Recommended Reading for Discerners
Growing in Friendship with God
Thirsting for Prayer and Time for God by Fr. Jacques Philippe (Scepter Publishers). If you want to grow in friendship with God, these books will help you understand how your whole life needs to be disposed to open your heart to Him. Sometimes young women are tempted to “discern” a religious vocation apart from a deep, personal friendship with God. While Our Lord can (and does!) work with anything, much of the anxiety that often accompanies discernment vanishes when we love Him deeply and know His love for us in prayer.
Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M. (Ignatius Press). Despite the “deep” title, this book could have been called, “Conversion 101.” A renowned retreat master like Fr. Philippe, the late Fr. Dubay draws on his many years of experience to show how we need to be converted from being “good people” to being saints—and how we can be motivated to let go of our petty faults for the love of God.
The Presence of God by Fr. Anselm Moynihan, O.P. (New Hope Publications). This little book explores the four ways that God is present to us, especially the most important way—by His indwelling by grace in the depths of our hearts. Understanding this can help us live each moment in greater intimacy with Him.
Contemplata Podcast by Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. Although this is not a book, we wanted to share this excellent resource for spiritual formation. You can also listen to Father’s Vocation Retreat conference on Contemplative Souls here.
Religious Life/Discernment
Vita Consecrata by Pope Saint John Paul II (available online). This Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation gives a wide survey of the history, forms, and theology of consecrated life.
Verbi Sponsa (Vatican document, available online). The laws of enclosure in this 1999 Instruction on cloistered life are now outdated, but the whole first section is a beautiful exposition of the meaning and spirituality of the cloistered life.
Sponsa Verbi: The Virgin Consecrated to Christ by Blessed Columba Marmion, osb (available online). Not to be confused with Verbi Sponsa above, Sponsa Verbi is a book of retreat conferences given to Benedictine nuns: a rich exposition of the contemplative monastic life.
A Right To Be Merry by Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C. (Cluny Press). Written by a Poor Clare Colletine, this book gives a charming and engaging window into mendicant monastic life. “What do you do all day, dear?” Intended for a general audience, this is a good book for young women considering religious life, as well as for parents or families to read to help make the cloistered life more real and understandable to them.
A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life by Fr. Benedict Croell, O.P. and Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. (Vianney Vocations). This is the best book we have read on discernment from a Dominican perspective, giving both very solid theology of the religious life, as well as practical, experience-based advice. It is targeted toward young men, but most of it is relatively easily applicable to young women, taking the differences into account. (Someday we will write a women’s supplement talking about how Our Lady is the model of our feminine consecration.)
Dominican Life
Dominican Life by F.-D. Joret, O.P. (available online). An inspiring exposition of Dominican spirituality and the charism of our Holy Father St. Dominic—his spiritual paternity, Our Lady’s zeal for souls, the orientation of the Order towards Jesus and the Blessed Trinity, the expression of this in the liturgy. Written for Third Order Dominicans in the 1940’s.
Dominican Life by Fr. Walter Wagner, O.P. (DNS Publications). Drawing on his experience as novice master for the Dominican friars, Father’s practical spiritual wisdom highlights the human reality of this graced way of life. His insights into human nature are helpful even for those who are not Dominican!