I am presently working on a course for Holy Apostles, for seminarians and other students, on the Spiritual Classics. Simultaneously with the assignment to prepare this course, I got an ad on e-mail from a business called Professor’s Choice which binds up in pleasant form the anthologies professors put together to replace grunchy looking mish-mashes.
So I am off and running assembling excerpts from the spiritual classics. If any of you want to let me know your favorites I will be happy to consider them. Here is the draft of the table of contents:
St. Augustine’s Confessions
St. Benedict’s Rule
St. Bernard – from Song of Songs
St.Francis – Little Flowers
from St. Bonaventure
St. Gertrude
Blessed Julian(a)
St. Catherine of Siena
Thomas A Kempis
The Cloud of Unknowing
St. Ignatius
St. Teresa of Avila
St. John of the Cross
St. Francis De Sales
Brother Lawrence
St. Therese of Lisieux
Sts. Kolbe, De Montfort, Liguori on Mary
Ven. Conchita
St. Faustina
Also excerpts from
Von Hildebrand
Merton
The Way of the Pilgrim
Nouwen
Escriva
Gabrielle Bossis
Buber Chassidic Tales
Of course when this book comes out I will notify my dear blog readers. Maybe Watershed will be a distributor? No need to wait until then, which might be 2012, to read the classics each day for even 10 minutes. They are wonderful. You can find all these things free on the web.
Read more blog entries by Dr. Ronda by visiting RONDAVIEW. Dr. Ronda Chervin has many free e-books and audios on her website rondachervin.com. If you go to her website and read or listen and then want to correspond with her she will be available. Her schedule does not permit, however, responding to comments on the Blog, though she enjoys reading them. Dr. Ronda’s newest project is spiritualityrunningtogod.com.
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1 Robert Fox says...
From you're list… my favorites are:
Sts. Kolbe
Escriva
St. Therese of Lisieux
St. Catherine of Siena
I would add the writings of Bl. Duns Scotus as they relate the Kingship of Christ and Queenship of Mary. The Friars Immaculate in Griswold CT have excellent resources when it comes to this most fundamental Truth of the faith!
Bl. Scotus' explanation of the "preeminence" of these titles of "King and Queen" in the world mitigates against the false ecumenism, syncretism and proportionalism which is often present in the modern day Catholic texts.
Also… any work which emphasizes a Christology and ecclesiology which gives an authentic interpretation of the Social Reign of Christ the King would be essential in the formation of the modern day Catholic priest. It is precisely this loss of a sense of the "Social Reign" which causes many Catholics to doubt the veracity of the claims that the Catholic Church has on our lives (regardless of the rite or even the so called "denomination" of Christianity). It is what makes the "career Catholic" tick. It is destructive and disorienting. This is how we have so many dedicated and fervent pro abortion Catholic politicians receiving Holy communion with nary a peep from the clergy. How confusing and HORRIFFIC that would have been to ANY of the names in your beautiful list.
The very popular sense that the present crisis is "not a crisis of faith but a crisis of culture" is an easy excuse for the mess we find our culture and our Holy Church in. And I have heard many who are in charge of forming priests use this "sophisticated cop-out". But the fact is that the way the Church goes… so goes the civilization around her.
In short dear Rhonda… I would emphasize that the requirements of being an effective subject of the King and Queen of Heaven are such that… as these saints did… we charitably but forcefully reject the many syncretistic ideas which well meaning Catholics hold as the only remaining dogmas today. This is the "EcuMania" which has crept into modern day houses of sacerdotal formation. And a list of these types of classics ought to cut that kind of relativism out altogether. It isn't popular… but it happens to be true. If one is effective at this… then one will know it because one will get a litle "heat" for re-introducing these simple time tested truths.
Best of luck (or should I say Divine Providence?) in putting this all together.
Ave Maria!
Bob
Posted at 12:36 p.m. on August 8, 2011