Catholic memoirs

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.

Here’s my column that appears in this weekend’s print edition of The Catholic Post.

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, and Father’s Day not too far behind, here are two “outside the box” books to consider as gift ideas for the special women and men in your life.

First is A Season of Mystery: 10 Spiritual Practices for Embracing a Happier Second Half of Life by Paula Huston.

This might not be ideal for a young parent of small children, but at the same time it’s not only for your grandparents or great-grandparents. I’m solidly in middle age, and I found this book both challenging and uplifting, a spiritual resting place in my busy life. I also found it provides encouragement to keep an eye on the real future of life after death, and what that means for my life now.

I struggle with how to characterize A Season of Mystery.

Is it a memoir? Not strictly—Huston does reflect on her journey so far, but brings in so much more.

Is it a how-to of getting older? Well, sort of–and yet there’s so much wisdom in unpacking the stages of later life.

Huston offers 10 time-honored spiritual ways (from listening to accepting to blessing, and mroe) that people through history have embraced, instead of fighting against, getting older and what that means.

Mostly, A Season of Mystery offers space for reflection on life’s later stages. Let me share three elements that make this book golden:

*the lovingly stories of Huston’s family and dear ones, and those she knows, and how they exhibit grace (or not) in later life. Her mother moves from the family home to a senior community and befriends others. A beloved monastic friend faces illness and helplessness, and learns to accept help gracefully. A neighbor faces death with honesty and beauty.

*stories and wisdom from little-known (to me) saints and spiritual writers such as Evagrius and St. Seraphim of Sarov about growth in the spiritual life. There are so many nuggets for pondering, I found myself actually annoyed by how often I wanted to write down a quote or concept.

*Huston’s own reflective and open way of writing about her history, her failings and how she seeks to grow in her second half of life.

Very different, and very enjoyable (especially for moms), is Recipe for Joy: A Stepmom’s Story of Finding Faith, Following Love, and Feeding a Family by Robin Davis.

This book is Davis’ honest and uplifting memoir of faith & family. She vows to never move back to her home state of Ohio, never get married, and never join an organized religion. She does all three, and adds in three children, when she marries a widower after moving back to, yes, Ohio.

Each chapter of Recipe for Joy is a meal course, from The Toast to The Dessert, and the writing of a particular chapter reflects the theme. In “The Soup,” for instance, she writes of the struggles of blending into her new family. In “The Bread,” she writes honestly about her struggles with depression and not-fitting-in among the other “real moms” since she is a stepmom and a working mom among stay-at-home moms.

At the end of each chapter, there’s a tasty recipe. Because the recipes are elegant but fairly simple, I felt confident to try (so far) the the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus. It was delicious, and I’ve bookmarked most of the others.

But consider the recipes a bonus treat.

What’s really best about Recipe For Joy is the nourishment of a well-told story, how Davis weaves together family and candor in sharing her struggles as a wife, stepmom, and fledgling Catholic. You’ll come away from “Recipe for Joy” perhaps ready to try a few new recipes. But better, you’ll find yourself spiritually fed and encouraged in your Catholic faith.