The Mom Weekly Volume 97: June 17, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Better Than Corn and New Wine
The other night when we were saying night prayer together, a line from Psalm 4 jumped out at me:
You have put into my heart a greater joy than they have from abundance of corn and new wine.”
I said afterwards, “hey, the line about better than corn or new wine made me think about a corn pasta recipe.”
It’s this recipe—not pasta made from corn, but pasta with a creamy corn sauce. It sounds really good, and I’d like to make it someday soon.
For some reason, the way I said it gave everyone a laugh at the time. And so it has become a running joke at our house. Someone says that he or she likes something, and another will say, “But is it better than corn or new wine?”
I do really love corn, and I don’t really like wine much anymore, since it wrecks my sleep. So it’s not literally about something being better than an abundance of corn and new wine.
But there’s something not just funny, but also appropriate, about realizing that we can and should be grateful for all the good that we have, and how all those good things are a gift from God, who wants to give us good things.
As we all know well, I am not the theologian in the family, so I may interpret the psalm incorrectly (not the first time that has happened, surely!). But it seems to me that the Psalm is a thanksgiving for the gift of faith, and for our relationship with the Lord and one another. Let’s look at the last few lines of the psalm:
“What can bring us happiness?” many say.
Let the light of your face shine on us, O Lord.
You have put into my heart a great joy
Than they have from abundance of corn and new wine.
I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once
For you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.
One humorous aside: Dad said once that the last line reminds him of me, since I have “the gift of sleep” and often can fall asleep when my head hits the pillow. Guilty as charged!
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
Interesting/Notable: Father’s Day Edition
First of all, I need to apologize to my brother and brothers-in-law, but I’m kind of embarrassed to. So, I’m doing it here. That’s because I completely blanked on sending Father’s Day cards to any of them, even though everyone knows that sending birthday and greeting cards is one of my love languages.
Travel will be my excuse this year! So shared here are two excellent reads on the theme of Father’s Day:
The Subtle Art of the Dad Text (NY Times Gift article)
Stop Striving and Have a Baby (The Free Press)
An Action Item: Consider Praying Night Prayer
Having a regular prayer practice together, even if we don’t do it every night, is something wonderful. And so I want to encourage those who aren’t in our nuclear family to consider beginning to pray Night Prayer.
The easiest and best way to do that is to subscribe to the Universalis app.
You “can” do it free on the Universalis browser. Here is the link for the page for Night Prayer/Compline,
Honestly? the Universalis app has been the most used app on my phone over the years, and easily the best value. I think we purchased it back when we used it on iPods? Or even Palm Pilots? I can’t even remember now, it’s been so long. The app offers all the hours of the Liturgy of the Hours—from Morning Prayer to the Office of Readings, Mass readings, and of course Night Prayer/Compline, and more.
The one-time price for Universalis is about $25, which is a steal! Here’s the link for that.