[Reading] continuously tells of the clash of virtue and vices. . . . Reading is the food, light, lamp, refuge, solace of the soul, the spice of all spiritual flavors. It feeds the hungry, gives light to the one sitting in darkness, offers bread to the one fleeing shipwreck or war, comforts the contrite heart.
PETER OF CELLE,
ON AFFLICTION AND READING (Quoted in Hugh Fiess, Essential Monastic Wisdom)
