Summer Spiritual Reading Suggestions
As summer approaches we think of sun and vacations, generally a let down from the rest of the year push and a certain lightness. With the long light and relaxation it is a good time to contemplate, during this green season of Pentecost, the wonders of our gift of life and our relation to the Creator. No better way to do this than to read spiritually and deeply. We polled the hilltop community and got the following suggestions from their all time favorites or present passions.
From Sr. Mary Angela comes the following:
- Robert Barron: And Now I See. Origen said, “Holiness is seeing with the eyes of Christ.” Barron shows how authors from Milton to Faulkner see this holiness;
- David Adams: Eye of the Eagle and The Cry of the Deer. The Celts saw God in and through things. These books use two famous Celtic Hymns, “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” and “Be Thou My Vision” to help us see; and
- Richard Foster: Celebration of Discipline. Simple and direct basic teaching of the Christian way. Good for beginners, or for review for those who have been praying a long time.
From Sr. Mary Elizabeth comes a delightful suggestion of Beakless Bluebirds & Featherless Penguins by Sr. Barbara Ann of All Saints Episcopal Convent in Maryland. This book sets an account of the raising of two disabled bluebirds within the stillness of the hours and days of monastic life — a true story.
Fr. Jeff recommends a perennial favorite of his, The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen. “He shows how silence, solitude, and prayer can move us from anger and fear into compassion and freedom. This is a wonderful book for restoring perspective.”
Jan Armstrong urges us to read Eugene H. Peterson, particularly, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society. Peterson says that “Religion in our time has been captured by a tourist mindset,” and then leads us through the Gradual Psalms (Psalms120-134), as a framework to build an understanding of what it means to grow and deepen our relationship with God.