Words are food for our minds and spirits — as nourishing or junky as what we put in our mouths. For most of us it is what we read that is the major source of the words that feed us.

You’ve probably heard of converts who say they read their way into the Church. I did. When I left from the Jehovah’s Witnesses 12 years ago at the age of 38, I not only knew nothing about the Catholic Church, but nothing basically about Christianity and my grasp of history was almost nil. I was, besides, quite economically “disadvantaged,” as they say.

One of the first things I did was take an old 1950’s set of Encyclopedia Americana someone had given me years before and start reading through every article about religious historical figures. I was amazed at how many influential and holy people down through the centuries had been Catholic. Slowly the shape of Christian history began to take shape in my mind. I began to pray that God would put into my hands whatever he wanted me to read. After all, without knowing in advance what was in the books, how did I know what to choose? And here I was at the halfway point of my life without an education. How would I ever catch up without Divine assistance?

Another ex-Jehovah’s Witness on the other side of the country happened (yeah, right) to send me John Henry Cardinal Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine. I couldn’t have afforded to buy it and that was if I had even known it existed.

Over the next two years other non-Catholics put amazing things into my hands: The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, The Spiritual Autobiography of Saint Theresa, Augustine’s Confessions. When my initial inquiry of a Catholic priest yielded mumbo jumbo and I walked away disappointed, an Anglican priest got me a copy of the Catechism. At my first foray into college, I was recommended to do a directed reading under a philosophy professor who just happened (yeah, right) to be a Catholic deacon. Recognizing my interest in the faith, he assigned me the Documents of Vatican II — straight up. Another professor, who ended up sponsoring me into the Church, subscribed me to First Things as a confirmation gift.

That was the first of a number of great Catholic periodicals that have made their way into my home, shaping and enlarging my understanding of the faith and the Church, including Crisis, Lay Witness, and Logos. One point I want to make in particular about many of the articles I encountered as a new convert, especially in First Things and Logos, is that I read my way through many articles of which I understood maybe ten percent of the content. Seriously.

Want to be a smarter Catholic? I recommend two things. First, pray to God to put into your hands what he wants you to read. God cares about what you read. He really does. Then, read things you don’t understand.

Why read what you don’t understand? Because it is a mental exercise that stretches your capacity to think. As you read what you don’t understand, the shape of the arguments gradually becomes clear, your vocabulary expands, the reading becomes easier and easier. You find yourself recalling more and more. The new vocabulary and more complex thoughts become part of the mental furniture of your own mind. If God puts it into your hands to read, trust that he will help you grow in understanding. Be willing to exercise your mind and it will grow.

We who have read our way into the Church warmly recommend to you cradle Catholics what the Spirit told St. Augustine: take and read.

© Copyright 2006 Catholic Exchange

Mary Kochan, Senior Editor of Catholic Exchange, was raised as a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness. She is a member of St. Theresa parish in Douglasville, GA and she is homeschooling two of her grandchildren. Her tapes are available from Saint Joseph Communications.