Normally, I share here great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen.” Today, it’s this video. Awesome!
Take two minutes to watch this, and then share it with a young person you know.
Worth a Listen: "He Said" by Group 1 Crew (featuring Chris August)
(Sharing great songs that are inspiring, uplifting and/or are otherwise “worth a listen”). Explanation (of a kind) here.
My favorite part of this music video, apart from Blanca’s hair (love!) are the Scripture verses on various objects (mirrors, lampshades etc.) throughout.
A Tale of Two Books About …. Pregnancy
When I review certain books, I have often shared them informally with others–such as medical experts or even kids–to help me discern if they are good for the intended audience, or what their gut reaction is to a certain book.
I’ve decided to formalize this by sharing conversations to provide a perspective that’s unique, and give readers a chance to understand a little more about a genre of books from the intended audience.
First in this series of conversations is with an expectant mom and her unique perspective about two different books intended for new moms: the newly-released from Sarah Reinhard, A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy: Walking with Mary from Conception to Baptism and Donna-Marie Cooper-O’Boyle’s classic, Prayerfully Expecting: A Nine-Month Novena for Mothers to Be.
Both books are a worthwhile gift for moms-to-be, but because they are so different, a Q&A about them seemed in order. I had the chance to sit down one afternoon recently with Grete Veliz. Grete is a mom I’ve known for a long time, and admired for a grounded spiritual life, a healthy sense of community, and some of the cutest children around.
If you’re an expectant mom or looking for a gift for one, my hope is that this conversation may help you choose which one (or both!) of these worthwhile books would be best in your situation.
Q: Grete, tell me a little more about you and your family.
Grete: Mark and I have been married for eight years. We have four children living at home: ages 7, 5, 3, and 19 months. We have lost two to miscarriage and I’m pregnant and expecting a baby next March.
I’m just past the morning sickness part of pregnancy, but still tired. I’m growing a person inside and it’s hard work!
Q: Tell me your impressions of A Catholic Mother’s Guide to Pregnancy.
Grete: When I first got it, I skimmed through the whole book at once to get a feel for it. Then I started to read the week that I am in (right now, pregnancy (14 weeks).
The author starts each week with an anecdote or story from herself or a guest author. This week I really liked, because it is a little about how it’s hard to be pregnant for some people. You are struggling with not feeling well, with being tired. She invites readers to ask for grace in carrying that particular cross.
I have a lot of good impressions about the book: each week is a different mystery of the rosary; there’s also a faith focus and “one small step.” This week for me, the “small step” was to go to adoration, even for 15 minutes. I like those practical ideas.
My only concern was that for many weeks, the chapters began with what I saw as a negative story to tell about pregnancy, either from the author or a guest writer. They covered things like unexpected pregnancy, eating disorders, miscarriage, depression, stillbirth, and so on. I don’t feel you should leave those things out necessarily, but in my situation it became too negative.
I felt especially vulnerable spiritually because I am pregnant this time pretty soon after a miscarriage. I was approaching this pregnancy with fear; I had a lot of anxiety at the beginning about losing the baby again. What I really wanted was a book to help me pray daily and connect with our little baby.
Q. I think I know what you mean. After my first look at the book, I felt that if I had read it when newly pregnant with our oldest (after a miscarriage), it might not have been the best “fit” for me. I’m pretty sure it would have intensified rather than soothed the new-parent fears that my husband and I were experiencing. At the same time, reading it when I was pregnant with my third child would have been a truly great “companion,” like a friend commiserating with you on the good, the bad and the ugly about pregnancy and labor.
Grete: Exactly! I feel like A Catholic Mother’s Companion to Pregnancy is more like talking to your Catholic “mom friend” who tells it like it is, and doesn’t hold back about the aches and the pains. You can really relate to that, but it has to be the right time for those kinds of conversations.
Q. So you took a look at Prayerfully Expecting. What’s good about that one?
Grete: Before I read through either book, I was really trying to figure out just what kind of book I wanted. I wanted to deepen my trust that God would provide for this pregnancy and for the baby. I really needed something to help me be more positive, because I was finding it hard to be positive at the beginning.
I love Prayerfully Expecting; it’s exactly what I need right now. If A Catholic Mother’s Companion is your Catholic “mom friend,” Prayerfully Expecting is like your spiritual director. It gives you specific guidance, by telling you to say these prayers to help you manage pregnancy, and reflect on these quotes, or this saint’s writing, based on where you are in pregnancy.
Every morning I want to read this one, and so I keep it nearby. For instance, today I prayed the St. Anne novena prayer for this month of my pregnancy. The author also focuses on different mysteries of the rosary; this month it is the Luminous Mysteries. There’s no personal stories from herself or other, just a brief, what’s happening to your baby, development-wise.
This book is structured by month, not week, and each contains quotes from encyclicals, Scripture verses, or saints writings. The author has a spot for notes and a journal throughout each chapter. I’m not much of a journal-writer, but it’s a nice mix–a page or a page and a half for each month.
Q. If you were a first-time mom, which would you choose?
Grete: Honestly, I wish I could merge both books. Both have strengths and weaknesses. For instance, Prayerfully Expecting doesn’t have anything about labor or after birth and A Catholic Mother’s Companion’s sections on labor and baptism are terrific. The labor section offers practical advice on spiritual practices for labor. Labor can be a lot of suffering, and Reinhard offers advice like praying the stations of the cross, using holy cards. I found that really helpful.
She also reminds parents in the time after birth to prepare well for baptism; sometimes that can be overlooked, especially for more experienced parents.
For this pregnancy, I’m definitely drawn much more to Prayerfully Expecting, but I gleaned a lot from A Catholic Mother’s Companion. I know it would serve well other moms or even myself during a different pregnancy.
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.
Youth Is Wasted on the Young?
Here is my October column that appears in this weekend’s edition of The Catholic Post. I invite your feedback here.
Like many moms, mine loved great maxims born of wisdom and long experience. Because she had a great sense of humor, these sayings would sometimes morph, Mrs. Maloprop-style, to something like my personal favorite, “We’ll jump off that bridge when we get to it.”
One she never changed, but still intoned in her best mock-serious mother-knows-best voice: “Youth is wasted on the young.”
Now that I close in on the half-century mark, I begin to understand what that really means.
Yes, youth is wasted on the young. All that free time! All that energy!
I recall saying–more than once–to ungrateful, nap-resistant toddlers: “I promise you, someday, someone will say to you, ‘why don’t you go take a nap,’ and you will say, ‘Thank you!’ instead of fighting it.”
Don’t get me wrong. I love my maturity and experience, even as I might covet what the younger me took for granted, like naps or a faster metabolism.
“Youth is wasted on the young” occurred to me as the fall books from Catholic publishers began to arrive, and with more than the usual number for teens and young adults. I wish I could have had read these when I was 15, 25 or 35 for inspiration, for spiritual growth, or just plain fun. So youth, don’t waste it, but take advantage of these great books, vetted not just by me but younger readers, to enjoy this fall:
*He Speaks to You by Sister Helena Burns, FSP. Sister Helena is an expert on media literacy and Theology of the Body, a Catholic new media maven, and a great friend to the Peoria diocese, speaking here often and living in nearby Chicago. Turns out she’s also a gifted author.
This book is a deceptively simple prayer/reflection book for young women. Each page corresponds to a day of the year, with Scripture, reflection and action and journaling ideas. It may sound basic, but He Speaks to You offers substantial, meaty topics in the context of consistent themes that run through an entire month. For example, “His Will” in April, covers topics like discernment and vocation, and “In His Image” in August, focuses on body image and sexuality.
Sister Helena writes in the introduction, “The sisters and I have long talked about wanting to find a way to share …basic principles of the interior life and how to live them in daily life.” With the wisdom of the Daughters of St. Paul, mission accomplished.
*Be Beautiful, Be You by Lizzie Velasquez.
This is a sweet volume–all from a Catholic perspective–about loving yourself, overcoming setbacks, and recognizing what makes a person unique. 23-year-old Lizzie Velasquez was born with a rare medical syndrome, and she writes candidly about her struggles and how she has used them to grow emotionally and spiritually.
Lizzie’s stories, journal and ideas offer a much-needed antidote to our culture’s obsession with perfection and ways to overcome that.
*Fearing the Stigmata: Humorously Holy Stories of a Young Catholic’s Search for a Culturally Relevant Faith by Matt Weber.
Matt Weber is a Harvard grad and practicing Catholic–not at all a contradiction. Fearing the Stigmata is his charmingly earnest and witty take on living as a Catholic young adult in the modern world.
I didn’t include this book simply so young men wouldn’t feel left out, but because it is a genuinely funny and spiritually edifying book. I found myself laughing out loud at many, many vignettes in the book, from his love of the restaurant Olive Garden, to “nun volleyball,” to “the Dominic Code.” You have to read Fearing the Stigmata to find out what those mean in the context of our Catholic faith, but you’ll thank me.
Celebrating the Year of Faith
Today starts The Year of Faith, a year Benedict XVI set aside for learning about, sharing and living out our Catholic faith. The Holy Father celebrated a Mass this morning to open this year; here is his homily. Many quotes jumped out at me from the homily, but let me share just one: “Living faith opens the heart to the grace of God which frees us from pessimism.”
One of the reasons the Year of Faith begins October 11 is that today, is the 50th anniversary of the first session of Vatican II. Here, BXVI shares some of his memories from that time. Today is also the 20th anniversary of the release of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
Much has been written all over the Internet and in publications about living out The Year of Faith. I’m sure you parish, like ours, has many activities and events to help people grow in faith. I write here to encourage people (myself included) to consider the ways we can be intention in this Year of Faith about learning about our faith, praying together, and sharing it with others.
What are just a few of the ways to celebrate the Year of Faith?
Last Saturday, I attended a great gathering of women (called “First Saturday) to hear a presentation on the Year of Faith. The couple giving the presentation were a “dynamic duo,” sharing with us and challenging us to live out the Year of Faith. There was a lot of food for thought there; most helpful was an annotated version of the papal letter Porta Fidei (“the door of faith”) announcing the Year of Faith and what it means for us.
*Read Porta Fidei would be a great start to the year.
*Read the Catechism in a Year.
I just received early this morning my first e-mail from Flocknote for Read the Catechism in a Year (reading this link will explain what it’s all about). “Read the Catechism in a Year” is joint project of Matthew Warner’s Flocknote (a terrific service for parishes and other groups to communicate with people via texting, e-mail and other media ways) and Jeffrey Pinyan of Catholic Cross Reference. Sign up for this free service is quick and easy, and it’s just one e-mail a day. There are more than 27,000 people signed up for this, so you’ll be reading along with a big group.
What a great idea! When I got the first e-mail this morning, I confess my concern at how much text there would be to read, but it’s really bite-sized.
Back in the early 1990s, I actually read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) start to finish in preparation for teaching religion to high schoolers, and I consider it a tremendous resource.
But I don’t “read” it much these days, using it like a reference, either online or in one of the copies floating around our house. I do love the YouCat (youth version of the CCC, as I’ve written about previously to page through, but one of the annoying things for me is that the paragraph numbers do no correspond to the Catechism. So having the CCC come to my in-box provides a little push and reminder to re-connect with this Church treasure.
*Participate in a Scripture Study for the Year of Faith.
Here is a women’s Facebook group dedicated to reading Father Mitch Pacwa’s “The Year of Faith: A Bible Study Guide for Catholics.” In addition to online discussion, open to women from all over, we will also meet locally in the Peoria, IL area once a month. I’m sure there are many others, especially parish-based, to
*Get a plenary indulgence (or two, or many).
Did you know there is a plenary indulgence associated with the Year of Faith? You can read the details here, but just from a cursory read of the various ways to obtain the plenary indulgence, getting one or multiple ones is not difficult.
How do you plan to celebrate The Year of Faith? Any great links or ideas to share?