Reading Catholic

Reading Catholic and catholic

Book Reviews

7 Quick Takes: Bloggers I’d Love to Meet at Behold

by

Day 5 of 7 posts in 7 days…is exhausting, and so glad to hear others are having similar struggles getting through this blogging challenge.

Since I did blog twice this week (Tuesday and Thursday) in advance of the Behold Conference in honor of two of the far-away bloggers who will be there, I thought it would be fun to list seven other bloggers I wish I could meet at Behold.  I know I will be seeing lots of bloggers I know in real life already, like Marcia, and Marie, and Bonnie, and Katie, and Kelly, and I’m sure more that I’m forgetting. I don’t think of these women at all as “bloggers,” just as people I know and love who happen to have blogs.

Like many people, I have a like/love/hate relationship with all things online.  But I’m really struck by how connected I’ve become with women online that I’ve never met.  And while I know a few of them from yahoo -e-group days when there was a lot of conversation, I don’t really “connect” much with them, as I’m not a very-often commenter.  But I like getting to see what people are up to.

These are women (all women, it turns out) I’d love to have coffee with, mostly because they are just normal women with blogs, rather than Big Name Bloggers®  (not that there is anything wrong with that). I know there are more than seven, but I’m just going to quickly list until I get to seven, and maybe do this again.   They are not blogs one must follow, or even visit, they are just several of my particular online people.  There’s no particular order here.

1. Faith of Household Diary.

Faith is one of the earliest people I met online, on several now-defunct yahoo groups on children’s literature and homeschooling.  She is just real, and a kindred spirit.

2. Melissa Wiley.

Thinking of how I first “met” Faith, reminded me that Melissa should be listed here.

Well, okay, Melissa is a Big Name Author®), but I am adding her here because I also knew her through some old yahoo groups from years back (and a Maud Hart Lovelace e-list we’re both still on). I love the ways she writes, and I find her blog and all her writing, whether about tidal homeschooling, poetry, internet life, or books, so encouraging, uplifting and funny.

Back when we had a girls book group at our house, Melissa was slated to be a “virtual” guest author (we had several in-person visits and several “virtual” visits over the years), but it had to be cancelled at the last moment because my father was hospitalized and I headed to Ohio.  We never were able to reschedule and it’s a big regret.

3. Katie of Runs for Cookies.

Okay, maybe she is a Big Name Blogger® (I’m not sure what the criteria is), but Katie is really real.  I don’t even know if she’s Catholic or not, but she’d certainly be welcome at Behold.  I cannot recall how I stumbled across Katie’s blog, but I love her weight loss journey, her writings about running, writing about a family friend’s cancer treatment, and just her real-ness.

4. Nancy of And the Rough Places Plain.

I discovered Nancy shortly after I joined Twitter, when Dorian Speed (for my next list?) said, “Just realized that NancyO and Nancy Piccione are not the same person.”  We are both gray-haired, but she is more refined.

I am I keep forgetting about Nancy’s blog because I can’t figure out how to follow someone on tumblr or get e-mail updates without figuring out tumblr, and I can barely blog for seven days straight, much less figure out.  And I do see her comments around the Internet on different Catholic blogs.   Her photos and reflections on European architecture, travel and Catholic life make me feel smarter even when I only have a moment to skim.

5.  Mary Lenaburg of Passionate Perseverance.

I’m actually Facebook friends (one of a few I’ve never met)  with Mary, and I’m not really sure how that happened.  I think it may be because we have DC friends in common–my friends from way back when we lived there.  I really, really enjoy her both on Facebook and on the rare times when I can check in with her blog.   Her recipes look terrific, she’s really real about her life in general.  She’d be a fun coffee date.

6.  Colleen Swaim of Duel to the Death.

I “know” Colleen and Matt Swaim because I’ve reviewed books by both of them (and one, Your College Faith, written by both of them).  Matt is the new host of the SonRise Morning Show on EWTN, which I understand is terrific.

There are a handful of authors who I would love to meet some day, and I’ve even arranged to do that a few times (hi, Robin Davis!). Colleen is one of them.  She feels like a (much) younger sister to me, we are that similar, and yet different, in the way sisters are–does that make sense?  It does to me.

7.  Katie of NFP & Me. 

I featured Katie back when I reviewed Adam & Eve after the pill.  Again, I don’t keep up with Katie or her blog that much, but I thought of her when I was considering people I’d love to see at Behold.  This close-to -graduation med student is now expecting her first child and getting ready for residency.  She just seems like fun.

As I finish this, I am thinking of so many more people I’ve come to know online and would love to meet in real life. I definitely want to do this again!

Also linking up here with Jen’s 7 Quick Takes.

Five Things … for Lent

by

Lent begins a week from today,  and I wanted to share five things.

1.  I’m giving up my Fitbit for Lent.

Ack. Part of the reason I’m doing this is that I love it too much, and I’m afraid I won’t actually do it unless I announce in public that I’m giving it up.

I first joined the Fitbit world when my husband got one at a work gathering about two years ago. I said, “Let me get that set up for you” and never gave it back.  I did buy him another one after about six months of using it, but within a week I had lost mine, so I took that one.  He since decided to get a Fitbit Zip, but I think he should really upgrade to a Fitbit One since it tells the number of floors you climb.

It seems to me that you either get Fitbit or you’re not interested, and there’s no in-between.

Case in point: I have four sisters, and a sister-in-law, and we were all in Belgium and France last fall visiting one sister who lives in Europe, and doing the Paris-Versailles Grand Classique.   One sister and I were obsessed with our Fitbit numbers each day (the day of the Grand Classique I had almost 40,000 steps. 40,000!  We liked to say to each other, “It’s like it doesn’t count unless your Fitbit shows the numbers.” The other four just laughed at us for being so obsessive.

Anyway, if you are among the Fitbit faithful or have a similar device, you’ll know how hard this will be for me.  I also realized after I made  the decision that I’m signed up to do not one but two half-marathons during Lent.  Sob.

2.  Silence.

The younger kids and I were reading in our history earlier this week about monks in the Middle Ages having meals (and much of the rest of their lives) in silence.  Of course we knew this already, but hearing about it in that unusual context made it stand out.  So we’ve been batting around the idea of trying for some silence during our busy days.

We decided we would start with lunch in silence on Fridays.  We can always add on extra days, but it seemed prudent to start small.

3.   Lent Book Series.

image

I’m trying a first-ever series at Reading Catholic.  I, and a fairly large group of guest authors, will be writing about books all Lent long.  I invited the bloggers listed on Local, Catholic and Online, as well as other local-ish people, to write about a book related to Lent in some ways. I hope you’ll follow along and share your favorite Lenten reads.

This year it’s a bit of an experiment, but with the positive response I am thinking of making it an annual series.

4.  Pondering . . .

“He became poor,  so that by his poverty you might become rich.”

The Holy Father’s theme for Lent 2014.  Did you know each year the Holy Father has a message for Lent, and picks a Scripture verse for meditation?

Here is a link to Pope Francis’ Message for Lent 2014.  I have skimmed it, but I will also print out and read during Lent.  I want to be rich;  how about you?

5.   Rich Mullins

I’ve loved Rich Mullins before he was cool, after he was cool,  and after he was dead.  He died in a car accident, actually pretty near where we live in Illinois, and I recall it vividly because I was very pregnant with my oldest child.    So when a friend shared on Facebook that she enjoyed this tribute special to him, I bookmarked it.   I’m sad I haven’t made time to listen to it yet.  His music and his writings (many of his columns and writings for various Christian magazines are still available on the Internet) are remarkable. In many ways, he was a modern-day St. Francis.

How is your preparation for Lent going? Are you ready for it to start?

Linking up with both Jen’s 7 Posts, 7 Days and Hallie’s Five Favorites.

The Big Purse Dump

by

Second in my 7 posts in 7 days. 

I normally don’t do many link-ups, but this week I’m making an exception because I’m trying to do Jen Fulwiler’s 7 posts in 7 days, and I thought this would be a fun mix-up.  So plan on a lot of link-ups this week, but no guarantees about the future.

Kendra from Catholic All Year will be at the Behold Conference this weekend, and in her honor, I thought I would join in on her “Big Purse Dump.”

purse dump

So, I know Kendra specified “purse-droppers” weren’t supposed to clean out their purses, but one habit I learned from FlyLady, and one of the ones I’m actually pretty good at, is cleaning out my purse each Friday.  I don’t think that counts as cheating, since I haven’t cleaned out my purse since learning about  her link-up when reading about it at Bonnie’s blog early this morning, but maybe the powers that be can weigh in on that.

Two other ways I might that I “cheated,” but I don’t think so:

*I have not just a purse but a small tote bag I carry some days.

*I cleaned out used kleenexes before I snapped the photos.

Around Christmastime, I took my older teen to Macy’s to use up a cousin-gifted gift card.  I rarely go to Macy’s, and there were huge sales on purses, so I thought I would look at them. I found not one but two purses, and one was this Fossil  striped tote that I really love. We happened to run into a friend who does often shop at Macy’s, and she let me use her “frequent shopper” discount card or something like that, and so with the sale prices and that both purses together ended up being less than $30. I love a bargain!

photo 1

I’ve always been a “big purse” carrier, and stow tons of stuff in it—I always would joke with friends that I could go on the 1970s version of “The Price is Right” and Monty Hall would say, “I’ll give you $50 for every safety-pin you’ve got in there!” and I would make tons of money. Does anyone even know about The Price is Right any more? This was summer early morning watching when I was in grade school, along with Schoolhouse Rock, on actual TV, just in case you were wondering.

But I am glad that I got the smaller purse, because it allows me to have a basic bag, and also pare down things I carry every day.  I carry the tote only when I need to, like this morning when taking kids to the dentist and might have a few minutes to myself.

[Random aside: Notice the stack of Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction
books towards the back of the table when I snapped this photo. This book series (we have 1, 2 and 3 from the library right now) is a huge, huge hit at our house at the moment, and the cardboard box there contains the supplies to make penny bombs, mechanical pencil shooters and other boy-crafty items. Super fun.]

Now, here is what is in the purse.  I’m only putting up one photo, that contains only half the items.  The other photo looked a bit like it had too much info from the inside of my checkbook and wallets, and I’m just leaving that out:

photo 3

*black small bag with lipstick, aquafor, not one but three floss containers, nail clippers, etc.

*wallet not at all organized stuffed with receipts, cards, etc. Also, checkbook.

*deck of cards. I love playing cards, whether solitaire or a quick game of rummy while we are waiting somewhere. Call me crazy. I actually have a bit of a collection of playing cards, many from airlines back when airlines used to give you free playing cards if you asked. I have Northwest Airlines and Eastern Airlines, to show you how long ago it was. My current purse deck came from the Catholic school attended by some of our cousins.

*random receipts, gift card, rainbow loom thing made by somewhere along the way, hand sanitizer in a ziplock. That’s kind of an interesting story. Once a hand sanitizer opened in my purse and got all over the place. Since then I’ve kept in a ziplock, just so you know.

*seven writing implements. I love sharpies especially, and I think five of the seven are fine sharpies.

*two fresh kleenex packets.

*mini first-aid kit made by my 13-year-old for me.

*stevia packet, Kind bar, two packages of my favorite gum, Trident Vitality.

not shown: my iPhone, which carries so much of the weight of things (literally and figuratively).

I didn’t take a photo of the contents of the tote bag, since I don’t carry it every day. I did happen to take it with me today when I took kids to the dentist. I normally put my laptop, but additionally this morning it included:

*trader Joe’s chocolate
*random coupons
*another kleenex packet.
*several review books—I usually have two or three in there to skim or read during school pick-up or other random times.  Right now there are two in there: Embracing Edith Stein, I’m taking a lot of notes on that one; and Faces from Dante’s Inferno. I just need to begin that one, but I feel daunted.
*a clipboard with random things attached—to do lists, scheduling. Trying to be organized…
*in an inside pocket, two shells from our January florida trip.  A really happy memory on a cold day here.

My thoughts:

*It’s my favorite thing in here: not pictured, my iPhone. Just this morning, I was able to use it to make future dentist appointment, boy haircut appointment, consult my list at Lowe’s, Target and Sam’s Club, and make several phone calls & many texts, and skim the New York Times (none while driving, naturally).  In addition, the kids & I were able to do the readings from Mass (via Universalis) and do a little lectio divina on that, as well as finish listening to the audiobook of The Story of My Life by Helen Keller.

*Wow, I really have a lot of those: pens.  I can never find one when I need it, and yet there were seven.  Why?   This would also be in the category, I’ve been looking for those.

*Huh, that should be in there:   need to eat up the chocolate before Lent begins next Wednesday.

*finally: where are the holy cards and rosaries? I usually have a few here, but for some reason not at all, in either bag. I do have a rosary app, novena apps, etc., on my iPhone, but I’m usually not without analog items.

That was a lot of fun to do.   I might even try on Thursday to do a first-ever for me,  a phfr (pretty, happy, funny, real) from Like Mother, Like Daughter, in honor of Dierdre Folley being at Behold as well.  We shall see…

Thank you to Kendra, for hosting this, and I look forward to meeting you at Behold this weekend!

Keep Your Eyes on Christ

by

From the second reading of today’s Office of Readings, a sermon on Ecclesiastes by St Gregory of Nyssa:

We shall be blessed with clear vision if we keep our eyes fixed on Christ, for he, as Paul teaches, is our head, and there is in him no shadow of evil. Saint Paul himself and all who have reached the same heights of sanctity had their eyes fixed on Christ, and so have all who live and move and have their being in him.

As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ. The man who keeps his eyes upon the head and origin of the whole universe has them on virtue in all its perfection; he has them on truth, on justice, on immortality and on everything else that is good, for Christ is goodness itself.

The wise man, then, turns his eyes toward the One who is his head, but the fool gropes in darkness. No one who puts his lamp under a bed instead of on a lamp-stand will receive any light from it. People are often considered blind and useless when they make the supreme Good their aim and give themselves up to the contemplation of God, but Paul made a boast of this and proclaimed himself a fool for Christ’s sake. 

…

And so, without board or lodging, [Paul] travelled from place to place, destitute, naked, exhausted by hunger and thirst. When men saw him in captivity, flogged, shipwrecked, led about in chains, they could scarcely help thinking him a pitiable sight. Nevertheless, even while he suffered all this at the hands of men, he always looked toward the One who is his head and he asked: What can separate us from the love of Christ, which is in Jesus? Can affliction or distress? Can persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger or death? In other words, “What can force me to take my eyes from him who is my head and to turn them toward things that are contemptible?”

He bids us follow his example: Seek the things that are above, he says, which is only another way of saying: “Keep your eyes on Christ.”

—–

With Lent just a little more than a week away, I am pondering prayer.

Years ago, I was out to dinner out with friends–a group of priests, a few married couples and a few singles.

One of the friends said that the readings from the Office of Readings, the “biggest” hour in the Liturgy of the Hours, seems more compelling during Lent.  He wondered  if it was because you were fasting during Lent, or are more focused on spiritual things.

A good discussion ensued.  I don’t recall the consensus view, though I think we all agreed the Holy Week and Triduum readings were especially rich, no surprise.

This might have been the evening that my husband and I (who have been praying the Office together off and on since we starting dating in 1991) first learned about Universalis, an online and mobile way to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  This would have been in the last millennium,  since I feel confident I am not only one of the biggest fans of Universalis, but also one its earliest users (nearly 20 years).  I first used Universalis on my uber-cool Palm.   Raise your hand if you remember those.

I know I have written about Universalis not a few times before, but please, if you have a smart phone, consider getting the Universalis App.  It is one of my top-used apps and a great way to pray the Liturgy of the Hours wherever you are.   It is a currently a $10 app for Apple products–I think I might have spent $25 or some other really large number for an App when I first got it on an iPhone, but it is worth it at either of those price points.  You can also read it online for free on the Universalis website.

Back to the theory that the Office of Readings is “better” during Lent   We’re not in Lent yet, and yet this reading often falls during Lent.  Still,  nearly two decades after that conversation, I would say no.

In my own spiritual life, I find that being moved or impressed by something is more episodic than seasonal.

Some days, I just drift distractedly through the Office (or Mass when I go, or a Rosary).  Some days, though, in particular with the Office of Readings,  a part of a psalm or reading will stay with me all day.  I try not to feel bad that I can get distracted, but just “keep on keepin’ on” as a former pastor was fond of saying.

Daria Sockey’s book The Everyday Catholic’s Guide to the Liturgy of the Hours has something to say about that.  (I can’t look up the exact quote, because gave away my review copy to a dear friend (after reading and mini-reviewing it here). That book is a good resource about the whys and hows of praying the Office.

I’ve tweeted short lines from the Office, or shared on Facebook, when they’ve really moved me, and I think I’ve shared here before.  When I read the second reading in the wee hours this morning (yes, the early morning rising does happen regularly) , I immediately thought, what a great thought to take through today:

“Keep your eyes on Christ.”

By the way, this second reading goes really well with the first reading, from Ecclesiastes, itself always an interesting, puzzling reading.  You can read today’s entire Office of Readings here , or search there for Feb. 24 if you’re not reading this today).

Do you use technology to pray? Do you think Mass readings, or prayers, are “better” during Lent?

(Linking up here today with Jen Fulwiler’s “7 posts in 7 days” series).

February: Pursue Happiness

by

Tonight is the night I’m giving the talk to the First Saturday group at St. Philomena.  This was rescheduled from January because last month was cancelled due to snow.   We currently have snow coming down (and earlier today, a Winter Weather Advisory), but we are Midwesterners, not Atlantans (sorry, Georgians), and so the talk is going on as planned.

Last month, I posted the January book, quote and “concept” (Be Yourself) and you can read that here.  For the sake of continuity, I’m going to  post the February books, concept and quote here.  Then as a separate post (I’ll give out the link tonight) list the books for the rest of the year.  Each month, I’ll have a dedicated post on that theme.

I’d love your feedback here as well, especially those who told me they couldn’t attend.  Thanks to Marie and the rest of the First Saturday team for inviting me!

February: Pursue Happiness

Just a few of the happiness books I like:

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
Here’s the five-year sentence-a-day journal.
Sonja Lyubomirsky’s The How of Happiness

Quirky side note about Lyubomirsky’s book: I own the hardback of this, and on the front is a cherry pie.  The paperback version appears to show a lemon meringue pie. Meaning? I know not what, but I find it interesting.

Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Rilla of Ingleside

Quote (from Rilla of Ingleside)

“Now we won’t be sober any more. We’ll look beyond the years—to the time when the war will be over and Jem and Jerry and I will come marching home and we’ll all be happy again.”

“We won’t be—happy—in the same way,” said Rilla.

“No, not in the same way. Nobody whom this war has touched will ever be happy again in quite the same way. But it will be a better happiness, I think, little sister—a happiness we’ve earned. We were very happy before the war, weren’t we? With a home like Ingleside, and a father and mother like ours we couldn’t help being happy. But that happiness was a gift from life and love; it wasn’t really ours—life could take it back at any time. It can never take away the happiness we win for ourselves in the way of duty.”

How do you intend to pursue happiness (and therefore holiness) this month? 

Scripture take-away:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.” –Matthew 5:3

Happy Reads for February’s Doldrums {February Column, The Catholic Post}

by

Here is my February book column that appears in this weekend’s print edition of The Catholic Post .  I invite your feedback.

February is the longest month.

Wait, it’s not?

Well, February is the darkest month.

Wait, it’s not that either?

Surely I’m not the only person who dreads the approach of February. It feels like the darkest, coldest, longest month, even though it is technically short, and spring is on the way.

Several years ago I was reading the acclaimed new translation of “Anna Karenina.” It’s a classic and a great read, but my mistake was reading it during February. I wanted to (spoiler alert, sorry) throw the book under a train, so depressing was all the brokenness in that novel.

Since then, I’ve sworn off sad or dark reads during February’s doldrums. I encourage you to take a similar pledge.

With that in mind, here are a few lighter, encouraging reads to help lift our spirits and get us to March:


 Yes, God! What Ordinary Families can Learn About Parenting from Today’s Vocation Stories by Susie Lloyd.

When you get to know someone, learning their story is such a great way to find out about them. How did you choose your career? How did you meet your husband? How did you end up here?

Learning the vocation stories of priests and religious is a great way to get to know them, too.

Each chapter of Yes, God! Susie Lloyd profiles one of ten priests and religious from families, large, small and in-between; broken, barely intact and robustly healthy. The book shares how each family shaped in some way each person’s vocation path, and what makes it unique.

Is there any similarity between the families, a formula that guarantees kids who grow up happy and whole, much less following a vocation? No, and that’s what makes Yes, God! so fascinating. The stories of five men and five women who followed religious vocations is fingerprint-personal to each of those featured.

Tolstoy (yes, in Anna Karenina) famously wrote that “all happy families are alike, and each unhappy family is unhappy after its own fashion.”  But as I wrote in a college paper way back, I think he got it backwards. There are myriad ways to be happy and therefore holy.

Look at the saints. Aren’t you grateful there isn’t just one kind of saint or path to holiness? Most of us would be doomed, and I am grateful to hold dear the saints who most speak to my life and spiritual gifts. Yes, God! offers that kind of variety.

At the end of each biographical sketch/chapter, Lloyd offers a reflection of “Saying Yes,” to different virtues that informed the person’s path. For instance, “saying yes to patience,” “saying yes to strength,” and her own thoughts on how this quality helped the person say yes to God’s invitation, and how readers might adopt that virtue. She offers some interesting and quirky reflections from her own family, and offers a peek into the mystery of a vocation.

Pope Awesome and Other Stories: How I Found God, Had Kids, and Lived to Tell the Tale by Cari Donaldson

Pope Awesome is a cleverly titled—and cleverly written—memoir about a young single woman who wants nothing to do with God—until she does. Ten years later, she finds herself married, with six kids and living an unapologetic Catholic faith and lifestyle. How did that happen? Simple enough: she wants “something more,” God takes her at her word, she gradually accepts, and then she gets it in full.

It’s no shock to readers here that I love Catholic memoirs, and Pope Awesome is one of the happiest reads I’ve seen in this category. It’s refreshing to read a memoir from a younger (and convert) author—like a Chris Haw, or Donaldson here—because of the sincerity and beauty of a younger faith. And, as my father (himself a convert) used to say, “There’s nothing like a convert.”

But Donaldson, both earnestly and humorously sharing the joys, tears and sheer craziness of a young family and a growing faith, shows the joy in being always open to God’s plans, however wild they might seem.

——
Speaking of Catholic memoirs and fun books… if you haven’t read Susie Lloyd’s two memoirs on Catholic family life, consider them.


Please Don’t Drink the Holy Water! is her first, but even better is the more-recent Bless Me Father, for I Have Kids. I mean this in the best way possible—Lloyd is the much-needed Erma Bombeck of Catholic moms everywhere. They’re inexpensively available as e-books, and I highly recommend them as diverting fun for any harried mom.