If you are ever stumped as to what you should be reading, try picking up the life of a saint, or a book written by a saint.
Sometimes we can be discouraged by our inability to be faithful to God and we may think that holiness is impossible.
Yet, when we immerse ourselves in the lives of the saints, we can discover how they too had struggles, but they relied more and more on the grace of God.
Daily inspiration
St. Francis de Sales encouraged his spiritual children to always be reading a book about a saint in his Introduction to the Devout Life:
You should always have some good devout book at hand, such as the writings of S. Bonaventura, Gerson, Denis the Carthusian, Blosius, Grenada, Stella, Arias, Pinella, Da Ponte, Avila, the Spiritual Combat, the Confessions of S. Augustine, S. Jerome’s Epistles, or the like; and daily read some small portion attentively, as though you were reading letters sent by the saints from Paradise to teach you the way thither, and encourage you to follow them.
He believed that the lives of the saints in particular were powerful examples for us in our daily struggle to live a holy life:
Read the Lives of the Saints too, which are as a mirror to you of Christian life, and try to imitate their actions according to your circumstances; for although many things which the saints did may not be practicable for those who live in the world, they may be followed more or less.
If you are struggling to lead a holy life, consider picking up a book about a saint and be inspired by their heroic lives of virtue.
