Meet a Reader: Lindsey Weishar

Since my October column for The Catholic Post featured books for younger readers, it seems appropriate to feature a younger member of our diocese.  I met Lindsey this summer when she was on the Totus Tuus team.  Our kids have attended this program for two years now and it is fantastic.  Thanks, Lindsey, for being willing to be featured here!

How you know me:  My parents, Julie, Joe, my sister, Rachel, and I attend St. Matthew Parish in Champaign. I am a senior in English at the University of Illinois. The most attractive part of attending the University of Illinois is St. John’s Catholic Newman Center.  I’m in my second year of living here at the Newman Center and I love it.

This past summer, I was a team member of the Totus Tuus program, a wonderful experience that involved sharing the beauty of the Catholic faith with children and teens in six parishes in the Peoria Diocese.

Why I love reading:  I love reading because it calls me to think, to pay attention to the little details of life. This is why poetry is especially attractive to me. There is just so much to notice in the life we live, and books help me notice, to place myself outside of myself, to see how other people may live and feel.

What I’m reading now:  It sometimes happens that I begin to read too many things at once. So I am in the midst of quite a few books. I recently finished Matthew Lickona’s spiritual memoir entitled Swimming With Scapulars. The honesty of the joys and struggles of Lickona’s spiritual life made the book a great read. Another book recently finished is a preparation for Marian consecration entitled 33 Days to Morning Glory. This book taught me so much about Mary. My dad and I have been in the midst of St. Augustine’s Confessions, and though the book is dense, Augustine’s emotion and profound sense of God are amazing.

My favorite books:  One of my favorites is St. Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul. I really feel able to connect with Therese and her book gives me a view into the interior landscape of saint, a soul so alive with love for Jesus. Other books I greatly enjoy include C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, for its deep look into human sin and the devil’s role as the  tempter, and Charles Dickens’  A Tale of Two Cities, for its beautiful exploration of self-sacrifice for the good of another.