Spiritual Reading for (Young) Men
3 books that are neither too pius nor too gimmicky
The phrase “spiritual reading” can conjure up many different images, depending on your experience. For some, it offers a picture of self-discipline, a commitment to growing in faith; for others it’s a pius but boring practice engaged in dutifully; and for still others ‘spiritual reading’ sounds vaguely new-agey or woo-y.
The Christian tradition has always encouraged the practice of reading spiritually encouraging and uplifting works–or for many people in many centuries until reading and books became standard for all–hearing uplifting stories or words that would inspire the listener to a deeper life of faith.
Certainly the scriptures hold pride of place in spiritual reading, but from the earliest times, Christians were sharing stories of martyrdom, letters of encouragement, and rules of life among themselves, as well as defenses and explanations of their ways of life to their pagan friends and neighbours.
Young men (by which I mean any age from teens on up) who are in the most physically active stage of life, coupled with a brain that’s rebuilding itself and hormones that can rage like tornadoes, often need, shall we say, extra encouragement in spiritual reading.
One of the problems with many suggestions for spiritual reading is that they can tend towards overly pius emotionalism on the one hand, or gimmicky shallowness on the other.1
The content may be good and true, but the expression often fails to appeal to a young man.
With that said, here are 3 works that have lasting appeal. They make excellent spiritual reading for anyone, but their subject matter and tone make them great suggestions for young men. None of these are ‘easy’ reading, in the sense that they are neither written in simple sentences nor with entirely modern vocabulary. But the stories are gripping, which provides motivation to keep going!
1. The Life of St. Anthony of Egypt by St. Athanasius
Anthony of Egypt (c.251- 356 AD) was a young man raised in a Christian home. Around the age of 18 or 20, his parents died, leaving him the care of his younger sister and the estate. Compelled by the life of Christians in the Acts of the Apostles and Jesus’ own words in the Gospels to the rich young man: “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor,” Anthony did just that.
Now, as his biographer St. Athanasius tells us, there were not many monasteries in Egypt at that time, so Anthony began to try living as a hermit near his village.
“But the devil, who hates and envies what is good, could not endure to see such a resolution in a youth, but endeavoured to carry out against him what he had been wont to effect against others.”
What follows is a tale of (sometimes literal) wrestling with the devil, who uses every trick in the book to lure Anthony away from his life of quiet prayer and work.
“But the enemy, who hates good, marvelling that after the blows he dared to return, called together his hounds and burst forth, 'You see,' said he, 'that neither by the spirit of lust nor by blows did we stay the man, but that he braves us, let us attack him in another fashion.' But changes of form for evil are easy for the devil, so in the night they made such a din that the whole of that place seemed to be shaken by an earthquake, and the demons as if breaking the four walls of the dwelling seemed to enter through them, coming in the likeness of beasts and creeping things. And the place was on a sudden filled with the forms of lions, bears, leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves, and each of them was moving according to his nature. The lion was roaring, wishing to attack, the bull seeming to toss with its horns, the serpent writhing but unable to approach, and the wolf as it rushed on was restrained; altogether the noises of the apparitions, with their angry ragings, were dreadful.”
This would make a great read-aloud for younger boys (just a head’s up on the devil taking the form of a whore) and offers a great opportunity for discussion around spiritual disciplines.
If you know young men who are into Jordan Peterson, or who enjoyed The Screwtape Letters, this is a good fit.
2. The Autobiography of a Hunted Priest by John Gerard, SJ
Born and raised a Catholic in England under the reign of Queen Elizabeth, John Gerard became a Catholic priest in Rome with the desire to return to England and spread the faith. Like many of his contemporaries, he hoped to be a martyr in the end; unlike most of them, his desire was unfulfilled–much to his dismay.
His autobiography (written under obedience to his superiors) reads like a spy novel, detailing his arrival as a priest on English shores disguised as a falconer and his subsequent travels to say mass secretly in Catholic houses. Many had “priest holes” built for hiding these men who would be arrested, tortured, and executed for such activity.
“On Easter Monday we rose earlier than usual for Mass, for we felt that there was danger about. As we were preparing everything for Mass before daybreak we heard, suddenly, a great noise of galloping hooves. The next moment, to prevent any attempt at escape, the house was encircled by a whole troop of men. At once we realized what was afoot. We barred the doors; the altar was stripped, the hiding places opened, and all my books and papers thrown in. It was most important to pack me away first with all my belongings. …
I was hardly tucked away when the pursuviants broke down the door and burst in. They fanned through the house, making a great racket. The first thing they did was shut up the mistress of the house in her own room with her daughters; then they locked up the Catholic servants in different places… they took possession of the place (it was a large house) and began to search everywhere, even lifting up the tiles of the roof to examine underneath them and using candles in the dark corners. When they found nothing, they started knocking down suspicious-looking places. They measured the walls with long rods and if the measurements did not tally they pulled down the section that they could not account for. They tapped every wall and floor for hollow spots; and on sounding anything hollow they smashed it in.
Two days of this revealed nothing…”
Gerard was eventually found and imprisoned in the maximum-security prison, the Tower of London, where he was tortured and confined to a cell, but managed to send out letters with secret messages written in invisible ink. His escape from the Tower in the dead of night will hold any reader enthralled. (This is another great read-aloud for younger ones.)
Particularly striking is Gerard’s own account of his simple faithfulness to prayer in the midst of it all. He does not see himself as any sort of hero; indeed, he sees himself as a ‘failure’ compared to his martyred companions. But he trusts that “what was done, was done by God.”
Whatever your take on the history of this period, Gerard’s heroic life and faithfulness to his mission is incredibly inspiring.
And if you find yourself in England, you can visit one of the houses where he hid, and the Tower he escaped from.
If you know a young man who is keen on history and/ or spy stories, this is a great fit. (And I wish someone would make it an audiobook!)
3. With God in Russia by Walter Ciszek, S.J.
“Ever since my return to America in October 1963–after twenty-there years inside the Soviet Union, fifteen of them spent in Soviet prisons or the prison camps of Siberia–I have been asked two questions above all: ‘What was it like?’ and ‘How did you manage to survive?’ Because so many have asked, I have finally agreed to write this book.”
So begins the story of a man who was in his own words,
“born stubborn. Also, I was tough – not in the polite sense of the word…The fact is nothing to be proud of, but it shows as honestly as I know how to state it what sort of raw material God had to work with.
I was a bully, the leader of a gang, a street-fighter– and most of the fights I picked on purpose, just for devilment. I had no use for school, except insofar as it had a playground where I could fight or wrestle or play sports - any sport. I refused to admit that there was anything along those lines I couldn’t do as well as - or better than– anyone else…. Things were so bad, in fact, that while I was still in grammar school my father actually took me to the police station and insisted that they send me to reform school.”
To his father’s great disbelief, in the eighth grade, Ciszek decided that he wanted to be a priest and stubbornly decided to entire minor seminary for high school. (He credits this to his mother’s persistent prayers.) But seminary did not change his personality:
“It was while I was in seminary that I first read a life of St. Stanislaus Kostka. It impressed me tremendously. I wanted to smash most of the plaster statues that showed him with a sickly sweet look and eyes turned up to heaven; I could see plainly that Kostka was a tough, young Pole who could–and did–walk from Warsaw to Rome through all sorts of weather and show no ill effects whatsoever.”
Ciszek’s natural toughness led him to enter the Society of Jesus and seek entry behind the Iron Curtain as a priest to serve those in labor camps and spread the gospel in a communist land. There he would learn to use those natural traits in service of God and neighbour. In detailing his account of entry into the Soviet Union under a pseudonym, and facing hard labour, starvation, torture, and solitary confinement, Ciszek tries to give the reader a glimpse into the mysterious hand of God’s Providence which guided and protected him throughout his decades of service.
This is a book I always recommend to mothers of wild teenage boys. Have faith, I encourage them: you never know how God will use those crazy gifts.
If you know a young man who loves living on the wild side, or who enjoys post WWII history or stories of survival, this is a great fit.
Of course, these books make great reading for anyone who needs a bit of inspiration to follow Christ more heroically, or who wants to know more about Christians throughout the centuries.
I’d love to hear: do you have any spiritual reading you would recommend? Any books that have helped your faith?
For instance, I loved reading St. Therese’s autobiography, Story of a Soul, in my teen years. But I don’t know any young man who has connected with it. Despite her deep insight into the spiritual life and her relationship with God, her way of explaining things can be difficult for a young man to get into. On the other end of the spectrum is something like John Eldridge’s Wild at Heart. Again, I happened to like the women’s version (Captivating) when I read it in my twenties, but most of my male friends who read Wild at Heart felt that it was over the top.
This was great! ‘With God in Russia’ is an amazing choice!! One book that I think would be great for young men to read is The Life of Father Peter De Smet by Laveille. What an adventure he had!