The Pope on Reading Literature

Today’s post is getting cross listed with the NDQ Blog, but it felt appropriate in either place. One thing that I consistently regret is that I don’t have enough time to get anything but professional reading done (and even then my pile of “things to read” far outpaces my pile of things read). 

Anyway, the post is below and maybe it’ll motivate me to read more broadly over the coming year:  

The Pope doesn’t get much space on the ole NDQ blog, but his recent letter on the topic of reading literature seems relevant to our NDQ readers.

Pope Francis originally intended to direct his July 17th letter “On the Role of Literature in Formation,”  toward those studying for the priesthood, but soon decided that it was relevant to all Christians. 

The letter is worth reading in full and is filled with gentle wisdom and Francis’s easy familiarity with ancient and modern authors. These allow him to build a strong case for reading fiction. Not only does literature help us with the mundane realities of living in the world, but also : 

“…in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind.”

The Pope tells us that reading isn’t just about taming our inner life, but also fortifies discernment (which is all the more important these days in the US):

“…literature, then, sensitizes us to the relationship between forms of expression and meaning. It offers a training in discernment, honing the capacity of the future priest to gain insight into his own interiority and into the world around him. Reading thus becomes the “path” leading him to the truth of his own being and the occasion for a process of spiritual discernment that will not be without its moments of anxiety and even crisis. Indeed, numerous pages of literature correspond to what Saint Ignatius calls spiritual “desolation”.” 

Literature also helps us build empathy, which is something that almost any reader knows, but always bears repeating:

“Borges explained this idea to his students by saying that at first they may understand very little of what they are reading, but in any case they are hearing “another person’s voice”. This is a definition of literature that I like very much: listening to another person’s voice. We must never forget how dangerous it is to stop listening to the voice of other people when they challenge us! We immediately fall into self-isolation; we enter into a kind of “spiritual deafness”, which has a negative effect on our relationship with ourselves and our relationship with God, no matter how much theology or psychology we may have studied.”

Check out the entire letter here.

~

Bill Caraher is the editor of NDQ.