“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me,” C. S. Lewis.  Inspiring words from someone who has written 30 books that have been translated into over 30 languages and sold millions of copies.   I wonder when he had time to read or was he like many writers, who feel their own work is inspired by the words of another.   If you haven’t exposed yourself to a book by C. S. Lewis, then put one on your bucket list of books to read.  I have read and enjoyed his book Mere Christianity, as he tries to be very logical in his writings, which I as a reader, appreciate in an author.  It’s in this logic that he raises numerous questions and made me think through his choice of words and what he was communicating about Christianity.  This is one of those books that could be read and enjoyed more than once in a lifetime.

Approximately 80% of adults read 20 minutes a day and of these readers, most have read at least one book in print format versus an e-book.  There are very few who only read electronically.  If you’re like my husband, you want to be able to hold the pages in your hands and be able to swiftly turn back to another page or use one of his many multi colored markers to highlight the thoughts that need to be remembered.  Why this level of importance to his reading?  Why are people spending this time reading, what is their motivation or more concisely, why do we read?  For a long time I believed that most people, including myself, read to escape reality.  However the famous British novelist, Lawrence Durrell, disagrees stating that  “I don’t believe one reads to escape reality.  A person reads to confirm a reality he knows is there, but which he has not experienced.”  A rather profound statement that fits almost every type of reading genre known to us today.

Given Mr. Durrell’s statement, it shouldn’t surprise us then to learn that current reading statistics concur and reflect that today most people do not read to escape reality.  Rather, they read to be informed by it?  The pandemic has mounted numerous and exhaustive changes on our society, so it comes as no surprise to me that it has also affected our reading habits.  In my own reading, I have immersed myself in articles about the latest CDC regulations, news from the WHO and pages of print describing in detail the yet to be proved, fraudulent election of 2020.  I spent days reading about how to get a vaccine, where to get a vaccine and what’s involved in actually getting the vaccine in addition to articles on whether it was safe to get the vaccine.  A pleather of books have been written about all the events of the past two years: the January 6^th surge on the capital, BLM and BLM riots, racism, climate issues, Covid, gender issues and this list goes on and on.  Then there’s also those books written to help us cope with all that’s happened.  Upon reflection of all this information, I don’t think anyone should be surprised to hear that our reading tastes have changed, as our environment and appetite for knowledge has changed a great deal during these past few years.  We are certainly reading to confirm a reality we know is here, but have not experienced.  And in this search I was looking for as much information as I could find to help me cope with this new environment called, The Pandemic.

As I thought about all the information regarding these events I knew were happening but hadn’t experienced, I took a trip back over my reading history to reflect on how my reading had possibly changed over the years and why did it change, if it did.  During my high school days, my best friend Mary and I read a lot while on road trips during summer vacation and also while we vacationed.  Lacking car radios to fill the silence, we packed a good supply of popular newsstand magazines: True Love, True Romance, and True Confessions to help pass some of the drive time.  The 60’s didn’t offer the use of the internet, web games and etc. for kids to amuse themselves during down time.  So current newsstand magazines were our reading of choice.  Most of the information in these magazines was fictional and would fall into today’s description of “Fake News.”   These stories described in great detail things we had not experienced and they captivated our minds in their stories of true love, relationships and so much more.  Whether they were  true or not was immaterial, as it was entertaining and that’s what mattered most to us at that time.

Once I reached college, I found myself buried in a mountain of books that were also mountainous in size.  Each was prescribed to provide me with a skill that would support me throughout my working days and generate an income that would keep the bill collectors from darkening my doorstep.   Once I entered my field of expertise, teaching high school speech and drama, I soon learned that not all the necessary reading had been provided during my college stay.  I soon found myself reading books on discipline and how to inspire students to learn.  Each day seemed to provide a new challenge, such as kids swinging from ropes in the gym during my time to be supervising study hall.   Not sure the gym provided a good study hall environment, but that was a book for another day.

When I left teaching and decided to open my own business, I consumed a multitude of business books to supplement and understand what I didn’t know about being an entrepreneur.  It was sometimes mind boggling what I didn’t know and sometimes I felt ready to throw up my hands as even the books weren’t always providing specific answers.  During this time of managing a growing business, children entered our lives and child rearing books soon became a necessity.   Again, I ask the question, why read?  Reflection tells me that then I  was reading to fill in the blanks, learn a skill, and solve problems that desperately needed answers.  I was reading to gain experience and knowledge about issues I knew existed, but lacked the tools to solve the problem.

Somewhere in the middle of all this learning to be a better parent and how to run a business, I was coerced into attending a local parish retreat.  Yes, definitely forced to attend, but attend I did, as I felt obligated to the friends who felt this was just what I needed in terms of upgrading my reading and experiences.  This retreat was definitely a realty I knew existed, but had never experienced.  To my surprise, this was the experience that changed my life in so many ways.  It was there that I discovered how little I knew about my Catholic faith.  I thought since I was a practicing Catholic with thirteen years of Catholic school education that I had experienced and learned about all aspects of my faith.  To my surprise, I did have an experience of my faith, but the depth of knowledge I owned regarding this experience could be captured in a thimble.  This retreat opened my mind to information that wasn’t new but that I had not focused on or even tried to read about, absorb and experience.   It was in that retreat that I realized how much God loved me and was asking me to help Him serve the world.  It was time for me to discover a reality I now knew was there, and start learning how to own my faith.

I again followed my previous road of becoming informed and went back to the library to seek out more books to help me discover who God is and what did it mean to be Catholic. Would you be surprised to know that the most read book in the World in 2021 was the Bible?  The bible has sold 3.9 billion copies during the last 50 years.  Needless to say, I was not one of the billions of people who had read the bible at the time of my retreat experience.  And at that time, the bible seemed like a really heavy place for me to start my dive back into learning more about my faith.  So I started my journey reading several less daunting books that I thought would guide me in my education.

My first book was titled, “Two From Galilee” by Marjorie Holmes, followed by her next book, “Three from Galilee”.   These two books were a great starting point for me, as they are a story of the early life of a young woman and a carpenter whom  God had chosen to bring His son into the world.  These two books tell a beautiful story of the birth of Christ and his days as a young son up until the time he started his earthly ministry. These beginning books provided a faith learning experience and they fed my soul, nurtured my spirit and challenged me to come and know God.  I was also somewhat saddened that it had taken a retreat experience to open my eyes to the benefit of reading about my faith.  If it didn’t take you several years to start reading about your faith, you may want to start with the Bible.  I suggest you sign up for Fr. Mike Schmitz’s, “Bible in a Year” at Ascension on the internet.  This is such an easy way to read the bible.  One small bite at a time and when the year is over, you will be more informed about your faith and discover that reading the bible wasn’t beyond your scope of understanding.

If you continue to ask yourself, “Why read?” the answer is, “Why not?”   Each page has the potential to open ones’ mind to something new and possibly change one’s life.  Books may provide a new way to think about something, a different point of view from what you had previously thought to be true or a new way to work through a problem.  My husband was planning to speak to a group of individuals at a grief support gathering.  When he mentioned this I asked if he had read the chapter on grieving in Edith Eger’s book titled, “The Gift”.  He took the book, read those pages and upon finishing commented that there were several gifts he received from reading that chapter which would continue to help him to be a support to others.  Why read?  Reading provides us with the ability to learn new things, teaches us new ways to think about life, relationships and the world in which we live. If we’re “Living the Christian Experience”, we need to read as a way to help confirm our beliefs as Christians.

Our lifetime consists of an average 3500 to 4500 weeks.  That’s not a lot of time to read and I realize that I’ve used a lot of those weeks already, so I need to be aware of how I’m spending those weeks.  Many of  today’s headlines are very alluring, but many times I discover most of what is in those bold headline articles consist of fake news, old news or news of no substance.  How much time in my day was I spending just scrolling and daydreaming?

Now I’ve started my quest to narrow the scope of my reading by asking myself what topics I really want to aspire to learn more about.   Do I really care about the latest covid numbers, protocol, mandates and etc?  Am I concerned with climate change and if so, what part?  Am I an animal rights activist?  The list goes on and on of various topics that I could spend hours each day reading about, and to what end?  When I began to realize the value of each week, I started to be more selective.  I first read about the most important thing in my life, and that’s my faith and relationship with God.  How can I best live out my mission and do God’s will?  From there I pick one or two other topics that are meaningful to me in living out my mission.  Information I see that doesn’t relate to these topics, I pass by.   I feel now that my reading has enlightened my mind, helped me know myself and God and provided insight into my own story of living.  Because of this, I ask myself several questions before I select my next read, email, text or Facebook post:

• Is this something on my list of selected topics to consider learning more about?
• Have I checked out the author to be sure of their credentials so I know what bias they may be brining to the story?
• For what reason have I chosen to read this article, book or email?
• Is this book similar to others I’ve read on this topic?
• Was this material recommended to me by someone else and if so, why?
• What are your questions before picking your next great read?

Since what I read does impact my mind, my thinking and my actions,  I want to choose and own what I think, believe and support and not be influenced by fake headlines, best sellers or other influencers.   Just because something is a best seller, doesn’t mean that it’s a great book.  Those numbers in the best seller list also include people who didn’t finish the book, people who might have disliked it, or people who maybe didn’t even read it!   Additionally, I wish I’d have written down more notes about what I did read, especially those books that really touched me or taught me something important.   There’s a reason my husband has colored markers!   Some readers go so far as to tape a memorable quote to their mirror so they can see it each day.

In the words of one of my favorite saints, St. Padre Pio, “Help yourself during this troubled period by reading holy books. This reading provides excellent food for the soul and conduces to great progress along the path of perfection. By no means is it inferior to what we obtain through prayer and holy meditation. In prayer and meditation it is ourselves who speak to the Lord, while in holy reading it is God who speaks to us. Before beginning to read, raise your mind to the Lord and implore Him to guide your mind Himself, to speak to your heart and move your will”.  I find this quote from St. Padre Pio to be a great catalyst in helping me pick my next great read.   Choose wisely, read always and remember, God is calling you and me.

Our daughter took this picture during the recent ice storm.  As I view it, a sense of calm takes over.   I can feel the cold, see the beautiful reflection of the sun off the ice and I hear God speaking to me as I connect with the billowing clouds.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  This is the question that ends up on the battlefield in the movie, Words and Pictures.  It portrays a humorous, sometimes dramatic encounter between two college instructors as to which is more important – words or pictures.  Is a picture worth a thousand words or can only words create a picture in our mind?   Food for thought and a great movie if you’re looking for a new choice in your movie viewing.  It can be found on Amazon Prime.    Happy Reading!