If you want to be a saint, you should probably read like a saint! Right?!

When we dive into the lives of the saints we can find out what most influenced them and shaped their views. We can then try to model their good behavior so that we too can acquire similar virtues. Usually, we find a person or life event that impacted them, but we can almost always find a good book that helped along the way as well.

We’ll provide more in this series titled Saints And The Books They Loved, but let’s start with St. Therese, the Little Flower!

Two Books That Influenced St. Therese

The End of the Present World and the Mysteries of the Future Life by  Fr. Charles Arminjon

St. Therese wrote about this book in her autobiography Story of a Soul saying, “Reading this book was one of the greatest graces of my life. The impression I received from it is too sweet to express. All the great truths of religion and the mysteries of eternity plunged into my soul a happiness not of this earth.”

The Imitation of Christ  by Thomas à Kempis

“It was the only book which helped me for I had not as yet discovered the treasures which are hidden in Sacred Scriptures. I carried this little book around with me at all times,” St. Therese wrote.

Incorporate spiritual books into your prayer life! It is a small sacrifice of time that will reap great rewards!

“Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.” – St. Therese