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Mom's Eye Vew
“Since the Creator of all things has established conjugal society as the beginning and basis of human society and, by His grace, has made it a great mystery in Christ and the Church (cf. Eph. 5:32), the apostolate of married persons and families is of unique importance for the Church and civil society....Christian husbands and wives are cooperators in grace and witnesses of faith for each other, their children, and all others in their household. They are the first to communicate the faith to their children and to educate them by word and example for the Christian and apostolic life.”
–Apostolicam Actuositatem n. 11
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Over the past few days, I’ve gotten at least a half dozen calls and emails from family and friends back East telling me about the latest spate of wicked weather. They’re enduring record low temperatures, massive amounts of snow and ice and a lingering grayness that chills the spirit as well as the atmosphere. Meanwhile, I’m living in Phoenix, where the natives don parkas and fur-lined boots whenever the thermometer dips below 50 while the local weather forecasters bemoan the nasty ‘cold snap’ overtaking the desert... |
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When my three children were younger, I spent many a December day pondering what I could get them for Christmas that would make the holiday memorable. In those ‘little days,’ I always made sure they got at least one toy from the “Santa request list,” and then spent a considerable amount of time carefully devising places to hide the yearned-for gifts so they wouldn’t be discovered before Christmas morning. |
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A few weeks ago, my oldest son Roman got behind the wheel of the family van and drove off to school. It was a doubly-momentous occasion, because for him it was the first day of his senior year of high school, and for me, it was the beginning of what I’ve come to think of as ‘my year of lasts.’ Everything our family does from now until his graduation in May will have a tinge of ‘finality’ to it, and I can’t help but be a bit melancholy as I watch these precious days slip past. |
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One of my favorite books is Tolstoy’s What Men Live By, the tale of an angel who God sends to earth to learn about the interaction between humans and the divine. The angel soon discovers that men think they control their earthly fate but in fact do not see “the big picture.” God alone is the architect of the complex intertwinings of the natural and supernatural, and our assumptions often take us down the wrong roads and leave us lost, requiring the love of our heavenly Father to set us right. |
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For many of us moms with teenager daughters, the month of May means going shopping for that ‘special dress’ for prom or graduation or some other gala event. Ideally, it should be a wonderful mother/daughter rite of passage, a shared moment of feminine adventure between generations... |
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It’s no coincidence that Easter comes in the early days of spring, when gray skies and brown landscapes are suddenly replaced by a dazzling display of vibrant color...
The season of Lent provides me with a great opportunity to teach my children about one of the most profound yet difficult mysteries of our faith: the role of suffering in our lives...
February is the month for love, thanks to St. Valentine, the 3rd century priest who ran afoul of the Emperor Claudius for performing Christian marriages...
Winter Echoes
The Goats of Christmas Past
