A Journey to the Hiding Place

Beautiful candles and stars bringing in the festive spirit

A Reflection on the Consolation of Sacred Scripture by Nicki Johnston When the public celebration of Mass was suspended because of COVID, we informed our four young boys that we would be watching Mass online for a while. My four-year old looked up at me with his big blue eyes and asked, “But Mama, how…

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Till I Read With My Family…

Children reading a book together to enrich knowledge

I changed my mindset as to the role of reading in my family’s life. At some point, reading became something I did with my family rather than as an escape from them. Instead of trying to sneak in “me time” to read a book, I made reading integral to our home.

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An Ode to the Ordinary

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry explores human relationships

Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow is a meandering, poetic homage to community, human relationship, and leisure in a bygone era of pastoral, small town living. It forces us to ask: what really is most important in this life?

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Wendell Berry, Finding Life in Limits

Novels by Wendell Berry are always inspirational

6th, in the heart of rural Kentucky, Carla, Colleen, and I convened around the kitchen table of the Berrys. Our conversation, which for me was a taste of heaven, lasted three hours. “Mr. Berry, I live in a small town, and for 30 years, I have wrestled with the limits of small-town life. You live in a remote area too. Do you ever think, ‘I have to get out of here; I need more?’ What is it like for you? Can you find what you need here”? I ventured to ask.

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Mothering: The On-Going Birth Story

Children huddle together for an important discussion

It’s easy to tell ourselves that we do not have time or energy to “take away” from mothering and give to books. What if we’re not taking anything away from our children when we read, when we become more humanly dense? Our kids learn so much more by who we are than by what we say. Perhaps our reading and contemplating, perhaps our time sharing with other women are some of the most profound acts we make as a mothers.

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Bring Love into Your Home

Well Read Mom Brings Love Into Your Homes

As we begin The Year of the Family, Mother Teresa’s words encourage us: “It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. Bring love into your home, for this is where our love for each other must start.” Saint Mother Teresa How do we bring love…

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FORMING THE MORAL IMAGINATION

Well-Read Mom

We are together in Well-Read Mom to awaken our moral imagination to a greater truth of reality. This awakening, we believe, can benefit our lives and the lives of our families as well as impact the broader culture.

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On the Art of Walking Alone

Well-Read Mom

by Jane Elizabeth Holman I’m an admittedly picky walker. I don’t like too much cold or heat, I don’t enjoy uphill stretches, and I prefer bucolic surroundings (which are in short supply in my suburban neighborhood). You might find me walking on a warm fall afternoon—if I’ve thoughtfully driven myself somewhere pretty with a mostly…

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