In the Heart of my Home

How to make Bluebell Season last a lot longer

This stuff smells like springtime heaven. 

 

Papa and the Pioneer Quilt

Rebecca's Papa has wandering feet. He packs up the family in a covered wagon and they head to Oregon. Along the way, Rebecca gathers scraps of fabric from family and friends, meaningful mementoes of their journey together. When they arrive in Oregon, she quilts all the memories into a lovely blanket. The book was inspired by the pioneer quilt pattern "Wandering Feet."  

We had a wonderful time with this one. I sat with a handful of 5 inch fabric squares on my lap and handed one to each of my three listeners every time Rebecca gathered a scrap for her collection. At the end, I added a few more. Then we sat on the floor, they did a little trading, and designed their own small quilts. We stitched them all together for some very lucky baby dolls.

Photo credit: Evelyn Hockstein for the New York Times. Used with Permission.

Photo credit: Evelyn Hockstein for the New York Times. Used with Permission.

More books on the Oregon Trail theme:

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon 

 Covered Wagons, Bumpy Trails

 The Josefina Story Quilt  

If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon 

The Oregon Trail (True Books) 

 

Roughing It on the Oregon (Trail The Time-Traveling Twins)

Apples to Oregon

 

 An entire {free} unit study on Pioneers and the Oregon Trail

More books on the patchwork and quilting theme:

The Keeping Quilt

Eight Hands Round: An Alphabet Book (pioneer life told through 26 quilt patterns)

Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt

The Quilt Story

The Name Quilt

The Quiltmaker's Gift

Oma's Quilt

The Rag Coat

 For a detailed explanation of our Storybook Year and a long lists of ways to talk about books, click here.

How to (give up coffee and) add more Hours to your Day

Last winter, when we returned from our long trip to Florida, I noticed that we were propelled into life in rapid motion. Everything seemed to be moving way too fast. Indeed, there were several crises, many of them urgent and pressing. From the time we got home, early in the third week of January, until the last week of March, I was in our pediatrician's office at least once a week, often many more times. He was a frequent caller at my home. And then there were the specialists to whom he was referring us. They were several and varied. With all this activity came the stress that illnesses visits upon mothers, but also, I noticed a severe interior stress--a straining almost to the breaking point. All these phone calls--and the visits to radiologists, orthodpedists, phlebotomists, cardiologists--all of it was just so much relentless noise to this introvert's spirit. Then, the first week that I didn't visit my pediatrician, my father-in-law was admitted to the hospital. The ICU is not a low stress place. I was more than fraying at the edges. I was unravelling at an alarming pace. I needed time to slow and I needed to quiet my soul. I wanted to stop living in fast forward and to begin to live intentionally again.

During this time of intensity, I did two things that I credit for saving my sanity: I gave up coffee and I returned to praying the entire Divine Office. Neither was my stated Lenten sacrifice. They both just happened as a graced gift of God.

I was very much out of my rhythm and feeling the lack of control that comes with a large family whose members are all suddenly needy at once. I recognized that I need to manage my stress better.  I resolved to return to the practice of praying the Liturgy of the Hours. While it was counterintuitive to add this to my "to do list," I knew from prior experiences that this was not a "to do," it was a grace infusion. I trusted. And I set out with a very deliberate, very disciplined plan.

Unlike times past, there was no nursing baby this time to sit with me and pray, to remind me with those most melodious "chapel bells" that it was time again to pray. This time, the bells were programmed into my iPod (a low tech early generation iPod touch with some real scars of its own). The bells on the alarm can be set to sound like church bells. {{Funny aside: I left my iPod at home one day recently when we met two families in the woods to enjoy the bluebells. As we were sitting in the sunshine, I was completely befuddled when I heard "my bells" chiming. Apparently, I'm not the only Catholic mom who uses this method to call herself to prayer. It was my friend's iPhone summoning her!}}

First thing in the morning, I seize that Heroic Moment. Here's where I'm honest and admit that it's not all that heroic for me. I'm totally a morning morning and relish the opportunity to see the sun rise outside my closet window. Yep. My closet. My exercise bike is in my closet and that's where I go for the first forty-five minutes of every day. My bike was a gift from my father, nearly 13 years ago. It is well loved. I pray the Invitatory, Morning Prayer, and the Office of Readings, while pedaling hard and long. Divineoffice.org on my iPod is my companion throughout the day. I listen and pray and pedal and start my day with energy and focus and an infusion of much needed grace. 

When I am finished, I've usually burned close to 300 calories;-). Oh, and I've prayed the psalms, the Old and New Testament, and read spiritual reading from the greatest spiritual leaders throughout time. The Liturgy of the Hours is rich with scripture, particularly with psalms. The Catechism describes the prayer of the psalms as the great school of trust in God. When I return to the psalms throughout the day, I am reminded to trust and to give everything to God. In a time of life that is full of pressing demands and unexpected crises, this is a message I need to hear from Him all day long.

Before my prayer time, alone in my closet, is up, I've prayed for the intentions of the Universal Church, for my own intentions, and for you. I think that is a very good--and very simple-- use of 45 minutes. Then, I shower and dress for the day. Usually, no one is yet awake. 

My husband is a television producer-director. He is conscious of "hard breaks," usually commerical spots that are already programmed into the broadcast. Whether the on-air talent is finished or not, that show is going to go to break at the pre-programmed time. When I was nursing babies, my spiritual director encouraged me to think of every time I stopped to nurse as a call to prayer. That strategy worked beautifully for many, many years. Now, I need my chimes. I've grown to think of my preprogrammed chimes as my hard breaks. Throughout the day, the chime of the bells compels me to stop what I am doing and redirects my efforts towards God. The effect of this intentional stopping is to slow time. Instead of the hours skittering away, the habit of intentional stopping for prayer focuses me.

Praying the Liturgy of the Hours was a very good way for me to get into the habit of stopping intentionally to refocus my day. After several weeks of this practice, I wanted to add other devotions, but I could sense that it would be impractical for me to add additional prayer time to praying all the Hours. I wrestled with the dilemma for awhile on my own with Jesus and then I sought spiritual direction. 

My good and holy priest smiled when I explained the dilemma and reminded me that I was praying more hours of the Divine Office than parish priests are asked to pray. We talked a bit about which devotions best suited my spirituality and my state of life. And we came up with a new prayer plan. I kept the morning routine, but changed up the rest of the day.

The next time my iPod chimes, it's 10:00. By this time, Mike has cleared the bedroom and gone to work. I leave whatever I am doing and go back upstairs. iPod in the dock, I pray Midmorning Prayer while I make the bed and tidy our bedroom. This is usually under 15 minutes of prayer time, but it's a very effective booster shot midmorning. Depending on my household and how schoolish things are coming along, I might gather up my little brood for a morning walk. The iPod goes into the cup holder in the stroller. My littlest usually plops herself down to be pushed, and we go for 20-30 minutes, listening to and praying the rosary. There is a free app here and there are several beautiful versions of a longer sung rosary on CD here. Then, back home and back to work.

We usually say grace and pray the Angelus at lunchtime (the Regina Coeli during the Easter season) and there's an app for that. There are several apps, actually. The one linked is a very simple one that has a chime that rings at noon (it can be programmed to ring at 6 AM and 6PM, too). If you have a favorite Angelus app, please chime in and let me know.

 

The next chime goes off at 3:00, the hour of mercy.  There's an app for that, too. (And it's free;-) Back outside for about 25 minutes or so, depending on what I choose to use to pray the Chaplet. My favorite version of the  Divine Mercy Chaplet is  about 11 minutes longer than the spoken version. But even if I use the long version, that's only an 18 minute walk.  Usually, I just keep walking and praying. Somehow, being outside is really important to slowing time and the movement of my body helps my to focus.

If this moving and praying is liturgically incorrect, I beg the Lord's grace. I think of Jesus as my exercise companion. He goes along with me on bike rides and long walks. I'm not a monk. My religious community is a motley crew of children with incessant needs.  I need this outside break to my inside day and so do they. I need to move. This is where a 2:00 cup of coffee with sugar used to go. No more. I was never a huge coffee drinker. A cup in the morning, maybe, and then that 2:00 shot of caffeine. But with the increased exercise and the loss of sugar for Lent, all my desire for coffee evaporated. Vanished. Now I let God's mercy and the great outdoors fuel my late afternoon and evening. And I have found that our Lord is abundantly generous! 

The bells chime again at 5:30. Evening prayer. This one is tricky. Always has been. We might be driving at this time, or I might be making dinner. If we are in the car, an iPod port makes it easy to listen to my iPod and go right on praying. At home, earbuds in the kitchen work just fine. My prayer time is rarely still. It's almost always active. Honestly, I find it easier to focus when I'm moving, but I do worry on occasion that our Lord asked that we "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalms 46:10)  I try to get to Mass several times a week and I'm pretty still there...

While I cuddle my little ones to sleep, we listen to the rosary, if we haven't yet prayed it that day. Or we listen to favorite lullabies.  I love this time. There is a peace to watching them drift to sleep, accompanied by prayer and song.

Night Prayer requires no alarm either. This is a well-established habit. I am in bed and still. Often, instead of my iPod, I use this lovely book. (Ouch, that's an outrageous new price. I do wish they'd publish these books again. They are so beautiful and there's nothing else like them.) It's all the better if I pray Night Prayer with my husband. It's a beautiful, peaceful way to end the day. No coffee. Lots of fresh air and exercise. An abundance of prayer. Even the sleep hours are so much more effective that they are mysteriously multiplied. 

All good. All grace.

Above is the outline of a day gone well. It's the ideal. Some days are less predictable. Some days are cranky and out of sorts. Some days, it's all I can do when the bells chime to throw my apron over my head and whisper, "Jesus, mercy!"

That works, too. For me, I've found that the habit of constant reconnecting with the Lord is the "how" of living an intentional, striving-for-holiness life. It's a habit I mean to keep.

In the Moment: Easter Monday

I find myself:

::noticing God's glory

It's early April. The tulips are already spent. The bluebells have bloomed and gone. Patrick has readied the rose garden for its moment of glory. Thankfully, the rose's season will last a long, long time. 

And the boys have built a raised bed garden. It's just waiting. Isn't that a happy, hopeful thing? A brand new garden, filled with soil and ready for seedlings. What a gift!

 

::listening to 

birds. So many birds under the pear tree in my front yard. They sound just lovely.

::clothing myself in 

His infinite mercy.

 

::giving thanks for

 a very fruitful Lent--the grace of a silent retreat and some time away alone with my husband. I'm so grateful to the people who made it happen.

::pondering prayerfully

 

You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us. … O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fount of mercy for us, I trust in You. (Diary of St. Faustina, 84, 1319)

  

::turning the pages of this book

I spent Holy Week reading Consoling the Heart of Jesus. There are a small handful of books in my life where I remember exactly where and when I read them because those times and places are turning points. This book is one of those. It is easily at the top of that list. This incredibly readable volume makes some of the most beautiful truths and devotions of the Catholic faith understandable (at last)  and accessible (even to busy mothers of large families).  Fr. Gaitley brings together fine threads of several spiritual traditions and weaves them into a beautiful and exceedingly useful tapestry of a do-it-yourself retreat. It is Ignatian spirituality made accessible. It is the Little Way of St. Therese for all of us. It is consecration to Mary and devotion to Divine Mercy explained in plain language and made clear to little souls. Mostly, it is a rich volume of Merciful Words that brings Merciful Love to its readers. You don't have to have a weekend to make the retreat. You can just read a little each day until you are finished. If it's your heart's desire to get to know and understand Jesus better, tell Him. He'll help you find the time. I heartily recommend that you hurry and get yourself a copy of this book--what a beautiful way to spend the Easter sason.

::creating by hand

I think this is the week I will attempt to sew a garment for myself. More on that on Thursday. (A quick St. Anne prayer would be appreciated though;-)

  

::learning lessons in

re-entry. I was away last week. Now I'm back. You'd think after making every re-entry mistake in the book when I came back in January, I would have learned. But I'm still learning. 

::encouraging learning 

We have a few little Easter week happy things planned, but we also have some lessons to do this week. 

::carefully cultivating rhythm

I'm back in step with the rhythm of prayer. Lent is so good for that. I've resolved to keep all my Lenten resolutions. I made quite a few and they've born great fruit. I looked at every single one and decided that there was no better way than to celebrate the Easter season than to just keep doing what I've been doing.

One thing, though. I found, about half way through Lent, that I didn't really have time to write. I'd like to have time to write. I spent a good chunk of time alone last week and I had an opportunity to get some posts for this week written. Beyond that, I'm praying I figure out the writing time piece of the puzzle. 

::begging prayers

for my friend, Leslie who carries a heavy cross into the Easter season and for her children:  I pray that the joy of the Resurrection will be theirs even as the grieve. And for the repose of the soul of her husband: 

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

 

::keeping house

Yeah. That. I'm doing it, I promise;-).

 

::crafting in the kitchen 

this early spring has me befuddled in the kitchen, too. What local vegetable season is it, anyway? Farmer's Market is supposed to open in April. Any locals know which weekend?

I'm also planning meals to bring to my mother- and father-in-law. I need to think of things which are easily re-heated and provide some variety over the course of a few days. Any ideas?

::loving the moments

::I took lots of long walks in Coral Gables while Mike was at work. While the sights and sounds were wonderful, it was the feel of warm sun that especially blessed me. Oh, how that sun felt good!

::I had lots of uninterrupted time alone with Mike at te end of his work day.

:: After the feast and the Easter egg hunt yesterday, Karoline, who is five, organized all the cousins and siblings to put on an Easter play. From the Last Supper to the Resurrection, she scripted and directed the whole thing. It was a child who reminded us at the end of the long day exactly what the day was meant to celebrate. How happy she must have made Jesus! How He must have smiled at Nicholas carrying the seven foot cross and then curling up in the soccer-goal-turned-tomb. And Karoline, insisting it all happen and then bringing it life. Oh, to have the unabashed faith of a little child...

::living the liturgy

I'm determined that my family know that we are living the Easter season, just as surely as they knew that we were living Lent. What does that mean, exactly? How best to make it fifty days of bright hope and joyful prayer?

For us, Easter has always meant an abundance of time out door in the sunshine.  Our beloved bluebells have come and gone, so this year, we will spend April getting to know some of the later blooming flowers (which are also blooming early--we'll get to know traditional may flowers this April). 

It's also a season of blessed candles, holy water, and light. That means that candles will be lit on the mantel where the golden Alleluia letters shine, all the holy water fonts will be filled, and windows will be washed inside and out to let in the light. 

The Eastertide hymn will be rung (or sung  lustily as it may) and my children will be belting out Alleluias at random times for the foreseeable future, just because they can...

And we are looking joyfully forward to the Feast of Divine Mercy.

  

::planning for the week ahead

I plan to spend lots of time hugging on these sweet children! I missed them when I was away from them and I'm looking very forward to launching into this new season with them.

Many thanks to Emily DeHority for taking my camera in her hands thorughout the weekend. Some of these photos are hers. I'm not really sure who clicked what:-) 

Celebrating 6 Years of Heartfelt Sharing

My friendship with Elizabeth began three years ago. We were both in a place that wasn’t exactly pleasant-- lots of upheaval on both ends. Like soldiers in the trenches, we were knit together by that dark time. We walked through some serious health issues together; we watched as the economy crashed. Our communities were changing around us, too- it was a lot to absorb and deal with.

It’s hard to explain what her friendship has meant to me over the years. She’d call me in that awful hospital room, me stir crazy and anxious for my children, and make me laugh, and then murmur and think aloud about all manner of things to me, and interpret my rough, medicine-addled, raspy response, completely distracting me, as she had fully intended to do. Later on, we kept company on many a Sunday morning, when both one of her children and I couldn’t handle the loving germs that would transmit along with the passing of the peace. We talked long those Sundays, fellowshipping in spirit, parsing out the changes that had come, the challenges. She has ever encouraged me in my homeschool adventures. First, long before I had met her, through Real Learning, and then, practically on tap whenever I was facing a ‘what would Charlotte Mason do?’ moment. She’s never been one to be didactic- her whole life is lived- and she teaches me by how she lives and breathes a Real Education.

I could say that about practically every aspect of Elizabeth: her faith. Her marriage. How she parents. How she loves. How she encourages. How she engages in relationship. She lives her faith out. It’s a beautiful thing to behold. With her, you are at peace; with her, the world seems bite-size and doable. I’ve learned how to be a better mama, friend, wife, and teacher because of her.

It seems such a small gift, then, to share the fruits of creative work during this Lenten season. Bless her, but all the blogs were really starting to look like a lady whose dress had shrunk in the wash, leaving the petticoats and slips and broken links and leggy sidebars and all manner of things sticking out underneath. We’ve sewn some new dresses for each of them; I hope you’ll enjoy.

Let me take you on a tour?

Here at the main blog, we really straightened out all the various destinations you all love to visit. Everything should be easier to find; most of the destinations you all visit regularly have been incorporated into a one-touch button in the side bar. Don’t forget her lovely stack of links she likes to share; you’ll find them just below the sponsors and before the buttons. (And don’t forget to visit all the kind sponsors that help In the Heart of my Home be the best it can be!) I’ve also linked the other communities that Elizabeth blogs for, so you can find them quickly, just above the sponsors.

The Store  and the Real Learning Booklists have been given fresh dresses, with some new goodies there…

Our work still in progress is Serendipity; while she’s got a fresh dress, it still has a few pins in it while we get the pockets right, but we hope that you will find it much more usable and easy to access. Keep checking back as more becomes available, and definitely go visit it now and see all the amazing resources available there!

And Elizabeth has some new features planned too, which we will introduce throughout this week.

It is with great delight that I unveil a blogiversary gift to Elizabeth, one long in the works. It seems such a small thing, but I hope she knows my heart!

 

Grace and Peace,

Joy

 

I might have had a meltdown today...

...and just maybe a boy who has been hugely helpful all week and not at all the source of my frustration turned back as he was leaving to run another errand.

"Hey Mom, you need to listen Scott McCreery sing Dirty Dishes. I'll be back in a bit."

Just in case you need to hear this today, too:

 

~Holy Saturday~

From an ancient homily on Holy Saturday (source: divineoffice.org)
The Lord descends into hell

Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. God has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

He has gone to search for our first parent, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow the captives Adam and Eve, he who is both God and the son of Eve. The Lord approached them bearing the cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone: “My Lord be with you all.” Christ answered him: “And with your spirit.” He took him by the hand and raised him up, saying: “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. Out of love for you and for your descendants I now by my own authority command all who are held in bondage to come forth, all who are in darkness to be enlightened, all who are sleeping to arise. I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I am in you; together we form only one person and we cannot be separated.

For your sake I, your God, became your son; I, the Lord, took the form of a slave; I, whose home is above the heavens, descended to the earth and beneath the earth. For your sake, for the sake of man, I became like a man without help, free among the dead. For the sake of you, who left a garden, I was betrayed to the Jews in a garden, and I was crucified in a garden.

See on my face the spittle I received in order to restore to you the life I once breathed into you. See there the marks of the blows I received in order to refashion your warped nature in my image. On my back see the marks of the scourging I endured to remove the burden of sin that weighs upon your back. See my hands, nailed firmly to a tree, for you who once wickedly stretched out your hand to a tree.

I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side for you who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side has healed the pain in yours. My sleep will rouse you from your sleep in hell. The sword that pierced me has sheathed the sword that was turned against you.

Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly paradise. I will not restore you to that paradise, but I will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The bridal chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The kingdom of heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.

RESPONSORY

Our shepherd, the source of the water of life, has died. The sun was darkened when he passed away. But now man’s captor is made captive.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

He has destroyed the barricades of hell, overthrown the sovereignty of the devil.
– This is the day when our Savior broke through the gates of death.

 

~ Good Friday~

"So they took Jesus and carrying the cross himself, he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle."

John 19:17-18

 

Be with Christ today. Stand beside the cross and unite your suffering with his. Compare your wounds with his and see that they are small, but give them to him anyway. Compare your strength to his and see that you are weak, but give yourself to him anyway. Walk with him, bleed with him, die with him today.

It's my Blogiversary!

But it's also Good Friday. So let's just celebrate on Monday;-)

Catholic Women have Style, Sex, and Substance

 

It was the perfect storm. Just as the HHS mandate was making front page news and all the world was becoming aware that the Catholic Church forbids contraception, Rick Santorum was pushing towards the front of the GOP presidential nominee race and my children were being featured on the front page of the New York Times because they advocated in Richmond for homeschoolers to gain access to afterschool activities in the public schools. All of a sudden, I found myself confronting stereotypes of faithful homeschooling Catholics everywhere I turned.  Social media outlets were minefields of misinformation, misperceptions, and misunderstanding.

I learned that many people have strong opinions--about the Church, about openness to life, about home education-- and those opinions are not positive. I saw a whole lot of hatred spewed. What surprised me most, though, is that the people who advocate for all sorts of progressive liberties were venomous when confronted with the witness of my life and my assertion that I am entitled to live my faith freely, openly, and completely in this country. They failed again and again to understand the beauty that I see--that I live--in the living the fullness of the faith. There is a widespread misunderstanding about what it is to be a faithful, joyful, wholly Catholic woman.

It is a very happy coincidence that a long awaited book was published just as this storm raged. Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things That Really Matter is edited by Hallie Lord. Hallie is joined by nine of the brightest voices in America today. These are sharp, articulate, thoughtful, humorous, happy women who live lives in full communion with the Catholic Church. They embrace the truth, the whole truth, and live to write about it with candor and joy.

Of the ten contributors, nine are married. None of them uses contraception. Several of them educate their own children at home. This slim volume is packed with wisdom and insight into the lives of women who are real and really live a life of contradiction in this culture. None of them is oppressed. None of them is a haggard, frumpy, wrung out woman who has wasted her life on her man and his kids. Actually, I know several of them personally, a few very well, and they are all rather beautiful. And funny. And fun. They are warm, lovely women in love with God and with life.

This is no shrinking violet of a book. These women tackle tough topics. Elizabeth Duffy’s essay on sex is frank and forthright. She presents a picture of what it is to live a life of honest openness to life and love with clarity and grace. Where the caricature is of judgmentalism and oppression, Elizabeth Duffy is compassionate and understanding and fresh and (yes!) funny.

Danielle Bean writes about marriage with her customary style and sensitivity. And honesty. This is real marriage, the kind that is one’s vocation, one’s true calling and path to heaven. It’s hard work. It’s forever. It’s the grace-filled, authentically Catholic variety. Not only do you want to keep reading about it, you want to have it for yourself. Danielle isn’t a woman trapped by a man and eight kids. Far from it, she’s the editor of a major magazine, a blogger, and a television personality meeting the demands and the blessings of life and love with the benefit of huge doses of sacramental grace.

And that whole idea of a homeschooling mama with a dated hairstyle and a denim tent dress? Hallie Lord confesses that it was cute Catholic fashion that first had her considering converting to the faith. She makes it clear that modesty is wholly compatible with stylishness, that dressing well enhances self-confidence and a sense of wellbeing, that there is an art to womanly presentation and it is an art we would do well to learn. Hallie looks honestly at the struggles of a mother to look and feel her best and she offers genuine encouragement to women of all sizes and shapes.

There is much, much more. We are treated to practical thoughts on cultivating a rich prayer life, pragmatic observations about our place in cyberspace and beyond, and thoughtful encouragement towards healthy friendships. It’s the kind of book that inspires one to call a friend read passages aloud.

The book is a quick read. I devoured it in an afternoon, eager to pass it along to so very many people. I came away from the experience holding my head a little higher, my shoulders a little more square. More importantly, I came away feeling as if I’d just had a long, leisurely talk with kindred spirits. It can be a brutal world out there. It’s awfully nice to be understood.

 

"Style, Sex, and Substance" book trailer from Hallie Lord on Vimeo.

The Last Supper and the Eucharist

I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I would lay down my life for my sheep.

The Good Shepherd is present to us in a different sheepfold. Just as this statue show us He is present as a Shepherd, the cup and the plate remind us that he is truly present in the bread and the wine.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. I wonder who the sheep are...

~~

Since we are the sheep, I am going to  replace the sheep with US.

We are all gathered before the table and the Good Shepherd is there. Where do we do this?

In this setting there is a way that we receive the Good Shepherd into our own body. This is called holy communion.The priest brings us Jesus. Jesus is the Eucharist.

Eucharist means Thanksgiving.

We are grateful for this great gift.

 

{painted wooden dolls available at St. Luke's Brush and  Catholic Folk Toys}

 

 

Tuesday of Holy Week

Fast

Do you have a talent? Remember to give God the glory.

"The sole thing in myself in which I glory is that I see in myself nothing in which I can glory" (St. Catherine of Genoa).

~

Pray

Repeat a short prayer while you do the dishes today: 

"O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like yours!"

~

Give

Invite a friend for lunch. Don't worry about making the house look perfect or cooking fancy food. Be truly present to her.

Who Gets Fed First at Your House?

“Stand in line and take your turn.

The children get fed first.

 

If there’s any left over,

the dogs get it.” ~ Mark 7:27

 

Real food for thought today at MomHeart. Go! Read more.

 

Monday of Holy Week

Fast

Give Christ your voice today: Say what He would say.

~

Pray

Give Christ your heart today. Love without limit.

~

Give

Give Christ your hands today. Do what He would do.

~Palm Sunday~

From a homily by Saint Gregory Nazianzen, bishop
We are soon going to share in the Passover

We are soon going to share in the Passover, and although we still do so only in a symbolic way, the symbolism already has more clarity than it possessed in former times because, under the law, the Passover was, if I may dare to say so, only a symbol of a symbol. Before long, however, when the Word drinks the new wine with us in the kingdom of his Father, we shall be keeping the Passover in a yet more perfect way, and with deeper understanding. He will then reveal to us and make clear what he has so far only partially disclosed. For this wine, so familiar to us now, is eternally new.

It is for us to learn what this drinking is, and for him to teach us. He has to communicate this knowledge to his disciples, because teaching is food, even for the teacher.

So let us take our part in the Passover prescribed by the law, not in a literal way, but according to the teaching of the Gospel; not in an imperfect way, but perfectly; not only for a time, but eternally. Let us regard as our home the heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly one; the city glorified by angels, not the one laid waste by armies. We are not required to sacrifice young bulls or rams, beasts with horns and hoofs that are more dead than alive and devoid of feeling; but instead, let us join the choirs of angels in offering God upon his heavenly altar a sacrifice of praise. We must now pass through the first veil and approach the second, turning our eyes toward the Holy of Holies. I will say more: we must sacrifice ourselves to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, and honoring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified.

If you are a Simon of Cyrene, take up your cross and follow Christ. If you are crucified beside him like one of the thieves, now, like the good thief, acknowledge your God. For your sake, and because of your sin, Christ himself was regarded as a sinner; for his sake, therefore, you must cease to sin. Worship him who was hung on the cross because of you, even if you are hanging there yourself. Derive some benefit from the very shame; purchase salvation with your death. Enter paradise with Jesus, and discover how far you have fallen. Contemplate the glories there, and leave the other scoffing thief to die outside in his blasphemy.

If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, go to the one who ordered his crucifixion, and ask for Christ’s body. Make your own the expiation for the sins of the whole world. If you are a Nicodemus, like the man who worshipped God by night, bring spices and prepare Christ’s body for burial. If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, or Joanna, weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus himself.

From Office of Readings:  Divineoffice.org