Looking for a good reading recommendation — one that not only enriches the mind but nourishes your soul?

One way to find good reads, especially for spiritual reading, is through seeking out those suggested by wise, virtuous, well-read friends. You can even consider the recommendations and favorite reads of the Church’s canonized saints.

But what kind of reading might a saint, or in this case a future saint, recommend? In reading their letters and biographies, one can find some idea, and among the reading recommendations given would be the letters of St. Paul. For the sake of this article, I’ll be highlighting Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati as the recommender.

While the inclusion of the writings of St. Paul both in Sacred Scripture and in the readings at Mass should be enough to recommend them, these writings are also favorites of certain saints and blesseds in the Church. Soon-to-be canonized Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati is among these.

Blessed Pier Giorgio (1901-1925), a lay Dominican known for his adventurous enjoyment of the outdoors and his life of charity, shows in his life and writings a particular appreciation for the Epistles of St. Paul. For instance, his sister Luciana Frassati writes in A Man of the Beatitudes: “St. Paul was Pier Giorgio’s main moral nourishment, the principal source of his religious thinking.”

His sister also shares that he wrote out St. Paul’s Hymn to Charity so that he would have it available. She also says that he would read a book of Paul’s Epistles on the street or when traveling by tram, and if asked what he was reading, would say, “Words of eternal life.”

One also finds evidence of Pier Giorgio’s particular appreciation for the writings of St. Paul in his own words. This can be seen in a letter written to his close friend Marco Beltrano, giving a seemly modern reflection on what the world needs:

‘Peace be in your soul.’ … In the world that has gone astray from God, there is no peace; it also lacks charity that is true and perfect love. Were we to heed St. Paul a little more, human miseries would diminish.” (From a January 1925 letter to Marco Beltrano)

While written just over 100 years ago, in the time between the two 20^th-century World Wars in Europe, these words regarding the significance of the writings of St. Paul sound quite relevant to the present moment in the world. The modern age needs “the peace of the risen Christ” (cf. Pope Leo XIV’s first “Urbi et Orbi” blessing), and authentic charity and spiritual joy. Likewise, the following quote from Pier Giorgio about how reading St. Paul can bring peace and joy is pertinent today:

The mind sated with arid science sometimes finds peace and refreshment and spiritual enjoyment in the reading of St. Paul. I’d like you to try to read St. Paul. It is wonderful and the spirit is cheered and ennobled by reading him. It spurs us on to follow the right way and return to it whenever we leave it through sin.

Frassati names specific fruits that the reading of the Pauline Epistles can bring to one’s life, both interiorly and more generally. What a great challenge and recommendation! Through a prayerful reading of St. Paul, with a view to application in one’s own life, one would hope to find a world in which passages such as the Hymn to Charity in 1 Corinthians 13 are not just an aspiration but a lived reality. Considering another writing of St. Paul’s, through individuals “turning to the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:16), God’s glory may be reflected in both individuals and in society (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18).

Among the many choices available for spiritual reading and material for pondering in prayer, St. Paul’s letters are, in the words of Pier Giorgio, a “wonderful” choice, offering benefits for one’s mind and soul. May Blessed Pier Giorgio, who also enjoyed reading Dante among other recreational choices, intercede for us to find profitable reading and for this endeavor to bear good fruit in our lives and in society!