In a time of war: Read!
As the Second World War is in full swing, many recently married couples are still travelling to Rome in the summer of 1940 to receive the blessing of the Vicar of Christ, at that time Pope Pius XII. Surprisingly in his speeches, the Holy Father is not addressing directly the reality of the beautiful sacrament of marriage that they received but the readings... the good and the bad readings!
Peace like the white dove of the flood could not find where to land on the earth flooded by violence, but nevertheless the Pope wants to focus the attention of the young couples of a world without hope toward “distractions”.
Speech to newlyweds on July 31, 1940 and on August 7, 1940. The quotes of this article will be taken from these two speeches.
The Pope Pacelli, under his beautiful pen, takes the time to explain first what the book is, what reading is and shows then how there are two kind of books: the ones that built our past and lead us to heaven, the ones that are a poison leading the soul toward an enmity with God.
In this time of Lent, it is good for us to remember not only that some books are our sworn enemies but also that some of them are our best friends, friends waiting for us to blow off the dust that covers their pages. It is evident that we only change well what we replace. Fasting from the screens and thinking that we can just sit on the counch without doing anything will lead us back to the screens: pick up a book!
The importance of reading
“To read is to enter through more or less complicated graphic signs into the thoughts of others.” And we will find two kinds of thoughts and therefore two kinds of books: “The thoughts of the just are judgments: and the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood: the mouth of the just shall deliver them.”
More than a simple word, the book, collections of words is what the Sovereign Pontiff describes as an “a flame that can smoulder under the ashes or a faint glow in the night, a glow that suddenly reignites, beneficent or devastating.” The book can be, like the sanctuary lamp leading us to the divine host of the Tabernacle or on the contrary can be a volcano that leaves entire cities in desolation.
Later on in his speech, the Holy Father asks all the couples standing in the front of him: “Why are you determined to create a home where Jesus is King and where you can pass on to your children the family treasure of Christian virtues?” And he answers that it comes from the faith they received at their baptism, “because your parents, your parish priest, your teachers taught you by word and by example to do Proverbs 12:5-6 good and avoid evil.” It is what is best in us. But he invites them to go deeper in their memories: “But examine your memories even better, among the best and the more decisive ones, your will probably find the memory of a beneficient book.” On the other hand if we want to examine what is worse in us, to understand why our imagination is wounded, you will also certainly find a bad book along with bad friends, bad movies, bad music,...
The happy influence of good reading
There are many saints who were converted by reading. We could spend these lines on the famous “Tolle, lege - take and read” that was adressed to saint Augustine and lead to his conversion. It was the reading of the Holy Bible.
But there is another shining example in the life of the Church, the example of a saint full of the fire of apostolate, who before reading...was a knight thirsty of glory and pleasures. This saint is Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. Wounded by a bullet under the walls of Pamplona he had to recover in a bleak castle. To get rid of bore dom he would have like to read chivalry or romance novels, liked the famous Amadis, but none of these books were around. He was forced to read the other ones that were available: the Great Life of Our Lord by Ludolph the Carthusian, or the Golden Legends (reading on the saints) written by Jacobus de Voragine. After a while, under the horizon of Inigo de Loyola new heroes took place of the soldiers in armor, silhouettes of saints that before he only glimpsed in short instants of prayer: “the shadows of martyrs covered with blood, monks with grey hoods, virgins with lily clothes took shape.” The admiration turned into imitation.
Everybody probably remembers a good book, an edifying story that brought tears...reading it that evening your heart stopped beat ing and the Holy Ghost marked your soul so deeply that it is still enlightening your path today.
A good book has many advantages. If you can turn a deaf ear to the advice of your parents, of your spouse,...they will give up, but the book will never abondon you, always keeping for you “the salutary bitterness of his reproaches, the clear light of his advice.” And these reproaches or comforting words will adress themselves to you under the silence of a lamp and through your eyes alone “no one will hear his voice but your own heart.”
We could now warn against the poison of the bad books but let us rather give some concrete advice to give an importance reading in our family lives.
Have my family read and love reading
The child needs to learn how to read on mother’s lap, taking the time to examine the pictures at first, to describe them and then as he knows how to read to have books adapted to his age (font size, vocabulary, stories,...).
It is important in the family to have moment of silence and of reading, where the example of the whole family leads toward good books and often results in interesting discussions. It is very important for the child - because he will soon be a teenager - and cultivating openess is necessary.
The moments are important, but also the place, the library, the covers, from the old books to the new ones. The book is respected and loved for its real value. It does not mean that we need to have only lives of saints, but the action needs to unfold in a whole some and upright background, a path of virtue.
And the Pope to end said: “Seek the good in this area as in others, make it a habit to live under God’s gaze and faithful to his law: You will then make your home an intimate Tabor inaccessible to the miasma of the plain and where you will be able to say with St. Peter: “Master, it is good for us to be here.”
by Father Michel Rion