Read Up On Your Faith

17 Jul

“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.”  ~ J.D. Salinger

The wonderful thing about today’s quote is we have such a person present to all of us.  There is a book that we could read and, when done reading it, we could contact the author any time of the day, any day of the week.  The book, of course, is the Bible, and the person, of course, is God.

Reading does a lot of things for us.  It opens our minds to new ideas.  It beefs up our vocabulary.  It strengthens our comprehension.  It makes us more familiar with concepts.  It helps to occupy our time.  And so much more.

I can never thank my mother enough for instilling in me the desire to read.  We always had books in our home — the Reader’s Digest condensed books, the Encyclopedia Britannica, and others — as well as many magazines and periodicals.  When I was younger, I used to comb through them looking at pictures or for cartoons.  As I got older, the stories caught my attention and I began to read.  And read.  And read.

I still do a lot of reading.  I have shared in homilies that I love a good murder mystery.  I also like historical books.  I typically read a novel a week, at least.  I always encourage others to read as well.

Not only do I read murder mysteries and historical reports; but, I enjoy good spiritual reading as well.  I love the lives of the saints particularly.  They give me new insights into accepting God’s will and trying to accomplish it as best I can.

Read up on the faith.  Find the type of spiritual reading that appeals to you.  There are many genres out there.  As you read, you should feel someone there with you.  That would be the Lord.  Use the time with the book to get closer to the Lord.  There are endless possibilities.

FAITH ACTION:  Read a favorite story from the Bible or find a good book on spirituality and begin reading it.