Well-Read Mom
Noah took time out for friendship. It is my hope in Well-Read Mom that we take time out for friendship too. Why friendship? When you really think about it, almost everything that is good, true, and beautiful in life is better through friendship.
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Why does Mattie pick Rootser? As I read True Grit, I was struck by the deep Father Wound of Mattie Ross. This realization caused me to reflect on this question. Mattie is given the names of several different marshals, and Rooster is not even listed as the best.
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If there is one work that spoke to me most this year, it would be Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. When I came across this quote from “Little Gidding,” it seemed to me like an expansion of the famous quote by Tolkien: “Not all who wander are lost.” When I think of the word “seek,” I think of an exhaustive measure of searching, perhaps a never-ceasing exploration, as Eliot describes.
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Stepping outside our daily routines through travel or pilgrimage can make our perceptions finer. But a much less expensive and more accessible means to this is reading. Books like Pilgrim at Tinker Creek help teach our eyes to see and ears to hear God through the natural world right outside our door.
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Yesterday, while driving my lively entourage from school, I entered into a dispute with my twelve-and-a-half-year-old son. Frustrated at his mother’s cruel infringements upon, what I considered, his all-too-free speech, he passionately retorted: “What about the First Amendment?” I could relate to my son’s bristling at limitations upon personal desire. Practically, all it takes is a mother’s encounter with her unruly toddler, wailing in exasperation as a contraband item is loosened from his iron grip to vividly illustrate the universal struggle to tame our desires. From our earliest moments, we consider submission to authority as infringing upon our freedom and, subsequently, our happiness.
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Seen, Known, and Loved Written by Jill Rasmussen When Well-Read Mom announced the Year of the Seeker, I was immediately drawn to the featured quote by Saint Mother Teresa: “From the moment a soul has the grace to know God, she must seek.” It reminded me of the very first paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic…
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There was a woman who, after having six children and two miscarriages, gave all her baby gear away, from clothes—to cradle—to crib. Then, at 42, she learned that she was pregnant. Though she loved being a mother, and the initial surprise of this news sparked joy, the discovery soon turned to heaviness, and she was gripped by fear and uneasiness.
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While, undoubtedly, I have received countless gifts throughout my marriage, these blessings have certainly not always been what I envisioned. Oddly enough, the blessings I have received have very often completely eroded my old conceptions of happiness. More frequently than not, these gifts have come in the form of crosses—trials sent to reshape my own heart.
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In addition to the maternal embrace, prayers, and tears of Saint Monica, Saint Augustine needed the wisdom, presence, and friendship of Saint Ambrose! He needed a home and a community to find God and serve Him.
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I realized that I was, in fact, trying to protect my children. This is a natural response, and it is largely our responsibility to do so. But it’s also our responsibility to equip our children, especially as they get older.
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