The Courage to Read

Inspiration from Pope Francis

Today, Pope Francis will be laid to rest in his favorite church in Rome. The world has lost a leader with a heart for the voiceless, the imprisoned, the refugee, and anyone living on the margins. At times, his was the sole voice amidst a crowd clamoring for even more rights for the powerful.

For Catholics, the transition from one Pope to the next is an emotional experience. We grieve the death of one while waiting in anticipation for the election of his successor.

I remember my fifth-grade teacher rolling the big television to the front of the classroom so we could watch the smoke rise from the Vatican announcing our new Pope. We were shocked when Pope John Paul I died suddenly about a month later. The teacher once again rolled the television to the front of the room when another Conclave was convened.

The next pope, John Paul II, was elected when I was 10. After seeing two Conclaves in quick succession, I would not witness another until 2005 when I was married with two children.

Pope Francis was a prolific writer and speaker. He loved to give interviews and be with “the people”. Many of his encyclicals are well known.

Last year, he wrote a letter about the importance of reading literature to form the soul. Before he was the pope, before he was a cardinal, Pope Francis was a teacher. In his letter on literature, he writes to remind us of a story’s power to change our point of view.

As we mourn the loss of a man who spoke and wrote from the heart, I wanted to share some of his thoughts on the importance of novels and poems to form the soul.

---

Literature mysteriously forms the soul. The Word of God, the Psalms, are poetry. Pope Francis begins his letter by mentioning the fact that sometimes prayer does not come easily. In these times, Pope Francis suggested that reading a good book may help us find our way back to conversations with God.

"in moments of weariness, anger, disappointment or failure, when prayer itself does not help us find inner serenity, a good book can help us weather the storm until we find peace of mind. Time spent reading may well open up new interior spaces that help us to avoid becoming trapped by a few obsessive thoughts that can stand in the way of our personal growth." (emphasis added)

Literature changes us from the inside out.

“In our reading, we are enriched by what we receive from the author and this allows us in turn to grow inwardly, so that each new work we read will renew and expand our worldview.”

"In the end, our hearts always seek something greater, and individuals will find their own way in literature."

Choose the literature that makes your heart soar and expands your imagination. Put down what does not serve you in this season.

"There is nothing more counterproductive than reading something out of a sense of duty, making considerable effort simply because others have said it is essential. On the contrary, while always being open to guidance, we should select our reading with an open mind, a willingness to be surprised, a certain flexibility and readiness to learn, trying to discover what we need at every point of our lives."

Read banned books. If someone thought the idea so radical that it threatened their power, read it, friend.

"The Church, in her missionary experience, has learned how to display all her beauty, freshness and novelty in her encounter – often through literature – with the different cultures in which her faith has taken root, without hesitating to engage with and draw upon the best of what she has found in each culture. This approach has freed her from the temptation to a blinkered, fundamentalist self-referentiality that would consider a particular cultural-historical “grammar” as capable of expressing the entire richness and depth of the Gospel. Many of the doomsday prophecies that presently seek to sow despair are rooted precisely in such a belief. Contact with different literary and grammatical styles will always allow us to explore more deeply the polyphony of divine revelation without impoverishing it or reducing it to our own needs or ways of thinking.

Pope Francis recommended that we follow St. Paul's lead and read from the culture we don't yet understand.

"What did Paul do? He understood that 'literature brings to light the abysses within the human person, while revelation and then theology take over to show how Christ enters these depths and illumines them'. In the face of these depths, literature is thus a 'path' to helping shepherds of souls enter into a fruitful dialogue with the culture of their time." (footnotes in the original)

"reading prepares us to understand and thus deal with various situations that arise in life. In reading, we immerse ourselves in the thoughts, concerns, tragedies, dangers and fears of characters who in the end overcome life’s challenges. Perhaps too, in following a story to the end, we gain insights that will later prove helpful in our own lives."

Literature helps us to listen to other people with love.

"This is a definition of literature that I like very much: listening to another person’s voice. We must never forget how dangerous it is to stop listening to the voice of other people when they challenge us! We immediately fall into self-isolation; we enter into a kind of 'spiritual deafness' which has a negative effect on our relationship with ourselves and our relationship with God, no matter how much theology or psychology we may have studied."

Earlier, I recommended putting down a book that did not resonate. There is a caveat. Sometimes, reading can challenge our beliefs and values, which is uncomfortable. If what you are reading challenges you, consider reading a little longer and ask yourself why. Often, I'm tempted to avoid historical fiction if a story takes place in a time when violence or immorality were rampant. Pope Francis challenged us to open our eyes and our hearts in order to understand the nuances of human life.

"Literature is not relativistic; it does not strip us of values. The symbolic representation of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, as realities that in literature take the form of individuals and collective historical events, does not dispense from moral judgement but prevents us from blind or superficial condemnation. As Jesus tells us, 'Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” (Mt 7:3).'"

"Literature can greatly stimulate the free and humble exercise of our use of reason, a fruitful recognition of the variety of human languages, a broadening of our human sensibilities, and finally, a great spiritual openness to hearing the Voice that speaks through many voices."

You can find the entire letter here.

Rest in peace Pope Francis.