The Ascension of the Lord – June 2, 2019
For this last week of book recommendations for your summer reading, I am going to move away from any particular genre. The first week was in general theology; the second week was lives of the saints. This will be a smattering of different genres.
My first recommendation is actually a trilogy of books: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. There is an one-volume abridged version, which is good, but I would recommend the three volume work. It is a combination of history, biography, autobiography, philosophy, and spirituality. It is a masterpiece.
One of the greatest works of spiritual fiction is still Dante’s Divine Comedy. This too is split into three sections (Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven), and they can be read separately, but they really should be read together and in order. It is an artistic depiction of the afterlife which invites deep meditation on just what awaits us after this life. Also, for those with a darker sense of humor, Hell and Purgatory are quite a romp.
~ Father Aaron Ferris
