In December 2021, at the age of 49, I suddenly discovered that I was a Christian. I certainly never expected that to happen! I wasn’t thinking about it at all. I had no preparation. It was a shock, and I didn’t know what to do.
I had to start to learn what it meant to be a Christian.
Living in a small village in rural Poland, my options were limited. There weren’t many people I could talk to. Also, although I could speak fairly fluently in Polish, speaking about religious matters requires a whole new vocabulary which I didn’t have.
I’m sure that God had been preparing me for this in many ways though, and one of them was that I had learned to listen to Polish podcasts to learn Polish. It was a fairly simple matter to start listening to audiobooks.
I started in January 2022.
Audiobooks
Here’s a list of the audiobooks I’ve listened to since then (more or less). The highlighted entries are books I’ve listened to multiple times, which have had an especially profound effect on me, or which have insisted that I also have a paper or e-book copy to study more carefully. I have a subscription to Audible, and many of the titles below I’ve got for free:
Anonymous (14th C) The Cloud of Unknowing: With the Book of Privy Counsel, translated by Carmen Acevedo Butcher
Allegri, Renzo (?) Saint Padre Pio
Athanasius of Alexandria (?) On the Incarnation
Augustine, St (?) Confessions
Barron, Bishop Robert (?) The Strangest Way
Benedict XVI (?) Jesus of Nazareth
Benedict XVI (?) Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week
Bentley Hart, David (?) The New Testament
Bentley Hart, David (?) That All Shall Be Saved
Bodo, Murray (OFM) (?) Mystics
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich (?) The Cost of Discipleship
Bourgeault, Cynthia (?) The Wisdom Jesus
Brown, Raphael (Editor) (?) The Life of Mary as Seen by the Mystics
Brown Taylor, Barbara (?) Always a Guest
Calloway, Fr. Donald (MIC) (?) Consecration to St Joseph: The Wonders of Our Spiritual Father
Claiborne, Shane (?) Becoming the Answer to our Prayers
Croiset, Fr. Jean (?) Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
d’Elbée, Fr. Jean C. J. (?) I Believe in Love
de Montfort, St Louis (?) True Devotion to Mary: With Preparation for Total Consecration
de Sales, St Francis (?) Introduction to the Devout Life
Emmerich, Anne Catherine (?) The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ
Faustina, St (?) The Diary of St Maria Faustina Kowalska
Finley, James (?) Thomas Merton’s Path to the Palace of Nowhere
Foster, Richard J. (?) Sanctuary of the Soul
Frankl, Viktor E. (?) Man’s Search for Meaning
Guardini, Romano (?) The World and the Person and Other Writings (1. The World and the Person; 2. The Church of the Lord: On the Nature and Mission of the Church; 3. The Word of God; On Faith, Hope and Charity; 4. The Virtues: On Forms of Moral Life; and 5. The Wisdom of the Psalms)
Holy Bible – The New Testament (NRSV)
John of the Cross, St (?) Ascent of Mount Carmel
John of the Cross, St (?) Dark Night of the Soul
Keating, Fr. Thomas (?) The Contemplative Journey: Volume 1
a Kempis, Thomas (?) The Imitation of Christ
Kindelmann, Elizabeth (?) The Flame of Love
Kreeft, Peter (?) Forty Reasons I Am a Catholic
Lewis, C.S. (?) Reflections on the Psalms
Liguori, St Alphonsus (?) The Glories of Mary
Manning, Brennan (?) Souvenirs of Solitude
Manning, Brennan (?) Patched Together
Manning, Brennan (?) All Is Grace
Manning, Brennan (?) Furious Longing of God
McInerny, Ralph (?) Duns Scotus and Medieval Christianity
Merton, Thomas (?) No Man Is an Island
Merton, Thomas (?) New Seeds of Contemplation
Merton, Thomas (?) Thomas Merton on the Twelve Steps of Humility
Merton, Thomas (?) Thomas Merton on Prayer
Murray, Andrew (?) Humility
Nouwen, Henri J. M. (?) The Lonely Search for God
Nouwen, Henri J. M. (?) Home Tonight
Nouwen, Henri J. M. (?) Love, Henri
O’Malley, John W. (?) Vatican II
Preiss, John C. (?) The Miracle and the Message
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal (?) The Spirit of the Liturgy
Ratzinger, Joseph Cardinal (?) Introduction to Christianity
Rohr, Richard (?) Eager to Love
Rohr, Richard (?) Immortal Diamond
Rohr, Richard (?) The Divine Dance
Rohr, Richard (?) The Naked Now
Rohr, Richard (?) Great Themes of Paul
Seewald, Peter (?) Benedict XVI: A Life, Volume 2
Short, William (?) Saint Bonaventure: The Soul’s Journey into God
Teresa of Avila, St (?) The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus
Teresa of Avila, St (?) The Way of Perfection
Tolle, Eckhart (?) A New Earth
Walsch, Neale Donald (?) Communion with God
Weigel, George (?) Witness to Hope
Wright, Wendy M. (?) St. Francis de Sales and the Salesians: A Spirituality for the Modern World
E-Books
Later I started reading e-books, mostly on my kindle app on my phone. Again, many of these books were either free, cost 99p, or not much more.
Amorth, Fr. Gabriele (?) “My Rosary”: The Beloved Prayer of an Exorcist
Barron, Bishop Robert (2021) The Strangest Way (Word on Fire Institute)
Benedict XVI, Pope (?) Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection
Bonaventure, St (?) The Mind’s Road to God
Bourgeault, Cynthia (?) The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind – A New Perspective on Christ and His Message
Bourgeault, Cynthia (?) The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity
Brother Lawrence (?) The Practice of the Presence of God in Modern English
Butcher, Carmen Acevedo (?) The Cloud of Unknowing: A New Translation
Carr, Elias (2024) I Came to Cast Fire: An Introduction to René Girard (Word on Fire)
Croiset, Rev. Fr. Jean (?) Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus: How to Practice the Sacred Heart Devotion
D’Elbée, Fr. Jean C. J. (?) I Believe in Love: A Personal Retreat Based on the Teaching of St Thérèse of Lisieux
Dole, Richard (?) What You Need to Know About Fatima
Di Donato, Pietro (?) Immigrant Saint: The Life of Mother Cabrini
Faustyna, St (?) Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul
Greig, Pete (?) How to Hear God: A Simple Guide for Normal People
Ignatius of Loyola, St (?) The Autobiography of St Ignatius
John of the Cross, St (?) Ascent of Mount Carmel: Journeying Toward Divine Union
Johnson, Vernon & Foley, Donal Anthony (?) Message of Bernadette: Lourdes 2008 – 150th Anniversary of the Apparitions
Kane, William T. (?) For Greater Things: The Story of St Stanislaus Kostka
Keating, Thomas (?) On Prayer
Liguori, St Alphonsus (?) Prayer: The Great Means of Salvation and Perfection
Liguori, St Alphonsus (?) The Passion of Jesus Christ
Liguori, St Alphonsus (?) Uniformity with God’s Will
Montfort, St Louis de (?) True Devotion to Mary: With Preparation for Total Consecration
Montfort, St Louis de (?) The Secret of the Rosary
Murray, Andrew (?) Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
Neri, St Philip (?) The Maxims and Sayings of St Philip Neri
Nouwen, Henri (?) Love, Henri: Letters on the Spiritual Life
Robinson, Jonathan (?) In No Strange Land: The Embodied Mysticism of St Philip Neri
Pio, Padre (?) The Agony of Jesus
Pio, Padre (?) Meditation Prayer on Mary Immaculate
Rohr, Richard (?) Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assissi
Sales, St Francis of (?) Introduction to the Devout Life
Scupoli, Fr. Lorenzo (?) The Spiritual Combat
Suso, Bl. Henry (?) The Blessed Henry Suso Collection [A Little Book of Eternal Wisdom; The Life of Blessed Henry Suso] (Aeterna Press, 2016)
Terego, Alex (?) Edith Stein: Philosopher, Mystic, Martyr, Feminist
Thérèse of Lisieux (?) The Story of a Soul
Real Books
I have some of these too! I’ll share a list when I can.
Catholic English 