Rector's Rambling - July 24, 2011 - Books

I have a confession to make. Since mid-April I have hardly read any books. You are probably saying to yourself, “so?” But I have come to realize two very important things about my life as a priest.
First, I need to be frequently engaged in the written word. I remember a series of public service announcements on television with the tag line, “never stop learning”. Reading (and listening to books or lectures on tape while driving) is the primary way I do this. I need to read to keep my mind sharp and to grow in my knowledge and understanding of our Lord and His Church, as well as to become well-rounded in other academic pursuits. Although I tend towards reading things theological and hagiographical (biographies of the saints), I also enjoy an occasional fictional book or secular biography as well. Additionally, I have several small devotional works that I like to read and re-read for their spiritual benefits.
Second, I have come to realize that from mid-April to early July baseball gets in the way of my reading time. Between being on the local Little League board, coordinating the concession stand and volunteers, helping to coach, and being present at my sons’ games, four or five of my evenings are taken up by baseball.
Now that our baseball season has ended for the summer, I am looking forward to getting back into the habit of regular reading. I have already lined up some books for the next few weeks/months: the Autobiography of Mark Twain (vol. 1), The Sunflower by Simon Weissenthal, Bring it by Tony Horton, Where the Hell is God? by Richard Leonard, S.J., After this Life by Benedict Groeschel, CFR, The Romance of Orthodoxy by Homer Rogers, Jesus of Nazareth and New Outpourings of the Spirit by Joseph Ratzinger, Heaven and Earth in Little Space by Andrew Burnham, and Anglo-Catholic in Religion: T.S. Eliot and Christianity by Barry Spurr. Somewhere in there I will pick up a fiction book or two to cleanse the palate.
What are you reading this summer?