coffee clicks

Guys, can I just throw back to old school blogging format for a minute and say that I’ve missed interacting with people online this Lent? But not as much as I’ve loved the found time and longer attention span that seems to be increasing by the day. I’m sure I’ll reach a leveling off place at some point soon, but so far I still kind of feel superhuman. I do miss responding to people’s DMs on FB and IG, but not enough to even be tempted to cheat on my self-imposed penance.

The only thing I’m bummed to be missing out on is the great stuff happening out front with a new ministry I’m serving, along with a couple other talented, beautiful women.

The Vows Project launched our first social media campaign on IG during the first week of Lent, and while I haven’t seen much of the action firsthand, I’m so grateful to Cassie and Megan for all the work they’ve been putting into it. I’ve been behind the scenes working on stuff like planning  a retreat for married couples (this Fall!!! Stay tuned for the registration pre-sale info. More details soon!) that will be here in Denver, creating content for our forthcoming website, and generally scheming and brainstorming for lots of exciting stuff coming down the pike. Will you pray for us?

We’re especially invoking the patronage of St. Joseph, Sts. Zelie and Louis Martin, St. Monica, St. Joseph, and St. John Paul II. It has been a wild and occasionally bumpy ride because the devil freaking hates marriage, y’all, and you best believe stepping up and saying that you’re going to fight for it is like painting a target on your back with blood and jumping into shark infested waters.

Not be dramatic.

In other Catholic flavored news, I traveled to ground zero for church media efforts earlier this week and spent some time at EWTN headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. I fangirled a little over seeing Mother Angelica’s office space (left largely unchanged since her passing and also still used as a meeting room – pretty cool) and was able to go to a beautiful (televised) Mass on the feast of St. Joseph. Despite having technically worked for EWTN for 5 years now (they own CNA) I’d never been to headquarters, so it was nice to put faces and places with names. My kids made me promise no more travel till next fall, so we’ll see whether or not I disappoint them.

We joined the local YMCA and I AM HERE FOR IT. Free wifi, great childcare, an effusively joyful staff that literally cheered the first time I walked in with all 5 kids (!??), freshly brewed mediocre coffee, and a painfully effective barre class. My life is already changing, and it has only been a week.

Okay, on to the clicks.

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First, please, please pray for Jim Tierney. I’ve been online acquaintances with Kendra since the OG days of mommy blogging, and we even had dinner in Rome once (their 6 children plus one in utero behaved like European dignitaries while my 2 rowdy toddlers rubbed pasta in their ears and melted all over the floor. It was fine.) Jim has been battling a recurrence of cancer this year, and on the feast of St. Joseph, they got some bad news. I have been so personally inspired and edified by their faith, and particularly by their openness to life. They make it look easy and I’m positive it is anything but. Please beg God for an outpouring of His Spirit and for a miraculous recovery. The world needs all the Tierneys it can get.

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Whoever said that it was simple to keep on top of laundry every day (oh wait, it was me at 4 kids) didn’t have a Luke, who is still a verb, and who is still the dirtiest 3-year-old on the block. He recently threatened to “stab someone” who’d called his sister fat, and he dropped an entire gallon of milk on the floor this week and started licking it up like a dog who is not, in fact, LACTOSE INTOLERANT. And that is only scratching the surface of his hijinks, which are being repressed from easy memory access by my traumatized subconcious right now. OH WAIT HERE’S ONE. As we pulled into the school parking lot yesterday for the science fair, he pulled open the van door and dropped trau to relieve himself, because the world is truly his portapotty. I cannot know for certain who witnessed this savagery, aside from our saintly and elderly school bus driver, Mr. Danny, though I did catch a glimpse of a cluster of well-dressed mothers in my peripheral vision.

Suffice it to say, he makes so much laundry. Oddly, he spends large portions of his day in varying states of undress, including total nudity.

It don’t add up.

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I just finished 2 great books this week: Jordan Peterson’s “12 Rules For Life” and Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism.” Put them both on your hold list asap, or cash in those Amazon gift cards if you can’t wait the 323 week wait. Newport’s book was less awe-inspiring but felt more important because of some of the practices and observations he mentions. 5 stars for both.

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Personally, I don’t buy the idea of a society that doesn’t want/need Jesus:

“I truly believe and based on all the discussion that has been done in the past, that it doesn’t have to be in city council where it is a secular institution. This is a place where we make decisions and it was originally put there to support decision making,” she said at the meeting. “I think we’re in a very different time now.”

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Finally, a fascinating read about…sunscreen. Trust me, you want to read it.

It is spring break, after all.

Every couple Fridays or so I like to share some curated links from around the web, along with any good books I might be currently reading, great quotes I’ve happened upon, and always the best in Catholic journalism from recent weeks. I hope you can take a few minutes with a hot (or, lukewarm, realistically) cup of coffee or beverage of your choice and enjoy a sampler platter of my favorite recent clicks.

This week has been surprisingly great. I’m shaking my head in wonder at it because it’s Lent, first off, and also because my kids had 3.5 days of school and so we’re currently in a summer vacation simulation complete with shirtless water play and it is a balmy 50 degrees outside. My children are all consummate born and bred Coloradans who take the temperature as more of a recommendation as opposed to oh, reality, I guess – and so they read 50 as closer to 68 than 32, apparently.

If one more child strips in the backyard, however, I will call the authorities for the neighbors and save them the trouble.

Okay, but the other reason this week has been grand? No social media. I always forget how bad I feel for the first 24 hours or so and then how incredibly good, calm, and productive my daily life seems to become. Do I miss Instagram? Certainly. Is the world suffering for my lack of hot takes on Twitter? Almost certainly, no. I’ve even upped my game this year and put blogs on the restricted list, not because I see blogging as social media per se, but because I find myself getting a little over indulgent in that department whenever I cut out the other stuff.

My mind feels clearer, my prayer comes easier, and I’m getting a lot more housework done during the day, even with kids home. The house isn’t clean, or anything, but the clothes and dishes are.

I’m reading an engaging book right now with a clickbait title (How to Break Up With Your Phone) but which is written in a very sane and approachable manner. No hysterics or unattainable asceticism, just some practical advice, real life solutions, and some helpful insight on the addictive nature of lots of the tech we’ve all sort of opted eternally “in” on, signing up for the next platform, downloading the next update, moving to the newest model, etc., as they became available. It’s sobering but also practical stuff.

I’m waitlisted (and cheap) for a library copy of Cal Newport’s new title, Digital Minimalism, which I know I am going to deeply and passionately love based on how I feel about his “Deep Work,” which really was a life changing book for me. I’m hoping and guessing this new book will be a good tool to help me to refine my own views on the fine line between all you can eat buffet and starvation diet when it comes to tech and media. I want to use these new tools well, and more than that, master their use so that as my kids come of age, I can both instruct them and model for them what a healthy balance looks like.

Have you listened to the latest episode of CNA newsroom? I ain’t a podcast gal, and that has not been a problem with this production. The episodes are short, sweet, witty, occasionally emotionally devastating, and I always feel better for having heard them. Kind of the way I feel after listening to Fresh Air on NPR, absent the existential angst frequently produced by, say, listening to NPR. High production value and good storytelling + authentic Catholicism is what I’m getting at.

Two weeks ago I escaped for a long weekend in Phoenix at the Blessed is She retreat, and guys it was LIT. And appropriate called “Shine.” The talks were beautiful, the homily at the closing Mass was profound, and there were hours of praise and worship and adoration. What more, truly, could anyone ask for in a retreat setting? If there is an opportunity for you to go on one of their upcoming retreats, run, don’t walk.

Speaking of that phenomenal homily, the priest (whose name I don’t even know) did basically an exegesis on the role of women in the story of salvation history going from deep Old Testament through the very end of the Acts of the Apostles. It was beautiful, and he said something that has really been stirring in my heart ever since. I’ll paraphrase because I didn’t take notes during Mass, but he basically laid out the story of salvation history as God saving and redeeming humanity and raising up nations and calling out leaders through the fiats of courageous, holy women. And then he said this: “when mothers come to me and ask,’Fr., how can we save the Church? What is the Church going to do about this present crisis?’ I say to them, YOU are going to save the Church. You are the Church. We are all the Church, but it will be women who rise up and turn the tide both within the Church and within the culture.”

Still unpacking what that means for me, specifically, but it really lit a fire in my heart. I’ve been reorienting my day to begin, before my kids are up, with prayer. My kids, remember, are all most or less-ish sleeping through the night and I’m not pregnant, so this is the first time in about a decade I’ve made it happen. It has been life changing, and I don’t take it for granted because I know how variable parenthood is, and that our schedule could change overnight. Still, if you can carve out 20 minutes early in your day for silent prayer with the Lord, I highly recommend it as the single best thing you can do for yourself. Or rather, the best thing you can let Him do for you. I’ve been using this book, this method of prayer, and as of this week, this Lenten journal.

Still figuring out what the almsgiving portion of Lent will look like for us. I’d like to do something a little more tangible with the kids, but not do it for them, you know? This explainer on the whys of Lent was really helpful for me after I frankly botched explaining the ins and outs of fasting to my kids earlier this week.

I really want this case to be settled so that Sheen’s cause can move forward. Our world needs a saint like him NOW, not in another generation or two. Praying that this is a step in the right direction, but also not holding my breath given the two previous appeals. Bonnie, mom to miracle baby James – now handsome little boy James – is a dear friend, and their story needs to go global.

That’s all I’ve got. Please pray for me this weekend, I’m praying for all of you, too!

Ours is. Well, it’s artificial. But an entire branch fell off this morning so I’m calling these the waning days of Christmas. We’ll probably make it liturgically fitting and box it back up on Sunday after Mass.

Funny, but I spent a lot of the final week of Advent pining (sorry) for a real evergreen and then on December 26th switched abruptly to giving thanks that our perfectly serviceable faux fir doesn’t need to be dragged to the curb while spewing pine needles into all the house’s major crevices.

This week has marked our return to the land of the living. This morning I took the whole crew to Target to pick up wheezy’s croup steroids and shocked the passersby with my rough and ill mannered crowd. It wasn’t our worst trip to the grocery store by any stretch, but it was obvious to even the most casual observer that we hadn’t been out in public in at least a month.

While in line for the pharmacy, I bent close to verbally chastise Luke who was dragging his entire tongue, canine style, down the side of the main cart basket to which he’d been exiled because your mother is not a fool, son, when a pharmacy associate restocking the ace bandage and Icy Hot section doubled over in silent laughter, hearing me berate the 3 year old for “always having to be Patient Zero. It’s like you’re looking for foreign bacteria to ingest.”

He is. He is always looking, and he is always licking.

One hundred dollars of roids and Paw Patrol underwear later, we finally staggered blinking out of the store, pale, chilled flesh flushing in confusion under the 60-something degree Colorado sun. I didn’t know exactly how much time had passed since we’d entered the Bullseye, but the parking lot was melting into lush puddles of spring all around us, defrosting a chunk of my icy heart along with it.

The coughs are fading, the piles of snow are dwindling to premature patches of brownish green, and life is looking up. I’m ready for a real holiday do-over this weekend on these the 11th and 12th days of Christmas, and I’m holding out for the second cheapest bottle of prosecco, a homemade charcuterie board and a binge watch of the Marie Kondo show on Netflix. (p.s. I’m a longtime fan – she even retweeted me on Twitter once. Swoon.)

I’ve been reading a little of this and that all week, bouncing back and forth between two books: Dopesick and Alone Time. I had to abandon High Season about 40 pages in which was so predictable, but I just keep hoping that this beach read, this chick lit is the one that I’ll be wrong about. So far, no good.

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You guys were so into the What I Read post from last week that I’m thinking I should make a “currently reading” tab/continually updating post that I’ll add to as I finish books. It’s always a thrill to get a good recommendation, so I’m thrilled if I can provide one myself.

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I’ve been watching Jen slay her talk on atheism at SEEK via FOCUS’ livestream of today’s breakout sessions. Worth your time, even if you just play it in the background with the video minimized and go about your business (though you don’t actually want to do that, because you’ll miss her perfect blowout).

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I’m in a total keto slump. It goes like this: well behaved for breakfast, basically on track for lunch, and then…yep, that post lunch grind. A handful of dark chocolate chips here, a bite of someone’s awful rice krispie treat cereal (yep, that’s a real thing) there, and by dinner time I’m like PASS THOSE TORTILLA CHIPS RIGHT ON DOWN YEP I’M CARB LOADING TODAY.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally fine to eat like this if it’s intentional on my part, but ever since, um, honestly Thanksgiving, I’ve lost my performance edge of having zero cravings because I’ve been, duh, out of ketosis from all the stuff I’m eating, and so it’s back to a willpower game versus effortless not really caring that tortilla chips exist. And it seems remarkable that I was truly in a place of not caring whether tortilla chips exist, but I was. I was there. It was real. It seems like a dream now, but it was real…

I’m hoping that kids back to school next week + a few more actual sleeps through the night + the soft liturgical end of Christmastide = go time. We’ll see. All I know is sugar cravings are real, and I like life without them a whole lot easier on the knuckles.

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I did a casual survey of a bunch of my friends about how/when they pray and while all the specifics of the answers will remain forever anonymous (see guys, I promised!), I found it fascinating how many of the holiest people I know make use of the “pirate prayer” in their daily practice of mental prayer. I’m two days in and feeling like it could change my life (rolls eyes), so fingers crossed that it’s a habit that is quickly automated. Fr. Mike Schmitz does a good job explaining it here. And here, if you’d rather watch than read.

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How amazing is this story? I have specific memories of watching CCC movies as a kid and then worrying I’d see the sun dance if I looked at it too long or that the Eucharist would turn into physical flesh in my mouth after communion so suffice it to say I was a little weirdo and definitely not holy enough to have been worrying. Totally normal.

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This is just…I don’t have words for this. But a culture of body hyper-autonomy, for lack of a more precise term, which gives us everything from butt implants to voluntary sterilizations to physician assisted suicide to gender reassignment surgeries surely has nothing left to credibly deny willing customers. Demand has always driven medical treatment in a way, but what does it mean when demand is totally untethered from the balance of morality, or even reality? I guess we’re going to find out.

A lovely weekend to you and yours – and hey, if you do end up coercing your better half into watching KonMari Netflix, well, just remind him that it’s been a long, cold football season this year.

Happy Thanksgiving American readers! We had a Kiwi and 4 Peruvian transplants at our feast yesterday, and it was kind of hilarious to hear people explaining the origin of the holiday and the real meaning. Then my father in law gave a brief and impromptu historical context before the blessing of our meal which was impressive and touching. “Human beings,” he said, “are made to give thanks. It is in our nature, so let us give thanks to nature’s God.”

We forgot to bring the cranberry sauce, so it wasn’t a perfect meal, but nearly so.

Thanksgiving always marks the real beginning of the marathon Christmas season in my own family of origin. My parents have been stretching the yuletide to Candlemass since before liturgical living became cool again, so it was not uncommon to see our house decked from stem to stern from the weekend following Halloween till well into February. Over 9 years of marriage (as of this past week!) I’ve slowly worn Dave down to the point of stringing lights on Black Friday, which I would much rather celebrate with Christmas decor than consumerism.

Far be it from me to begrudge anyone the pursuit of a good deal, but if your idea of a good time is standing in the Best Buy parking lot at 8pm on Thanksgiving Day, I do wonder if you’ve taken time to question your choices in life. (confession: I caved to the destructive pressure of the Amazon algorithm and snagged a little something yesterday. But just one thing! I promise!)

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If you are in a shopping mood, might I suggest combining the best of both worlds that are Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday and consider patronizing some of these small shops and ministries before hitting up the big A?

1. Blessed is She: Free shipping on all orders over $100. I have and love their academic year liturgical planner, but the calendar year liturgical planner would be a great buy this time of year. I also have their beautiful hand-lettered prayers all over our house.
2. Not a crafty mom, so vv grateful to be able to toss this Jesse Tree sticker activity to the wolves next weekend and say that I thought ahead this year. My big boys (6 and 8) love their “Fishing with the Saints” and “Fishing for Bible Characters” card decks, which they mostly use to play Memory with.
3. How sweet are these? I honestly want one of each of them. Looks like she’s sold out for now of everything but St. Francis.
4. This print of Our Lady is breathtaking. Leaving this link open somewhere for my husband to see…(so maybe don’t buy one until he orders mine)
5. Maybe you’re trying to get out of debt this year or get your finances in order. Wallet Win is an online course + community and coaching support to help you hit your goals.
6. Catholic Crate has some really adorable Advent mini crates left – looks like they’re sold out of their bigger options, but the minis are more affordable + Black Friday deals (looks like 30% off first crate subscription and free shipping on non subscription orders over $40). The gal behind this goes to our parish and the content is really darling and solid.
7. I bought these as our big family present a couple weeks ago when they were on super sale (I got them for under $50 bucks.) So wait till they’re 50% off – apparently it happens frequently. And some reviewers prefer this brand to the OG magnatiles.

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That’s all I got for shopping. We’re having a super simple Christmas this year along the lines of “we paid the mortgage kids, you’re welcome!” so we’re keeping presents to one or two per kid plus stockings, and we’re still flying high from our trip to Rome in September where we joked (but not really) that each night out at dinner was celebrating a different event. So Christmas, our anniversary, my birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas, check, check, check, we hit them all! Very efficient 😉

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This made me tear up. All those holiday feels.

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Really thought provoking read. I took on a little penance/fast beginning last week with a friend to kind of free up some whitespace in my brain and in my day. Apparently in the Byzantine rite this period is known as the St. Philip’s fast, and it encompasses the 40 days leading up to Christmas. My own modified fast includes all social media (but I’ll still drop this link on Facebook) and all news aside from our homepage, CNA. I’m also not watching anything during the day or listening to music or talk radio in the car except for the Christian station and, for now, the Christmas station. I’ll buckle down once Advent officially kicks off December 2, but for now I’m binging on all the Bing Crosby and James Taylor.

I have to say, as I do every time I pull back from my media consumption, that I feel AMAZING. What was taken up as a penance has ended up being such a life giving gift, especially this time of year. I’m so much more patient and present with the kids, and honestly a lot happier. I feel less frantic, more grateful, and a whole lot more hopeful about the state of humanity in 2018. And that’s in just a week!

I know social media can be an immense force for good and for authentic community, but it is not without its significant problems. And I think the dangers and downsides are more significant for certain personalities than others.

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Gosh, you think?

We had two back-to-back suicides at our neighborhood high school this fall. Our neighbor is a principal there and explained they don’t allow the kids to memorialize the deceased or hold any kind of vigils because the behavior has become so contagious. Chills to the bottom of my soul, y’all. But it’s true, the attention and the outpouring of sorrow and the temporary fame is literally an enticement for struggling adolescents, a temptation to suicide. And it’s not necessarily the kids you’d expect. These two local deaths for example? Attractive kids, well liked, athletically and academically accomplished, and no history of depression.

Talk to your kids. Keep them off social media, grounded in family life, and focused on something bigger and wider than their own experience. The human soul was made to stretch towards the infinite. Our materialist culture (and I don’t just mean that in the consumerist application) cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart.

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What frightens me the most about this is the lack of public outcry and, indeed, the hailing of this as a positive advancement in reproductive and genetic technology. I wonder if inviting people to consider the negative ramifications of GMO food would spark an intelligent debate?

Hey, enough negativity, Jenny!

Gosh, you’ve probably got a cold dish of stuffing in the fridge calling your name, and I’m keeping you from it. Me? I’m back on the keto bandwagon this morning after a late night incident with said contraband, and I couldn’t be happier that I a. Allowed myself to eat normal thanksgiving food yesterday and b. Have something pleasant and effective to go back to now. No holiday slide for me this year. As fun as it was to eat carbs yesterday, I felt awful by bedtime and woke up shaky with low blood sugar. Not worth it. (Well, except for the stuffing. That was worth it.)

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to you and yours!

Life is seriously playing at double speed these days. I can’t wrap my mind around November. Wasn’t it just September? Aren’t we still finding our back to school groove? My pulse quickened at the sight of a flash of Starbucks Christmas red in someone’s newsfeed this morning, and I know – I just know – it’s going to be December 24th in 5 minutes.

I’m clearing the house of all remaining tempting (read: chocolate) candy today after a 48 hour binge that more or less consisted of near criminal leves of behavioral regression on all parts (mine included. Fasting today to clear my shocked system of the 1000 grams of sugar consumed at the annual All Saints bash we hit up last night). Good news: there are no Snickers left. Bad news: see previous.

Are you getting straight into Christmas planning mode to try to knock it all out before Advent begins? I’ve always dreamed of being that person. Last year I made a valiant, very pregnant effort and ended up with WAY too many toys from the thrift store and a Christmas Eve stomach flu for my troubles. This year my loose plan is to wait until December 19th and then spend a solid 24 hours in hustle mode. I work well under pressure.

This effort in LA to pair willing homeowners with homeless and homeless families is intriguing. What do you think? Would you ever consider participating in a program like this?

I was shocked by the avalanche of positive responses to my Harry Potter confession. Thank you for being such wonderful readers! I really believe I know the smartest and most humble people on the internets.

This is actually heartening. I feel like our own culture has been slow to name the connection between porn and sexual violence. I got a good response last month in Nashville when I illustrated the connection between the two for a college-aged audience – there were some shocked faces in the crowd and good, thoughtful comments afterwards.

Makes me so sad. Blessed is She is heading to Dublin early in the new year to put on a retreat for women. What a gift that will be to the Irish Church!

Just incredible writing. Still reeling from the shock of the massacre in Pittsburgh. I briefly dated guy who lived in Squirrel Hill when I was in grad school, and we would walk past the Tree of Life Synagogue every weekend on our way to a local grocery store that sold amazing challah bread.

What are your weekend plans? I’m solo parenting tomorrow so I’m considering fleeing to my parent’s house for backup. And putting the whole family on a strict meat and vegetable regimen for at least a day. I felt a momentary pang of guilt sending them out the door to school this morning at their current decibel levels. Pray for all teachers on this most sugared out Friday.

Happy Friday dear readers. Loved the avalanche of responses I received in response to this blog from the beginning of the week – it is so essential for women to tell their stories. Every time you speak up and share from your own experience, you are empowering other women to do the same. We have lost so much of our collective wisdom, and seen a breakdown in the generational transmission of “how to” insert-life-skill-here. That becomes painfully obvious during pregnancy and the postpartum period, perhaps more so than at almost any other time in a woman’s life. Let’s come along side new mothers and old mothers and any mothers who think they’re doomed to going it alone, and get to work on the reconstruction of that village

1. Confusing news out of DC this morning. I admit when I read the details, I was more disappointed than I think I would be had nothing happened at all.
2. This long form story from our editor, JD Flynn, detailing one victim’s experience of pursuing justice is important. I think we will hear many more such stories in the months ahead, and it is so important that they are told.
3. I met the sweetest little namesake of this amazing man a couple weeks ago. His canonization – along with that of Bl. Pope Paul VI of Humanae Vitae fame – is coming up at the end of this month.
4. This story about an extraordinary athlete brought tears to my eyes, and it was a beautiful thing to show my kids. However, I did have mixed feelings about the good publicity Nike will get for this, and about the monetization of the heartstring factor. I wonder if it does enough to respect the personhood of the subject, and whether it is right for companies to engage in this kind of corporate activism. This comment from a Youtube views kind of sums it up for me: “This is marketing at its best. NIKE trying to save face. What is next, is NIKE going to sign a puppy. Also, shame on you NIKE for using Justin as your puppy?” I do think his dignity is being respected in the video, but it feels a little exploitive at the same time, you know?
5. Are you thinking about Advent yet? Blessed Is She released their gorgeous Advent study (available as an amazing bundle, too!) last week, and they always sell out fast.
6. I’ll be speaking in Nashville October 21-23 on the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae and what the lay faithful can do to turn the ship around, so to speak, in the culture. I’ll share times and locations with you when I have them!

Have a relaxing weekend.

Heading into a much needed weekend: World got you down? News too much to handle? I’m with you. I had the heaviest heart last night when I showed up to the women’s group I’m part of. I dragged myself into Adoration, 20 minutes late, and had literally nothing to say to the Lord beyond “this sucks. Where are you?” I didn’t hear much in return, and I have to admit that my prayer life has been pretty dismal. Instead of doubling down I’ve been burying myself in the ordinary tasks of motherhood like diapers, laundry, and exploding sewers. And in moments of quiet I’ll confess I’ve been turning to Instagram more frequently than I’ve been turning to prayer. Really nice, right?

I can do better.

I really think we’re hard up for penance in the Body of Christ right now. I can pray faithfully. I can make sacrifices at mealtime. I can offer up an unexpected bill or a barfing toddler or any of the dozens of moments of humiliation which daily present themselves in the mundane tasks of living. As we were reading the Gospel last night for this coming Sunday my mind skipped ahead a few verses to the end of John, chapter 6. “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of everlasting life.”

How about some uplifting stories to kick off your Friday night:

Anna has such profound wisdom to share, and does it with such tenderness and vulnerability.

Scott and I have tons of mutual friends, and he is in need of prayers as he approaches the end of his life. His composure and perspective on living with a terminal illness is breathtaking.

Theology of the Body is not just about sex. This piece had some really beautiful and practical applications of Theology of the Body to family life. Having read the whole hefty tome as a theology student, it’s impressive to see some of the essential points of it distilled in a way that makes sense, and in everyday language. Tucking this one in my back pocket to return to as I’m constantly thinking up how to best love/form/discipline/honor my children.

Our kids go to a Classical Catholic school, and we love it. No kid loves school 100% of the time, but we’ve seen a real awakening in our children’s’ imaginations as they’ve progressed through the curriculum. They are inquisitive and self assured in a way I don’t recall being at a young age, and they have an honestness about the way they engage with the world. They put their social media consuming mother to shame, quite honestly. This is a great nutshell read for what “classical education” entails.

We’re really blessed to have some incredible priests in our lives. This guy sounds like one of the good ones.

And….I got nothing. It’s a hard week. I’m going to start fasting one day a week for the purification of the Church, beginning with the purification of this wretched sinner. Will you join me? My fasts will probably involve alcohol or social media or letting my kids look at a screen. #diggingdeep.

Yay summer. We launched from winter straight into the 80s this week with only a quick pause for spring, which I’m going to be honest, I’m fine with. Get thee into the backyard wonderland which I am slowly assembling with water features from the Target Dollar Spot and buckets of snacks, darling children mine.

I have a big Kindergarten graduation ceremony to attend this morning and I’m trying to psych myself up for swatting cupcakes out of Luke’s reach and keeping him lap bound for the pomp and circumstance. Call me heartless but I’d settle for an end of the year popsicle and a pile of papers and school supplies handed to me in a cardboard box in carline. (Edit: I promptly went into raccoon mode and cried embarrassing mom tears as soon as they called his name. Guess there’s a heart in there after all.)

Our big weekend plans involve a neighborhood happy hour, a birthday party, a family brunch, and a date night to see what is reportedly the best Star Wars movie in recent years, which I hope I can concur with once I’ve seen young Han Solo played by someone else than Harrison Ford. I’m cautiously optimistic.

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Archbishop Chaput is one of the clearest and most charitable voices in the Catholic Church today. He is so easy to read and has a knack for cutting through the static and getting right to the heart of the matter. His piece on the kerfuffle in the German Church about reception of the Eucharist by non-Catholic spouses is no exception.

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We’re fasting today for the vote on legalizing abortion in Ireland. I’m the children of fourth generation immigrants so I don’t have a horse in that race, but two of my great great grandparents were born in County Mayo, and every time we’ve been there it has felt mysteriously like home. U2’s frontman, Bono, has been vocal in his support for legalizing abortion in his homeland, and it’s a stark contrast with some of the band’s iconic lyrics(and with his social justice track record). Pray for Ireland.

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Denver’s crisis pregnancy centers were smeared in an ironic ad campaign funded by Planned Parenthood and while watching the spot (which, I don’t recommend doing, by the way, since it only increases their views) I had fun swapping out the phrase “crisis pregnancy centers” for “Planned Parenthood” and then suddenly all the things they were saying became true. Fueled by propaganda? Check. Filled with medical and scientific inaccuracies? Check. Staff who were poorly trained and not licensed to provide medical services? Check, check, check.

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Last week the media went berserk for approximately 36 hours covering the story of a gay man recounting his private conversation with the Pope. Here’s some helpful Catholicism 101 which the guys on the religion beats at the major news outlets would have done well to consult before crafting their headlines.

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Adding this to the growing list of reasons we don’t give our kids devices. Parents, there is no reason your child, tween, or even teen needs a Snapchat account. Full stop. Even Instagram is starting to catch some blame for contributing to troubling social and mental health trends like depression (especially in girls) and bullying. Do your kids a favor and table the screens this summer and push them outside and help them learn how to have conversations with other human beings. Give them freedom to explore and stretch boundaries in their own actual, physical communities and help them understand how much more rewarding – if not as immediately gratifying – living irl can be. And also (speaking from a recent conversation I had with a 10-year-old neighbor child) if your kids are going online, you need to go there too. They don’t know the potential ramifications of sharing their GPS location online or of posting nudes, even in “private” chats, or of meeting up with “friends” they’ve only ever spoken to in virtual reality. Stuff that seems like a no brainer to an adult is not intuitive to a child whose mind and whose capacity for reason are still very much in development mode.

Hope your kickoff to summer is glorious! Be back on Monday for the third fresh installment in our Humanae Vitae series: Tales from the Pew. (Parts 1 and 2 here.)