Posts Tagged ‘well-read mom’
Reclaiming My Literary Patrimony: A Reflection on Reading King Lear
As I read King Lear, the word patrimony came to mind. Of course, the plot of the play centers around a king giving away his inheritance to his daughters. But I was also recalling a phrase that I first encountered in Theology of Home, The Spiritual Art of Homemaking.
Read MoreHow a Women’s Book Club Enhanced My Spiritual Life
For years, I had heard great things about Well-Read Mom, a national women’s book club, but I had never had a chance to join. Then, last year, a friend invited me to the chapter that meets once a month in her home. I was more than ready to dive into a discussion of great books with like-minded ladies. As a serious bibliophile, I get a little lonely reading in isolation. I hoped for deep literary discussion with fellow women of faith.
Read MoreA Monk Helps a Mom
A Monk Helps a Mom Written by Marcie Stokman, Well-Read Mom Founder and President The following blog is adapted from Well-Read Mom Founder Marcie Stokman’s book, The Well-Read Life Copyright © 2024 by Marcie Stokman and Colleen Hutt, used with permission. “Mom, I can’t study in our house,” my teenage daughter informed me. “It’s too messy. I…
Read MoreDoes Reading Detract From My Vocation?
I loved reading Elizabeth Goudge’s My God and My All this Advent, but I must admit that I struggled with parts of Saint Francis’s life. It made me pause to think about this great saint whose life was so completely different from my own. Saint Francis is known as the saint who most closely exemplified Christ.
Read MoreWhere Did My Attention Go?
Last year, after reading Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God, it seemed critical to put Br. Lawrence’s wisdom into practice. So, to help encourage the practice in my life, I took a stack of little Post-It notes, scribbled PPG on each one, and taped these reminders in hidden and not-so-hidden places around my house, my laptop, and in our car.
Read MoreThe Poverty of the Moment
Francis came face to face with poverty and realized that “it was not a loathsome thing to be shunned but something holy”(20). Francis believed that you could not truly love Christ without loving Lady Poverty. It is the natural result of love because “Love must give or it is not love” (21).
Read MoreOur Father’s Tale
actually did not want to read A Father’s Tale, not because of its length but because I am not a father and I have no sons. I thought it would be unrelatable. Yet, I find that despite these very significant differences between myself and Alexandre, we have everything in common that we need to: we are both children of the same Father.
Read MoreA New Look at St. Francis
Elizabeth Goudge’s work, My God and My All: The Life of St. Francis of Assisi, has been a blessing! Her deep academic study of St. Francis’s life, told as a narrative, has given me a new lens through which to perceive the man.
Read MoreStretch Your Mind: The Gift of Challenging Literature
As I look back on several years participating in Well-Read Mom, (since the Year of the Friend!) I am so happy that in every book list there has been at least one book that stretches my mind.
Read MoreParenthood and the Path to Holiness: Lessons from Saint Francis
As we reflect this year on the vocation of fatherhood, we see that authentic fatherhood – and by extension, motherhood – consists in the willingness to offer oneself, most especially to those souls placed within one’s authority and care. And perhaps, in light of our reflection on the life of Saint Francis, we can even further be gladdened by the vital link between parenthood and sacrificial, sanctifying love.
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