My Essential Catholic Reading List

Image from: www.westernseminary.edu

This is my list of essential Catholic texts. I've mentioned these texts elsewhere, but I thought they were worth gathering all in one place:

1. The Bible (RSV - Catholic Edition)
2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
3. Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life - Papal Encyclical against contraception, Pope Paul VI, 1968)
4. Story of a Soul, Saint Thérèse de Lisieux and The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis
5. The Theology of the Body, by St. John Paul II
6. The Lives of the Saints

1. Yes, I realize The Bible isn't only for Catholics, but the RSV Revised Standard Version - Catholic Edition) is one of the more common versions approved by the Catholic Church. This is important to note, since many of us also use our Bibles for the study of Scripture, and this version of the Bible (besides being complete) strikes a good balance between offering an understandable translation, and the non-intrusive use of Greek and Latin terminology, also very important for study.

In passing, the Catholic Church believes that it is difficult to believe in the fullness of God's revelation when the Bible upon which a religion is based does not read the fullness of the Word.

2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church is an extremely important text for Catholics. If a Catholic (or non-Catholic for that matter) wants to know what the Church believes (and why the Church believes what it does) this text explains it. Line by line it explains the theological underpinnings of the Nicene and Apostle's Creeds, the Our Father, what the Sacraments are, the offices of the Church, the divinity of Christ, the Virginity of Mary and her true status in the Church, along with all of the basic tenets of our religion. The CCC is an indispensable text in a Catholic's religious life.

3. Humanae Vitae was released in 1968 by Pope Paul VI as part of the Catholic Church's attempt to explain the theological basis against married couple's use of contraception (The Pill), including voluntary sterilization. It is important to note that one of Pope Paul VI's advisers on the document was Carol Wojtyla (who would become Pope John Paul II and eventually St. John Paul II). I would argue that this is one of the most important social, political and religious texts of the twentieth century. In addition, Pope John Paul II claimed that The Theology of the Body (his amazing new understanding of modern society and modern humanity) was an attempt to unpack, to explain Humanae Vitae. Since Humanae Vitae is concerned with the issue of humanity's response to a radical change in sexuality, a primordial human drive, this text is of supreme importance.

4. St. Thérèse's The Story of A Soul shows us one of the most humble souls in action. In her biography, St. Therese offers her to serving God - as all the saints do. But St. Thérèse shows us that we are all God's children, that we are all called to offer our daily work to God, regardless of the ordinariness of that work, or our station in life. She is an extreme person, both in her overblown reactions to people's criticisms, and in her devotion to God, but that is the beauty of her biography. When we are serving God, should we not all be extreme? Can we ever say, "I've done enough?"

I've included Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ here with St. Therese because she was obviously highly influenced by this monk's devotion. He, too, was a bit of an extremist in his humility, but The Imitation is an extremely sobering account of a truly devout man who, once again, offers the reader a challenge to true devotion to God. Are we up to accepting this challenge? Also, although the whole text is worth reading, the last section (20 pages) is a beautiful meditation on the Eucharist. I have never read such love for the Living Bread of Life that we Catholics are called to receive for Holy Communion. If you want to know why the Eucharist is so important to the Catholic Church, this section explains it. We (Catholics) might not all have this reverent attitude towards the Eucharist, but we should. As a Kempis says, "If angels can be jealous of mere man, they are jealous of us since we can get closer to Christ than even they can by partaking of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion" (a Kempis, Imitation, paraphrase)

5. The Theology of the Body is just beginning to be understood and integrated into the Catholic Church's basic teachings. This "new" theology (it is not new and every word of John Paul II's interpretation is in accordance with traditional Catholic teaching and with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church) will change the world in the twenty-first century and beyond. The TOB is a life-affirming response to the Culture of Death (a term encompassing abortion, euthanasia, pornography, etc, as a disregard for the value of human life and dignity). The theology is based on the fact that God made men and women - and that it was good. Their intimate union is natural and expected, and welcomed by God, so long as the man and woman give themselves to each other in a total emptying of self, where there is no using of the other for any reason, including sexual gratification. The marital union of man and woman points to the Heavenly Feast that God promises us, once we too are resurrected body and soul in the afterlife.

The problem occurs when Satan, plagiarizer and father of lies, convinces us (as he did Adam and Eve) that we are not to trust God to give us what we want and we should grasp it, regardless of whether the other person wants to give it to us. Since the Fall of man, we have been under the influence of Satan's warping sexuality and eros to lead us away from the true afterlife. Instead of trusting that God will provide for us (if intimate union feels great here on earth, imagine what this will feel like in Heaven?). And so we grasp at what we can here on Earth, and we use others and are used by others, and we lose our way on this earthly pilgrimage toward Heaven. Satan is happy, knowing that we idolize sex, promiscuity, pornography, etc. (overindulging in the immediate sensations) and by doing so we keep ignoring God's call that He has something better for us, if we just take a moment and become aware of our actions.

The TOB is not equal to the repression of our desires. The belief that sex, or our bodies, or feelings, are bad is a Manichean heresy. Catholics do not (should not, ever!) believe that. Nor is prudishness acceptable. Sex is good. Why? Because God created us as sexual beings, as Man and Woman. And everything that God creates is good. All He asks is that we remain aware of the divinity of our actions.

He gave us the gift of life, He expects us to pass it on, therefore we should not thwart God's plans by using contraception! (Do you begin to see how Satan enters the picture here?) God created us as complete persons (body and soul) and He expects us to treat each other as complete persons should, namely we should love the whole person, body and soul. He expects us to give ourselves completely (as His Son did by dying on the Cross). Can we claim to ever do that? Of course not. But we should at least try. 

I hope I've given you a sense of why I consider those five (or six) books to be of primordial importance to understanding and developing one's Catholic faith. I will, over time and between promoting my fiction, post other thoughts on Catholic theology.

If you click on the Book Review tag you can track down my short reviews of most of the texts mentioned above.

Thank you for reading!

Addendum, June 30, 2014:
When I first wrote my blog post, I forgot to include one of my favorite texts to the list: The Lives of the Saints. I recommend this text to everyone who wants to witness how men and women throughout history have lived a faith-filled life and, oftentimes, the price they willingly paid for living that life. The best part of this text is that one can read and meditate upon one saint per day. A truly inspiring year-long spiritual exercise!

Once again,
Thank you for reading!

~JT~