Chapter 16

Read for Edification

Regarding reading. To read for knowledge is one thing, and to read for edification is another. In the first case, much is read, but in the second you should not read much; rather, as soon as something from what you read strikes your heart, pause and think, trying both to understand and, more importantly, to root this thought deeply in your heart. This is the same as turning it into a subject for meditation on God. In this way you will nourish and grow your soul, not fill it like a sack.

(Letter 187. Vol. 1, p. 220)