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Culture an Ally of Religion
Because of the great emphasis that the Church incessantly lays upon the supreme
importance of the supernatural goods and objects of life, a Catholic might
easily be led to the conclusion that all merely natural attainments are to
be despised and neglected. Such a conclusion would be unwarranted, as was
pointed out to the present writer himself, when, as a small boy, he protested
that there was no use in learning grammar, because one 'didn't need to know
grammar to get to Heaven.' While it is quite true that the possession of
sanctifying grace and of the supernatural virtues is of such tremendous
importance that all other things of earth pale into insignificance by comparison;
while we must admit that a rude and unlettered but upright and religious
man will fare better on the day of judgment than the educated but unprincipled
villain who passes in the eyes of the world for a refined gentleman; while,
in fine, it is undeniable that genuine virtue can exist without the conventional
graces of society, and that faultless manners do not imply interior worth;
yet it is none the less certain that culture of mind as well as urbanity
of speech are powerful allies of religion; that virtue will show to better
advantage when coupled with good breeding; and that purely natural gifts
can be supernaturalized and made the medium of the rarest Christian virtue.
For a Christian, therefore, to set at naught the natural virtues and secular
learning is not only wrong but foolish as well. Even in God's own dispensation,
the natural is always made the basis of the supernatural. Hence the true
Christian policy is not to belittle the natural, which is also from God,
but to cherish it and exploit it, and, by directing it towards higher ends,
invest it with a supernatural character.
I.
Value of Taste for Beauty
It is in view of
this splendid teamwork that can be done by culture when yoked with religion,
that I do not hesitate to advocate good reading in the home first of all
for the purpose of cultivating a taste for beauty. A man may, it is true,
love God with his whole heart without appreciating the beauty of an ode by
Francis Thompson, a melody by Gounod, a statue by Michelangelo, or a painting
by Raphael. But just as philosophy, which is a natural science, deserves
to be styled the handmaid of theology; so also taste, or the ability to
appreciate the beauties of nature and art, may be made subservient to religion
or to the love of God. In other words, if theology is aided by philosophy
because the object of both these sciences is truth, of the former supernatural,
of the latter natural; then taste, whose object is natural beauty, will be
a suitable ally of the love of God, whose object is divine beauty.
Beauty of Virtue
Let me illustrate
this by a comparison. A human passion, such as anger, fear, love, is something
indifferent, that is, in itself neither good nor bad. If anger is directed
towards a proper object and kept within proper bounds, it is something good.
It helps to intensify one's hatred of evil. Now a like effect is achieved
by the capacity to appreciate beauty. There is nothing in man more beautiful
than grace and virtue--than Charity, Faith, and Hope, than purity, humility,
meekness; than fortitude in danger, forgiveness of injuries, cheerfulness
amid suffering and pain. Hence, the more we have learned to appreciate what
is beautiful, the more can our love of virtue be intensified; for by viewing
virtue not only as something useful and obligatory but also as something
beautiful, we shall have an additional reason for loving it, and we shall
strive with greater eagerness to possess it.
As I shall devote this chapter not to a discussion of the beautiful arts
in general but only to setting forth the reasons why Catholics should read
good literature, the practical question to ask here is: How can a taste for
good literature or good reading be acquired? The answer is: In the same way
as any other taste is acquired. How does one acquire a taste for oysters
or olives? By eating them. The way to acquire a taste for good books is by
reading them.
Making Duty a Pleasure
Once a taste for
good literature has been acquired, it will be of the greatest help in forming
the habit of good reading; and hence parents cannot begin too early to cultivate
this taste in their children and thus lay the foundation of the reading habit.
To a certain extent, reading is a duty in our day; and nothing will make
the fulfilling of this duty more agreeable than the ability to appreciate
good books and well-written articles. It is much the same with reading as
with eating. Few people would likely eat enough to preserve their health,
if they had no relish for food. And even though we eat for the honor of God,
as St. Paul exhorts us to do, it is when we have an appetite that we derive
the most beneficial results from eating. So, too, it is with mental food.
If we take pleasure in reading, we shall peruse many a useful book and many
an informing article that we should otherwise not even look at. And even
when we read from a sense of duty, we profit more by it if it gives us pleasure
as well.
Refining Effect of Good Reading
Closely akin to
good taste or refinement of mind is refinement of character; and this, too,
is furthered by good reading. The reading of good literature has the same
effect on one's character as the association with good and wise companions.
A writer's best thoughts, most noble emotions, and finest imagery enter into
a good book or good piece of literature; and the reader's character cannot
but benefit, even though unconsciously, by coming into such intimate contact
with them. The good thoughts kept in the storehouse of the mind become, sometimes
even long after the author is forgotten, the mainspring of good deeds; the
noble feelings strike a sympathetic chord in the reader's heart and attune
it to lofty aspirations; the vivid pictures leave an indelible impress on
the imagination and thus help to preserve both the ideas and the sentiments.
Even as a handkerchief that is kept for a time in a perfumed casket takes
on a delicate fragrance, so is a man's character sweetened by the reading
of good literature. Especially is this true of books that depict the lives
of great and holy men and women; for in such books we have in addition to
the excellent thought content the inspiring example of real human beings
who were the very embodiment of the noblest ideals.
A Splendid Recreation
Nor may we overlook
the great benefit that good reading offers merely as a source of recreation.
The ability to derive pleasure from good reading opens up avenues of wholesome
recreation that would otherwise remain forever closed. We are so constituted
that we must have relaxation of some kind; yet as rational beings and above
all as Christians we should beware of choosing such forms of recreation as
simply kill time. It is an awful thing to waste time, each moment of which
can purchase the pearl of an eternal reward. And as we shall have to render
an account of every idle word, so we shall have to give an account also of
the use we have made of our time. Now there is no finer intellectual pastime
than reading; no more entertaining companionship than a good author. It is
true that reading always implies a certain amount of exercise of the mental
faculties, and hence work; but what rational recreation does not require
activity of one kind or another? Most of our recreations consist essentially
in a diversion; not in a change from work to idleness, but in a change from
one kind of activity to another: from manual work to mental work or contrariwise;
or even from one kind of physical or intellectual activity to a different
kind in the same order. Thus a cobbler, who does manual labor indoors all
day, finds recreation in doing a little gardening in the evening; while a
bookkeeper or stenographer, or even a student, after doing brainwork all
day, nevertheless often recreates himself by working out crossword puzzles
or writing verses at night. Far from being an objection to reading as a means
of recreation, the mental activity implied in reading should rather be an
inducement, since it stamps reading as recreation of a high order.
"Movies" No Substitute for Reading
A more subtle objection
to reading as a recreation is advanced in our day. So many literary masterpieces,
we are told, may now be seen represented by moving pictures that there is
no need of reading the originals, since seeing the "movie" affords just as
excellent a pastime. Whoever holds such a view labors under a gross illusion.
Even if the literary work is only a novel--and hence one of the lowest forms
of literary art,--some of the very finest elements are totally lost when
it is reproduced as a movie; e.g.: the descriptions of character, the dialogues,
the beauties of diction, the various figures of speech, and above all the
beautiful thoughts sentiments, and images in which every truly literary work
abounds. Take a moving picture like "Fabiola," which cost an untold amount
of labor and expense and was proclaimed to be a picture of exceptional merit.
For sheer artistry it stands infinitely below Cardinal Wiseman's great
masterpiece from which it is taken. And as for edification, educational value,
interest of narrative and charm of character, almost any three successive
chapters of the book are worth more than the entire picture. And the same
is true of any literary masterpiece. The moving picture most assuredly has
its place in the field of education as well as recreation; but it can never
fill the place occupied by literature in either of these fields.
Reading for Instruction
As far as the religious
life of the home is concerned, by far the most important aim and fruit of
reading is instruction. There are laymen who may claim with some justice
that their tastes and characters are already formed, and that they do not
need to read to improve them; but there is none that can truthfully say that
he is beyond the need of instruction. When I speak of reading for the purpose
of instruction, I do not mean solely for the sake of learning something new,
but also for the sake of refreshing, confirming, and clarifying the knowledge
we already have. The storehouse of the mind is the memory; but in our avidity
to learn facts, and in our endeavor to acquire knowledge without taking pains,
we often stack this storehouse with things in such disorder and confusion
that we cannot find them when we want them. In other words we forget. The
knowledge really exists hidden away in the recesses of the mind, but we are
unable to recall it; or can do so only by dint of long and hard racking of
our memory. This shows the truth of the saying that, as regards many things
at least, we do not so much need to be told as to be reminded. We must be
reminded again and again until the knowledge becomes readily available at
our beck and call.
Deepening One's Religious Knowledge
It is true that
religious instruction is imparted in church and in the Catholic school; but
even supposing the most thorough Catholic schooling and the attentive hearing
of a weekly sermon, no average Catholic is beyond the necessity of improving
his knowledge of religion by frequent reading. It stands to reason that religious
knowledge acquired when the mind is still immature is capable of increase,
of widening and deepening as a person grows older. And grown-up Catholics
need a far more reasoned and more perfect grasp of the truths of their religion;
not only in order to strengthen their Faith amid the dangers of an ungodly
world, but also in order to defend it against the attacks of non- Catholics
with whom they daily come in contact. For this reason it is important that
they be reminded of the truths of their religion not only once a week but
daily; that what their pastors tell them from the pulpit be repeated to them
in different form by laymen like themselves; that they learn how to apply
the standard of religion and the moral standards of the Church to the changed
conditions of modern life and to the new problems that are being discussed;
that examples be frequently placed before their minds of sterling Catholic
men who held Catholic principles and fearlessly put them into practice in
business, in politics, as well as in their professional, social, and private
life; that they be kept informed of the most noteworthy local, national and
international events affecting the Church; in a word, that they be kept abreast
of the times in all important Catholic matters.
II.
The good results
and advantages derived from reading which I have here set forth, should prove
a sufficient inducement to anyone to cultivate the reading habit, and furnish
a satisfactory answer to the question why one should read. Another question,
a question of more practical importance, is: What should we read? My answer
will be twofold. We should not read what is dangerous or injurious but what
is wholesome and useful.
Drinking Filthy Water
If a doctor would
give a lecture explaining and praising the highly beneficial effects of the
frequent use of water for drinking, washing and bathing, none of his hearers
surely would understand him to speak of the use of any but clean and pure
water.
The same is to be understood of what I have said of the good effects of reading.
The water that we drink and the food that we eat do not more truly enter
into our system than what we read enters into our mind. Should we, then,
not be at least as particular about what we read as about what we eat and
drink? How fastidious many people are nowadays about the cleanliness of their
bodies! How much time and care do they not devote to bathing; to removing
blemishes; to rendering and keeping the skin soft and smooth! And what vast
sums of money do they not spend on fine soaps and creams and powders and
other cosmetics, only to keep that corruptible body of clay sweet and clean!
And yet these same people, who would shrink with horror from drinking filthy
water or from bathing in a polluted stream, do not hesitate to read things
that fill the mind with sordid ideas, stain the imagination with filthy images
and stir up impure emotions in the heart. The mind can be soiled just as
easily as the body. As you cannot touch pitch without being defiled by it,
so neither can you avoid besoiling your mind, if you allow it to tread the
slippery paths of unclean literature.
Sugar-coated Poison
Nor is the danger
of defiling and corrupting the mind to be found only in writings that are
pronouncedly immoral or irreligious. Disease germs may prove fatal just as
well when taken into the system in wholesome food as when received alone
from contact; and poison is poison whether taken straight or with a coating
of sugar. There is a vast amount of literature in our day,--books, magazines,
newspapers,--that is more or less infected with the germs of moral disease
and the poison of unbelief; and it is the more dangerous because the harmful
matter is contained amid a deal of harmless matter, or concealed under a
false show of humanitarianism, patriotism, equity, justice and the like.
We must not forget that all literature, in the main, breathes the spirit
of those that produce it; and as the great bulk of literature that appears
daily is the product of religiously indifferent, agnostic and worldly minds,
it quite naturally breathes the spirit of religious indifferentism, agnosticism
and worldliness; and, say what you will, such literature is dangerous to
ordinary Catholics because its spirit is contagious.
Source of Unchristian Views
Or whence is it
that so many Catholics have decidedly unchristian and worldly views on certain
subjects? Without doubt from seeing these views expressed and plausibly set
forth, or simply assumed as self-evident, in current non-Catholic writings.
The views that Catholic young folk often entertain in regard to marriage
and courtship evidently come from this source. Some columnist in a daily
paper dispenses advice to lovers, and it is accepted and acted on even though
it runs counter to the warnings of confessor and pastor. In like manner another
writer devoid of Christian principles descants daily on such weighty topics
as evolution, capital punishment, free will, parental authority, self-
repression, education, canons of art, the fashion, science and religion;
and from the very cocksureness of the author, his dicta are widely accepted
just as of old the answers of an oracle.
Unchristian Outlook on Life
To keep your mind
sweet and clean and to prevent the purity of your Faith from becoming gradually
defiled, I would advise you not to read the popular non-Catholic fiction
of the day--the short stories and serial stories that appear in the daily
papers and in non-Catholic magazines, as well as most of the non- Catholic
novels that have appeared in recent years. I am far from maintaining that
all this fiction is wholly bad, or that not even now and then something will
appear that is wholly above criticism. The point I am trying to make is that
most of this literature reflects an unchristian outlook on life; that the
characters it depicts speak and act in a manner that makes this unchristian
outlook attractive; and that frequent reading of such literature, just like
intimate association with unbelievers, will by and by lead even a Catholic
to adopt something of that same outlook and, all unconsciously, allow it
to influence his actions.
Bad Company in Fiction
Indeed, in some
respects, the mental association with the unchristian and worldly-minded
characters in the secular fiction of the day is far more dangerous, because
far more intimate, than association with such characters in real life. In
real life one's contact with them is usually limited to business affairs,
social gatherings, or at the most to private interviews; but in the world
of fiction it extends often to the characters' most secret actions and even
to their most hidden thoughts. Especially in the realistic stories of our
day, there is no sanctum whither the reader is not permitted to follow the
characters. He not only associates with them but mentally re-lives their
lives, thinks their thoughts, is imbued with their philosophy of life, stirred
by their passions, and is a secret witness of all their actions. There is
no getting away from the fact that frequent reading of such literature must,
in the long run, have a baneful effect on the reader's mind and character.
Hence whoever is in earnest about keeping his mind and heart uncontaminated,
will regard the entire field of present-day non-Catholic fiction and popular
magazines, as outside the range of his reading.
Catholic Periodicals Superior
I admit that this
may seem unreasonable to those who have unthinkingly followed the great crowd
without observing whither they have gone and whither they are tending. I
am even willing to admit that it would be too much to ask you to give up
the non-Catholic magazines if there were nothing to offer you in their place.
But there is an abundance of Catholic periodical literature not only equally
good but better. Mind, I do not say better from every point of view. There
may be and no doubt are points in which some Catholic periodicals are inferior;
but it is equally true that there are points in which they are decidedly
superior, chief among these points being the thought-content, tone and spirit.
And since these latter points certainly outweigh any slight advantage that
some non-Catholic periodicals may have in point of literary finish, it may
be said without hesitation that, all things considered, present-day Catholic
periodicals are better than the non-Catholic ones.
Unhealthy Appetites
The great trouble
is that the relish for really good reading has to a great extent disappeared;
and even many supposedly practical Catholics have got to the point where
they no longer care for Catholic writings because the latter lack the
sensationalism of the non-Catholic press. This is evident from the class
of papers and magazines that these Catholics habitually read. It is not the
high-class papers and periodicals that one finds in their homes, but such
as appeal to the less noble instincts in man. Nor is it lack of literary
excellence that they deplore in Catholic books and magazines. The stock complaint
is that they are too dry; that they lack "punch" or "pep" or whatever the
current slang word happens to be for that peculiar kind of spiciness which
they imagine to be necessary to make a work interesting. But the fault really
lies in themselves and not in Catholic literature. It is an unhealthy appetite
that is appeased only by highly seasoned food; and such Catholics as have
acquired a craving for spicy literary food can set themselves right again
only by denying themselves such food and earnestly striving to develop a
taste for more wholesome literature.
Choking the Good Seed
Deep down in his
heart, I am convinced, every sincere Catholic has a love for the better things
in literature. It is an essential part of the Catholic mind. But in many
cases this love has not been developed. Like the good seed of the sower in
the Gospel, it has been choked by the more abundant and superficially more
attractive output of worldly literature. If from early childhood on, parents
would allow their children to have only good books and magazines, their children
would develop a taste that would endure throughout their adult life. Instead
of doing that, many parents bring such trash as the metropolitan Sunday
newspapers into their homes and themselves explain the miscalled "funnies"
to their children who are unable to read. Doubtless there are many among
my readers who have thus, without much fault of their own, become prejudiced
against Catholic reading matter. To them I say: Give Catholic reading a fair
trial. Select a number of Catholic books and periodicals and determine to
read them to the exclusion of all others for one month. If you do that with
a good will and an open mind, I feel sure that at the end of the trial you
will be so convinced of the superior benefits derived from Catholic reading
that your only regret will be that you have been so long a stranger to that
wellspring of wholesome thought and noble inspiration.
A Parental Duty
As you are mainly
responsible, dear fathers and mothers, for the kind of taste for reading
that your children develop, let me urge upon you the duty of providing an
ample supply of Catholic magazines, books and papers in your homes. You cannot
be content with one Catholic paper or magazine; you should have at least
three or four; something of a devotional and something of a miscellaneous
character; and something, too, for every member of the family. While many
Catholic periodicals have special departments for the young, there are excellent
Catholic publications devoted exclusively to juvenile readers, and one of
these should be taken by every family that is still blessed with youthful
members. And if the subscriptions should seem too expensive, remember that
it is a false economy to starve your children's minds while you spend more
than is necessary for the feeding and clothing of their bodies. Far better
would it be to retrench somewhat on expenditures for creature comforts and
fine clothes than to save a few dollars by failing to provide your children
with abundant and wholesome mental food. Besides, if you discontinued taking
non-Catholic papers and magazines you could easily afford to take Catholic
ones.
Good Catholic Books
While it is highly
important nowadays to read Catholic periodicals, the very best Catholic thought
is ordinarily still found in books--books that are the product of years of
study and labor; books that have stood the test of time and have been handed
down as a precious heirloom to posterity. For a birthday or Christmas present
parents cannot do better than to present their children with a good book.
Start early by giving a picture book to the children who have not yet learned
to read. And let them be beautiful books, well-bound so that they will last;
and thoroughly wholesome and edifying, so that they will be worth preserving.
If you would make it a rule to give each child one book a year, a very
respectable family library would gradually be established that would be a
source of pleasure as well as of instruction for many years. A great advantage
of a book over a periodical is that the book can more easily be preserved
and will be read again and again; and thus its contents finally become part
and parcel of the reader's mind.
Not Only Story Books
In purchasing books
for the home or for their children, let parents not imagine that only books
of an entertaining nature are suitable. They should occasionally make them
a present also of books of a more solid character--books of instruction on
the truths of our holy religion; books dealing with the moral problems of
the present day; books of piety and devotion that explain how even the laity
can lead a life of perfection and of closer union with Christ. There is a
vast amount of such popular religious literature in existence, and it is
daily growing more extensive. Nor is the cost such as would prevent any ordinary
family from having a goodly supply in its home. While good Catholic story-books
may also edify and indirectly also improve one's religious knowledge, it
is mainly books that deal expressly with religious and moral subjects that
are the main helps which parents should avail themselves of to inculcate
in their children the principles of truly Catholic conduct and solid piety.
III.
The Best Place for Reading
There remains yet
one more question to answer: Where should we read? I answer, in the home.
While persons who must travel far by street-car or by train to their place
of work can profitably employ the time in reading, the home is usually the
best place in which to do one's principal reading. To be able to read with
understanding and profit and even with pleasure, a certain amount of leisure
and quiet is necessary, and this can mostly be had at home. I speak from
experience when I declare that the presence of children does not necessarily
interfere with home reading. I was one of the three youngest children in
our family, and although we were normally noisy, our parents used to read
practically every evening. Sometimes we would be occupied with our school
tasks; sometimes we would be playing; and as years went by we usually formed
part of the reading circle ourselves. For a mother who has several small
children the problem is less easy; but the children do sleep sometime, and
then is the mother's opportunity. Can she not take up a book or magazine
while putting the baby to sleep? And could she not even keep the children
quiet by half reading half narrating a story to them?
Why Mothers Should Read
This is one of
the main reasons why mothers should not neglect to read; namely, to be able
to instruct and entertain their children. Stories from the life of Christ;
the biographical parts of the Old Testament; the lives of the saints afford
an endless source of excellent matter for the entertainment and education
of the young, and it would be a pity if any mother, from failure to refresh
her memory by reading, would be unable to turn this source to good account.
When the children themselves are old enough to read, it is important that
the parents set them a good example; for if the parents themselves do not
read Catholic literature, they can hardly expect their children to do so.
Supervision Necessary
This brings me
to another reason why reading should be done in the family circle. It is
a strict duty of parents to watch over the reading of their children, and
not only of the younger ones but of all that are in the household; and such
supervision cannot be exercised unless the children do their reading where
their parents can see them. As in most other things, so also in the choice
of reading matter, children of school age are unable to decide what will
be good for them, and hence their parents must make the selection for them.
But even the older children must be watched lest they borrow or buy books
or magazines the reading of which would do them great harm. Many a wayward
youth was started on the downward path by the reading of bad literature.
Hence it would be seriously sinful negligence on the part of parents not
to exercise a careful censorship over the reading of their children.
Theodore Roosevelt's Example
Besides exercising
great vigilance to keep improper literature out of the hands of their children,
fathers and mothers should also make a free but discreet use of their parental
authority to induce their children to read certain books or articles that
are of special importance to them and to demand an account of their perusal.
A very fine practice is to have a child read a short piece, say one of Aesop's
fables, and then give it in its own words, or to learn a few lines of poetry
by heart. The late President Theodore Roosevelt tells in one of his letters,
written while he was in the White House, that, on one occasion when his wife
was absent, he had to take her place, listen to the children recite a poem
and award them a nickel in case they knew it well. This custom might well
be imitated by Catholic parents. Even if the pecuniary award be omitted,
the children will be amply rewarded by the benefit they derive from the practice.
But they cannot be expected to do such things of their own accord. Play has
more attraction for them than reading or learning by heart, at least until
they have acquired a taste for more intellectual pastimes.
Hence their parents should accustom them to devote some time every day to
good reading, and they will thus acquire a habit that will be to them a source
of much joy and many blessings.
The Home Reading Circle
The last reason
I wish to mention why reading should be done in the home, is that it serves
as an additional reason for staying at home and thus fosters home life. Like
family prayer, the family reading circle should be a cherished institution
in every Christian home. How happy and easy are the hearts of those parents
whose children, large and small, are gathered with them around the library
lamp, each one intent on his or her own book, paper, or magazine. Knowing
that what the children are reading is wholesome (for they will tolerate only
such reading matter in the home) they know that they are usefully occupied;
and their hearts will not be racked with anxiety, as is often the case when
the children are absent from home.
For the same reason, parents should not allow their children to frequent
public libraries and reading rooms. Apart from the grave danger of their
reading harmful literature in such places, the practice also tends to disrupt
home life. The home is the proper place for the children to read as well
as for the principal reading of all the members of the family. When one member
of the family is at the theatre, another at his club, a third and a fourth
out joy-riding, it is quite natural that the others (if there be any) w ill
be tempted to neglect their reading also and seek amusement elsewhere than
in the home. It were well, therefore, if several evenings a week were set
aside especially for the home reading circle, so that at least on these evenings
each one would profit by the presence and good example of the others.
Preserving Old Books
And let me say
a word in favor of keeping old books in the family and handing them down
from generation to generation. Many a one who gave away his picture books,
scrap-books and nursery rhymes when he grew up, has later regretted that
he no longer possessed those books for the entertainment of his own children.
So I say, let the books remain in the family, and let each one take his or
her books along when the children leave their parents to found new homes.
The books would sometimes need to be bound anew; but it would be an added
delight for the little ones to know that their father of mother had paged
the same books in their childhood; and the parents or grandparents themselves
would undoubtedly find great pleasure in viewing again with the little tots
the selfsame picture books and illustrated nursery tales that charmed them
when they were small.
Yes, how we were charmed by beautiful stories, beautiful pictures, beautiful
toys when we were small! Then the whole world seemed beautiful. But how drab,
how commonplace it appears to us now. How full of evils it is, and how deeply
do we deplore our powerlessness to do away with them.
A Paradise of Books
Yet there is a
world from which we can banish all these evils-- the world of books. Or rather,
by cautious elimination and judicious selection from the plentiful material
on hand, we can fashion for ourselves a little world, aye, a little paradise
of books in our own homes. And thither we can repair daily to enjoy its pure
and bracing air, its lovely change of scene and the delightful companionship
of its distinguished men and women. Happy we if we have builded for ourselves
such a literary garden of Eden and habituate ourselves, like our first parents,
to walk therein with God. We cannot, it is true, see His face or hear the
sound of His voice; yet He will oftentimes speak to us none the less distinctly
through the medium of the printed page;--raising our thoughts above the petty
affairs of daily life, broadening our outlook, correcting our views, calming
our fears,--in a word, throwing a glow of Heaven's light and peace on the
things of earth, and thus heartening us with brighter visions to take up
anew the tedious tasks of this workaday world.
Continue:
Introduction
Chapter I: Necessity of Religion in the Home
Chapter II: Prayer in the Home
Chapter III: Catholic Atmosphere in the Home
Chapter IV: Good Reading in the Home
Chapter V: Harmony in the Home
Chapter VI: Necessity of Home Life
Conclusion
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