but reading surpasses these digital means of education. While they have their place, they do not substitute the experience of reading. Reading a book allows us to turn off the electrical devices and open a book made from the fruit of God’s earth and the souls of His saints. Videos and podcasts are great to listen to while driving or engaged in some menial task, but they do not offer for us to slow down and process things. When we hear something intriguing, it is rare to pause it and internalize, instead we let the clip play to keep listening. In contrast, it is very easy to pause in the middle of the book and internalize something that stands out. We can read slower and easily re-read certain parts to take our time rather than trying to get to the end of a video. Sometimes it can be nice to be forced to slow down and let things soak in. This can end up permeating other parts of our lives where time moves too fast.

Conclusion

As I mentioned earlier, we have numerous things vying for an extra 30 minutes out of our day, but spiritual reading is a very important thing to consider. It offers us time to listen to God, and in this, we speak back to Him through prayerful contemplation of the words of His saints. We can cultivate the garden of hearts with the waters of these spiritual works so that we may bear fruit that can help us, our families, and our eternity. Spiritual reading has changed my life, it can change yours too.