Ready to cast into the deep? Get hooked on the classics

Christ challenges us, as He did St. Peter, to "cast out into the deep" (Luke 5:4). While there are several layers of meaning to this call, among these are to trust in His word, to do God's will, and to embrace our Christian mission to the fullest. 

As the Second Vatican Council stressed, the fundamental vocation of a Christian is the call to holiness. ŽThe Church o—ers us powerful tools in this pursuit through its sacramental life. Žis spiritual progress, the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us, “tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ" (CCC 2014).

To this end, the faithful through the centuries have often found valuable assistance in the writings of saints and spiritual directors on growth in virtue and the perfection of the interior life. Here we present a brief taste of six exemplary works from the 14th to the 19th centuries that are still beloved of pious Catholics today.

DIALOGUE (1377)

The Dialogue of Divine Providence was dictated by St. Catherine of Siena while she was in ecstasy and takes the form of a dialogue between a soul (Catherine) and God Himself. Mystical writing is not always easy to comprehend, but within Catherine’s Dialogue is to be found instructions on the steps to attaining the perfection of love and union with Christ through trust, virtue, suffering, prayer, and obedience.

“[T]he soul unites herself with God by the a—ection of love,” writes Catherine. But “a soul could not be of use, whether in doctrine, example, or prayer, to her neighbor, if she did not first profit herself, that is, if she did not acquire virtue in herself.

IMITATION OF CHRIST (1420)

Thomas à Kempis’sThe Imitation of Christ remains among the all-time great works on the interior life. Žis book is actually a collection of four booklets the German-Dutch priest wrote to instruct novices in an Augustinian monastery. As such, a lay reader will need to adapt references to communal life and religious superiors to his or her own state of life. 

The Imitation of Christ stresses humility as essential to all the virtues. “If there is good in you, see more good in others, so that you may remain humble,” Žomas writes. Prudence and trust in God follow closely: “Do not yield to every impulse and suggestion but consider things carefully and patiently in the light of God’s will.”

His direction is topical rather than structured, but the fundamental principles of a sound interior life are present throughout.

THE WAY OF PERFECTION (1566)

Saint Teresa of Avila wrote this work on the contemplative life for her Carmelite convent, but it adapts well to lay spirituality. Union with Christ is achieved through ever-deepening contemplation, she writes, but prayer also must be accompanied by self-discipline. Even as she instructs the reader on prayer methods, she also extols the practice of poverty, detachment, mortification, and humility.

Humility “is the principal aid to prayer,” writes Teresa; it produces peace and trust in God, and awareness that everything is a gift from Him. Su—ering and temptations can also be means by which God draws us closer to Himself: “God guides those He loves by the way of a¬ictions; the dearer they are to Him, the more severe are their trials.”

INTRODUCTION TO THE DEVOUT LIFE (1609)

Other works on interior life were addressed to those in consecrated life, but St. Francis de Sales explicitly insists that lay people similarly can seek holiness and the perfection of love. Že first step is to purify the soul, finding deep contrition for sin and a firm resolve to avoid evil inclinations. He o—ers detailed instructions on prayer and encourages frequent participation in Mass and Confession. He urges the abandonment of vices and the fostering of virtues, particularly patience and humility: “We must learn not only to love our burden, which is done by the virtue of patience, but also to love its attendant abasement, which is done by the virtue of humility.”

The evangelical counsels, Francis argues, are for all and must be practiced according to one’s own vocation. “Charity alone can place us in perfection,” Francis writes, “but obedience, chastity, and poverty are the three principal means by which to attain it.”

ABANDONMENT TO DIVINE PROVIDENCE (1700s)

Although Fr. Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote these various letters of spiritual direction in the 18thcentury, they were not collected and published in a single volume until 1851. His key theme is that complete trust in God and abandonment to His perfect will is the true path to interior peace. He writes of the “sacrament of the present moment,” meaning that God reveals His will for us through the immediate duties we face in every moment within our particular state in life.

“In reality, holiness consists in one thing alone, namely, fidelity to God’s plan,” writes de Caussade. “And this fidelity is equally within everyone’s capacity in both its active and passive exercise.” Active fidelity means keeping the laws of God, His Church, and our state of life, whereas passive fidelity “consists in the loving acceptance of all that God sends us at every moment.”

STORY OF A SOUL (1898)

The spiritual autobiography of St. Žérèse of Lisieux, first published a year after her death, describes the blueprint for her “little way” of living as a disciple of Christ, as a child of God. Like Fr. de Caussade, she found grace and holiness in the fulfillment of routine duties, in doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well — and always in a spirit of love.

“Charity is the most excellent way that leads to God,” she writes. “I understood that love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, and that it embraced all times and places, in a word, that it was eternal. Žen in the excess of my delirious joy, I cried out, O Jesus, my love, my vocation, at last I have found it, to be love.”

The list is by no means exhaustive of our spiritual reading options. Žere are countless older works on prayer, theology, and the lives and confessions of the saints from which we can reap ample spiritual benefit. Žere also are many contemporary authors and thinkers whose books and podcasts provide inspiration and guidance.

What do these spiritual classics of the interior life have in common? Že encouragement that sanctity and union with God is accessible to all the baptized in every state of life. We can indeed advance along the path toward the holiness to which we are called, even in our most ordinary of circumstances.

Gerald Korson is acting editor of Legatus magazine.