St. Augustine's Confessions

This was a beautiful account of one man's spiritual journey away from God and back again.  St. Augustine had had a Christian upbringing as his mother St. Monica was a pious Christian woman, but he fell away from the faith when he went away to school and became overly occupied with worldly ambitions and pleasures.  Given how common this trajectory still is today, it was surprising how familiar his story seemed when it was written 1,700 years ago.

Many have commented on how unnecessarily nitpicky St. Augustine seems to be about sin, like when he talks about the incident with the pears when he was a child.  While the pears in themselves are a minor thing, you have to admit that there is something very disordered about a child stealing pears, not primarily because they look good and he wants to eat them, but because he enjoys the act of stealing. It's the difference between pursuing a good thing in the wrong way and enjoying evil for its own sake.  One would think that any parent aware of such a tendency in his child would consider it a serious fault and take steps to correct it instead of dismissing it as childish pranks.

The autobiographical part of the <i>Confessions</i> is in Books 1-9, and then the 10th book is an interesting read about the nature of memory--at the end of which is his most famous (and one of my favorite prayers): "Late have I loved you."  In Books 11-13 he gets into philosophical and theological matters that were way beyond me, so I just skimmed through that part.

I read the French edition translated by Robert d'Andilly, which was beautifully clear and easy to read.  I'm sure this book has been translated into most languages by now.

Stages on the Road, by Sigrid Undset

This is a collection of six essays written by Sigrid Undset in the 1930's.  The theme that is common to all is that each details how various ideas or attitudes that had been established by the Catholic Church and that helped shape Western culture were lost when the faith in which they originated was lost or adulterated--starting with the Reformation.

In the first four essays, she presents a Catholic idea or custom, how it disappeared or is disappearing, then shows how that idea was manifested through the life of a prominent Catholic, many of whom are now canonized as saints.  I liked how she picked less well-known people because it gave me the opportunity to learn about them.  The four are:
- Spanish mystic Ramon Lull de Palma, who established a monastery in North Africa to enable friars to study Hebrew and Arabic, and whose goal was to spread the faith through persuasion and argument as Christ had directed
- English martyrs St. Robert Southwell and St. Margaret Clitherow, victims of the state taking control of the church
- Italian founder of the Ursuline order, St. Angela Merici, whose life shows how women with unconventional callings were respected in Catholic societies

<I>To St. James</I> is about the harmfulness of the sin of gossip--one that is only all too neglected today.
The last,  <I>Reply to a Parish Priest</I> deals with later developments in the Christian world that are controversial issues even today, such as changes in the definition of marriage, and euthanasia.

The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict

Concise little biography of St. Benedict that is perfect for those who want to learn what this saint was about. I would have liked for it to go into more detail about the Benedictine Rule, as this saint is known for setting up numerous monasteries and establishing the traditions for Christian monastic life.