Years ago, I was chatting with a new priest at my parish, and I asked him my favorite get-to-know-you question: “What’s your favorite book?”
“Oh, I’m not really much of a reader,” he laughed.
The conversation moved on, but I remained surprised. The books I’ve read have shaped my own faith so deeply that I almost couldn’t comprehend a person of faith not liking to read. Of course, many saints throughout the centuries were illiterate, but they heard and responded to the stories of Jesus and the saints — and books are simply stories.
Probably most of us have had the experience of reading something that changed our lives. Whether it was a new way of doing something or a different outlook on the world, the stories we read shape our characters and personalities in ways large and small.
But can books actually change who we are as moral beings? Can books shape your soul? I’ve thought they can for a long time, thanks to my own encounters with soul-shaping books.
I thought of that conversation with the priest when I read Pope Francis’ new “Letter on the role of literature in formation.” He writes about how reading good books can make us better people, speaking first about priests in particular and then expanding it to include all Christians.
A priest is like a poet, he writes, in noticing things unseen and penetrating to the heart of the human condition. Not just priests, but all who take seriously the interior life and spiritual realities, can benefit from reading great literature.
Let’s take a look at how books can impact our spiritual lives.
Awakening to our humanity
I found the Pope’s reflections very moving, so I reached out to my favorite resource for understanding how books can make us better people, an international book club organization called Well-Read Mom.
Colleen Hutt, Director of Literary Evangelization for Well-Read Mom, shared with Aleteia her reaction to Pope Francis’ new letter.
“I was delighted to see it and wholeheartedly agree that what we need is ‘a radical change of course’ with regard to our education,” she said. “As we become more dependent upon technology and artificial intelligence, I am grateful Pope Francis is challenging us to awaken our humanity!”
Stories stay in our memories in a deeper way than anything else we know. “Stories show us the depravity of sin and the greatness for which we are created by artfully crafting images that move our hearts,” Hutt said.
Books that shape us
She mentioned two books in particular that she remembers as formative to moral character:
1
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Reading Les Miserables, I was moved by Jean Valjean‘s perseverance, as he crawled through stench and filth, with Marius on his back, to give his life for another. When I am challenged to find the strength to keep loving, I think of Valjean and I am encouraged to take another step.
2
The Picture of Dorian Gray
We might know theologically that sin stains the soul, but when we read a book like The Picture of Dorian Gray, we see that precept enfleshed. The disfigured portrait of Dorian reminds us our daily choices matter. Sin and selfishness corrupts our beauty and darkens the mind.
Mind and soul
A great story can change not only our minds but our very souls. To put it more formally, literature informs both our moral imagination — “providing us with examples to follow when we might not know what to do or how to act” — and our sacramental imagination — “the ability to believe there is more to life than what is simply materially present.”
As the head and the heart work together to read a book, transformation becomes possible. Hutt explained:
For the past 12 years, Well-Read Mom has seen firsthand how literature transforms lives. In Well-Read Mom, our mission is to accompany women in the reading of great books and spiritual classics to encourage personal growth, friendship, and meaningful conversation in order to explore the human condition and re-orient ourselves to what is good, true, and beautiful. We are just beginning our 12th year and we invite you to join us!
Reclaiming leisure and prioritizing reading helps us to “see our own beautiful, mysterious, created existence more clearly and get a better picture of how to live in this world and prepare for the next.”
Loving God and loving people can never be separated, she said, so when we grow in our humanity, we become closer to God.
“Perhaps literature could be a new entry point to bring people to God by bringing forth the deepest questions of human existence? Thank you, Pope Francis, for encouraging us to grow!”
And today we celebrate...