Top 3 Life-changing Books

[Kateri89]

If you had to name the top three books that had the most impact on your spiritual life, what would they be?  We can just go ahead and assume that the Bible and Catechism are essential for pretty much everyone so leave those off your list please.

 

I'd have to say that mine are (not necessarily in this order):

 

1) Story of a Soul

2) The Way

3) Screwtape Letters (what can I say, C.S. Lewis is fantastic)

 

I'm choosing these three because I'm always quoting them and I can apply something from them to my life at any given time.

[Spem in alium]

In no particular order:

 

1. Jesus: The Man Who Lives (Malcolm Muggeridge).

2. Finding God in All Things: Companion to the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius (William A. Barry, SJ).

3. The Lord's Prayer (R.T. Kendall).

[missionseeker]

Love and responsibility
Person and being by Fr. Clark? Norris?
And orthodoxy by Chesterton.

[To Jesus Through Mary]

1. Imitation of Christ- Thomas Kempis

2. Practicing the Love of Jesus Christ- St Alphonsus Liguori

3. Introduction to the Devout Life- St. Francis de Sales

[BG45]

Hmm...spiritual life...

 

1.  Rome Sweet Home - Scott Hahn

2.  The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

3.  Unplanned - Abby Johnson.  (An awe inspiring true story of God's Grace and forgiveness.)

 

Edit:  Honorable Mention:  Milestones - Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.  (An autobiography, it's amazing.)

[beatitude]

1.) The Imitation of Christ - Thomas a Kempis. If you haven't read it, this would make a fine Advent or Lent book - very short, simple and profound chapters that make it easy to divide up and digest over a period of time. It's also one of the most achingly beautiful testaments to the love of God that I've ever read.

 

2.) The Hiding Place - Corrie ten Boom. Corrie was a Dutch Protestant who was incarcerated with her sister in a concentration camp for hiding Jews during the Holocaust. Her sister died in the camp. This book is their story. It is valuable to me because of what Corrie says about forgiveness. After the war she had a chance encounter with one of their former camp guards who had since become a Christian, and remembering her sister's death, she had to choose how to react.

 

3.) 'Spiritual Canticle' - St John of the Cross. A poem rather than a book, it had a deep impression on me when I read it as a teenager and has shaped my prayer ever since.

 

[abon12]

Imitation of Christ

Introduction to Devout Life

lives of saints, in particular St Francis of Assisi and St John Vianney 

 

[Basilisa Marie]

Prayer for Beginners - Kreeft

Discipleship - Bonhoeffer (hey, even Lutherans have some good ideas!)

Story of a Soul

 

[Oremoose]

1 the bible
2 The practice of the Love of Jesus Christ By Ligouri (from his larger book on the Holy Eucharist)

3.Time for God by Jacques Philippe ( I have not finished it but I am loving it thus far!)

 

[Amppax]

1) Ordinary Work, Extraordinary Grace by Dr. Scott Hahn. This is Dr. Hahn's popular introduction to the spirituality of Opus Dei. A friend of mine kept inviting me to lectures about Opus Dei my freshman year, which I always avoided because I distrusted Opus Dei. This book changed my mind, and I'm very glad it did.

2) The Way, Furrow, and The Forge by Josemaria Escriva (it's one volume so it counts!). After I was Dr. Hahn's book, I went ou and bought this. I always find something in here. He's rapidly become my favorite saint.

3) Conversing with God in Scripture by Stephen Binz. Funny enough, I wouldn't actually recommend this book. It's an intro to Lectio Divina, and reading it was part of what helped me start praying with scripture.

[CatholicsAreKewl]

1. Padre Pio: Man of Hope

2. Every Day is an Atheist Holiday

3. Green Eggs and Ham

[Not The Philosopher]

- The Sickness Unto Death, by Soren Kierkegaard.

- True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort

- Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton

[MithLuin]

1)  The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I was an avid reader for years, and always had my nose in a book in middle school.  When I read that....I found what I was looking for.  I still read, but it's not the same as before. I'd say that counts as a life-changing book!

 

2)  The Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Thomas of Celano.  

Yes, St. Bonaventure's 'Life' is the more popular one, but I prefer the first life written after St. Francis' death.

 

3)  The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross.  

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I could tell that [i]he did[/i]... and that was pretty mind boggling.  St. Teresa of Avila's Interior Castle is more accessible to an outsider like me, but I read his first.  

[Eowyn]

True Devotion to Mary  St. Louis de Montfort

Story of a Soul St Therese

A Right to Be Merry Mother Mary Frances

 

[MissyP89]

Mere Christianity, Lewis

The Lamb's Supper, Hahn

And I'm not finished yet, but The Kingdom of God is Like... by Thomas Keating.