Eucharistic Crusade and reading

Excerpts From the Handbook
of the Eucharistic Crusade

Reading:

In the Crusade, the habit of instructive reading is formed; all reading that disturbs one’s peace of soul or suggests thoughts not wholly pure is avoided.

-Reading is a formative element. To give oneself this formation, one must not wait till one has reached the age when pleasure or sloth have already destroyed all taste for reading.

-A crusader never reads a book that he knows nothing about. He does not experiment to find out if a book is bad. Morality and good sense require that he consult competent authority: parents, teachers, directors of conscience or a confessor (but never this friend or that).

-He does not keep nor look at any suggestive picture or sketch; nor does he satisfy his curiosity in the presence of movie advertisements, or an exhibit of magazines more or less provocative; he is prudent in consulting certain catalogues, certain books on physical culture. Purity demands a continual mastery over all the senses.

-He will fight against bad newspapers (perhaps this is more the concern of the parents), he will fight, in a very positive and practical way, against the yellow journals-by talking up good newspapers, and by subscribing to those. One will be severer still towards those shameless magazines that are an insult to morality and decency. He ought to know that there exists an abundant literature for youth; this is the kind of literature that must be spread abroad with the same ardour that the little Communists show in making known their magazines.

To be continued…

Home | Contents

Accueil