The Mom Weekly

Author: Mom

  • “Looking and Sounding Last Season”

    The Mom Weekly Volume 134: March 3, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here. https://themomweekly.com/

    Notes:

    And again, I have not had time to edit my intended Lenten post(s), but fortunately there are a few things to write about, as always! Especially during Lent. 

    I happened to listen to a Rich Mullins song on Spotify the other day, looking for a lyric.

    Now, normally when I’m out and about driving around, a podcast plays, from one of my “followed” podcasts. But since I had listened to that Rich Mullins song, Spotify played for me my “Rich Mullins Lent” playlist. And so, I listened to Rich Mullins songs as I drove to Mass this morning, and then to the post office and a couple of other stops. I listened to his music on the way to and from the gym. 

    And honestly? Listening to Rich Mullins music is balm for the soul. At least my soul! I have been feeling extra depleted these last few weeks with everything going on. Listening to Rich Mullins today was life-giving and restorative.

    So can I propose that you find an artist or type of music that is balm to your soul, and listen to it, at least for a small portion of every day? That’s going to be my plan for the remainder of Lent, and beyond.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom  

    “Looking and Sounding Last-Season”

    Bishop Erik Varden (I’m reading his book The Shattering of Loneliness for Lent) has been doing Lenten retreat talks at the Vatican for the first week or so of Lent.

    Here’s the schedule.

    I thought it was funny and also interesting that an exlusive group of people are allowed to attend: “The Cardinals resident in Rome and the Heads of the Dicasteries are invited to participate.”

    That doubtless means that normal people (like us!) aren’t able to attend, but fortunately, Bishop Varden is posting the talks on his website. They are all very short and highly readable. Here is the one for February 24: The Splendor of Truth.

    Here’s a quote that I really liked from it: 

    It is tempting to think we must keep up with the world’s fashions. It is, I’d say, a dubious procedure. The Church, a slow-moving body, will always run the risk of looking and sounding last-season. But if she speaks her own language well, that of the Scriptures and liturgy, of her past and present fathers, mothers, poets, and saints, she will be original and fresh, ready to express ancient truths in new ways, standing a chance, as she has done before, of orienting culture. 

    Interesting/Notable:

    A woman at book group a couple of weeks ago mentioned a YouTube video on Former Senator Ben Sasse discussing his terminal diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. When I add YouTube videos to emails, sometimes they go to spam, so I won’t link the one I think it is. But if you look for the Hoover Institution. The title of the video is called “Basketball in the Last 60 Seconds.” I have gotten most of the way through it, and it’s a sobering but beautiful listen.

    Here is an article about his diagnosis from Terry Mattingly, a longtime religion commentator, and I think the video is embedded here.

    So you can get a feel for Sasse’s perspective, here is a gift link of a WSJ article of an Op-Ed he wrote recently:

    Politics Should Be More Like the Superbowl

  • How to Turn Off AI in Search Results (Mom’s Occasional Tech Advice)

    How to Turn Off AI in Search Results (Mom’s Occasional Tech Advice)

    The Mom Weekly, Volume 133: February 24, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    I have a Lenten-related series of posts, but that series is not ready yet. Fortunately, we had a discussion about artificial intelligence at book group on Saturday, and the info seemed helpful to share! I guess I could start a new featured called “Mom’s Occasional Tech Advice.” 🙂

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    How to Turn Off AI in Search Results

    Did you know that it is actually impossible to turn off AI search results in Google search? (This may be one of the reasons that Google had a zillion ads during the Olympics about the AI search results, urggh.)

    But there are workarounds.

    1. Filter to “Web”

    This only works after you search for something. In the search results, at the top of the screen are options such as “images,” “shopping”, “videos”, and similar.

    I’ve circled the “More” Tab, and below that will be “Web” as one of the choices.

    If you click on the “More” tab, a drop down box will offer several options, including “Web.” If you click on that, only websites will show up as search results. It does take that extra step, but it is worthwhile if you want to get straight to good results.

    Here are the search results after filtering under “Web.”

    2. Change Search Engines

    You could change to another search engine, such as Duck Duck Go or Firefox. 

    When I checked out Duck Duck Go recently (though I’ve known about for years but for some reason have not moved over to using), the search results also show AI results at the start.

    Duck Duck Go Initial Results, before turning off “Search Assist” (an AI function)

    But…. you can immediately and always turn that off.

    Duck Duck Go list, without Search Assist.

    Interesting/Notable: 

    This Cal Newport podcast about artificial intelligence is relevant to this week’s topic. It is well worth a listen.

    Is AI Reporting Broken? –Deep Questions with Cal Newport

    Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown, as well as a productivity guru (Slow Productivity and Deep Work are two of his books). So he knows what he is talking about with AI.

  • Meatless Lunch/Dinner Ideas for Lent

    Meatless Lunch/Dinner Ideas for Lent

    The Mom Weekly Volume 132: February 17, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    As I’ve said before, one reason I write The Mom Weekly is to tell myself things as well as you. And I thought of something I personally would like, leading into Lent starting tomorrow: a list of good ideas for Lenten meatless lunches and dinners.

    I typically don’t eat meatless the entirety of Lent, but I know I will need ideas for Fridays, and maybe Wednesdays if I get ambitious. 

    And so writing these ideas ahead of time should help me have a ready-to-go list. I hope it might help you too or inspire you to create your own.A

    Also! Breaking news! I edited this post before it went out, because the Holy Father released his Letter for Lent 2026, and it’s well worth planning to read prayerfully and slowly this Lent. Here it is:

    “Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion”

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Meatless Lunch/Dinner Ideas

    Baked Salmon, rice, veggies.

    Scrambled eggs, salad.

    Frittata, baked potatoes, veggies.

    Curry wraps with peanut sauce (I adapted this recipe in various ways, notably that I add the peanut sauce to the wraps, and I wrap it in tortillas, not the collard leaves .

    Corn chowder made without ham or bacon.

    Grilled cheese, veggies or salad.

    Korean Tofu Bowls or Wraps with rice or tortillas.

    Tortellini with some kind of sauce, Caesar salad.

    Aklit Spiced Ethiopian Vegetable Stew , rice

    Vegetable soup, bread (note to self: look for a good veggie soup recipe!)

    Meatless meatballs (Aldi) in Rao’s sauce, on Turano rolls for meatball subs, sautéed zucchini and onions

    Homemade pizza with fresh mozzarella and/or artichokes, salad. 

    Peanut butter on toast, sliced apples.

    Mexican bean soup (find a good recipe), cornbread.

    Blueberry pancakes made with Kodiak mix and/or coconut flour (for more protein and fiber).

    I am genuinely interested in any ideas or recipes that you have come across that are meatless for Fridays. Please let me know!

    Interesting/Notable:

    Debate: Should We Delete Catholic AI? New Polity podcast (Matthew Sanders, CEO of Longbeard, and Marc Barnes

    Sometimes Spotify annoys me when it auto-plays whatever random podcast I’ve listened to in the past, but this one was a home run. 

    I’m not even 30 minutes into this episode and I have so many thoughts! It’s fascinating, and such a respectful conversation (at least as far I have gotten).

    An Action Item: Download the Prayer of St. Ephrem to your phone

    When I looked at last year’s beginning of Lent post, after I already completed this one, I thought, that was good! (Including my first-ever GIF).

    But that post featured an image of the Prayer of St. Ephrem, which is traditionally prayed during Lent. I’ll feature it again here, and consider adding it to your phone, possibly to your lock screen? So that you can remember to pray it every so often during Lent.

  • Lent Was Made for Man, Not Man for Lent

    Lent Was Made for Man, Not Man for Lent

    The Mom Weekly Volume 131: February 10, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    Tomorrow is the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes, and the birthday of one special sister!

    The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes is also the World Day of the Sick. Pope Leo XIV has chosen a theme for this year’s World Day of the Sick: 

    “The compassion of the Samaritan: loving by bearing another’s pain”

    Our Lady of Lourdes, pray for us!

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Lent was Made for Man, Not Man for Lent

    Lent starts next Wednesday, February 18, and as we know, it’s that fun time of year that we all love.

    This is not the first time I have pondered how to make Lent more spiritually fruitful without it being a slog. As I looked back at previous posts, I have written about this a lot! 

    But it bears repeating these ideas, to help myself and maybe help some of you, dear readers.

    I have a reminder to keep looking for the Holy Father’s Message for Lent, but as I write this in early February, it has still not been released. In years past I try to print it out and read it during Adoration times. Once it is released I will post a link to it.

    Let’s start with some Scripture:

    One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck ears of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abi′athar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”  And he said to them, “The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.”

    —Mark 2:23:28

    The reason I shared this Scripture is that I recently had the thought: “Lent was made for man, not man for Lent.”

    I hope this isn’t misinterpreting it (but the theologian in the family will correct me if I’ve gotten this wrong, I hope!). 

    But: the idea that “the Sabbath was made for man” means that we have been given the Sabbath because it’s good for our bodies and spirits to have regular times of worship, rest, and leisure. 

    God made us that way, and then He gave us the Sabbath as a weekly reminder to focus on worship of God, rest, and leisure. Not because God needs anything from us, but because we benefit from ordering our lives in this way. 

    And then God made it a rule (one of the 10 Commandments!) to ensure that we would do it. (Or at least try, in my case, because I’m often not great about this.)

    In the same way, God made humans (and the world) to need rhythm and change. We benefit from seasons, time of rejoicing and contemplation, and feasting and fasting. It’s obvious to anyone who looks around, or experiences life, that any “one” of those things is good for us, but not all the time, 24/7, 365. 

    So Lent becomes one of those “rules” as a time to foster silence, contemplation, fasting, and prayer. In the same way that Easter time becomes one of those “rules” to foster praise, rejoicing, and feasting.

    Looking at Lent that way—that it was made for us, to help us live in harmony with the way we have been made—could help us live a better and, dare I say, more joyful Lent.

    There really are very few “rules” to Lent, but it bears repeating them:

    *fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday

    *refrain from meat on Ash Wednesdays and all the Fridays of Lent.

    Here’s a brief article I shared about this last year.

    The three “pillars” of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Each of us should have a focus on those areas during Lent. What does that mean for each individual person? It’s really up to each of us.

    Once we formulate a plan—and simpler is better here!—the difficult part might be not to compare ourselves to others. 

    Someone else is doing meatless all of Lent? A friend is giving up social media until Easter? Etc., etc. Good for them! We can appreciate what they are doing, but really stick to the small things that we have chosen.

    Last year’s beginning of Lent post covers a lot of this same ground, and I encourage you to take a quick read through that for some ideas.

    Lent, Lent, Time to Repent …

    Interesting/Notable: 

    Interview about Eternize Cross

    Here’s another video from the Gosplaining, the Dominican podcast. This time for a new item that is a great technology item: the Eternize cross. Fr. Bonaventure 

    “It’s like a hammer —it’s a great tool. When you need a hammer, it’s a great tool. A hammer does not demand things of you when you’re not hammering. You don’t get tempted to start hammering walls. It’s just a perfect tool for the job it does. … (eternize cross)… perfect for what it does. Spectacular application of technology at the service of prayer.”

    If you haven’t guessed already: yes, I ordered the Eternize cross after listening to this video. Just in time for Lent! I’ll let you know how it goes.

    An Action Item: Start (or Continue) Your Taxes

    February is a great time to begin or continue working on your taxes. It gives you plenty of of time to gradually input your information, or, if you don’t do your own taxes, to gather documents  in a file (digital or paper) for your accountant or tax preparer.

    I’ve been trying to do for about 10-15 minutes on the days when I can get to it. Give it a try! You’ll be glad you did so.

  • Set Up Alerts for All Your Credit Cards (Mom’s Occasional Money Advice)

    Set Up Alerts for All Your Credit Cards (Mom’s Occasional Money Advice)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 130: February 3, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.

    Notes:

    I decided to pre-empt what I had scheduled this week to share about a useful financial housekeeping activity. This one is topical because it happened to be just a few days ago.

    I promise you that you will feel good once you complete this!

    It’s especially good to do these kinds of activities during some of the extra-cold days we’ve had recently when it’s hard to get outside. 

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Set Up Alerts for All Your Credit Cards (Mom’s Occasional Money Advice)

    Just a few days ago, I was checking the Chase app on a newer credit card to see how close I was to the spending I would need to trigger the sign-up bonus. The sign-up bonus for this particular card is a lot of points, so it was definitely worth checking!

    I noticed several small charges from the same merchant, and several from another, and I thought, wait, did I spend money at something called “M Solutions”?

    This can be tricky because sometimes charges will occur that appear odd. We have lunch at the excellent Skylight Commons cafe at the Mayo Clinic on the days we are there—but the merchant name is something strange that I know now, but might have thought was sketchy the first time or two I saw the charge.

    Anyway, I was heading out for my dentist appointment at that time, so I couldn’t do much until I got home. When I got home, I checked on all the charges, and saw a dozen or so charges, ranging from 99 cents to $27, from four merchants I did not recognize. 

    The fraud department representative that I spoke to was very nice, and I went over all the charges with her. She could see they were all connected to the same digital wallet (not mine, obviously), and so she cancelled the card and I’ll get a new one in a few days.

    I realize that I had not set up text or app alerts for this particular card, because it is relatively new. So I took some time that afternoon to check all of our credit cards and make sure that text/app alerts are enabled. Now, anytime there is a charge on any of our cards, I (or Dad) will get a text message or app alert, or both. 

    I do have this set up for many cards, so that I can appear to be a mind reader. I told Dad when I was setting all the alerts up that I already get those. I said, “Didn’t you make a purchase using (certain credit card) at Trader Joe’s about an hour ago?” Dad thought that my knowledge of his wherabouts a state away was pretty impressive, and I agree. 🙂

    The typical way to do this is on the app or website of your card’s bank, look into “profile & settings.” Usually within there or something similar, there is a “manage alerts” section. Just be sure that you save after you change the alerts. I’m sharing a screen from within Chase so you can see what I mean. Be sure to check all of the categories of alerts, especially any purchases!

    For some reason, it was hit or miss with our cards. Some had alerts of all kinds enabled, and some had few or none. It was a good feeling to be able to get all the cards set up that way. You’ll be glad, too, once you complete this task!

    Interesting/Notable: 

    Seeking Beauty — EWTN Studios.

    Erica Campbell, the founder and owner of Be a Heart, a Catholic goods shop, shared this show in a recent email (her emails are great, by the way. I find her very sensible and spiritually mature). 

    I’ve only watched part of the first episode, but it’s got great production value and it’s highly watchable! I was not aware of the actor/producer who narrates it, but he does look familiar. You younger people may recognize him more. 🙂

    They Wanted Another Bathroom. So They Built a $1.3 Million Home: WSJ

    I read this article because of the headline, but it’s actually about a general contractor and architect with a very interesting personal history that led to him becoming a home builder. Worth a read!

  • Love is Patient, Love is Kind, or, St. John Bosco’s advice to anyone in relationship with others

    The Mom Weekly Volume 129: January 27, 2025

    You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here. https://themomweekly.com/

    Notes:

    This is Catholic Schools Week, which always reminds me of pancake breakfast and other events at parishes over the years. Also, tomorrow is the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, who is the patron saint of students and of Catholic schools, among other things. And that got me thinking about St. John Bosco, who is also a patron of students. 

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Love is Patient, Love is Kind, or, St. John Bosco’s advice to anyone in relationship with others  

    St. John Bosco’s feast day is January 31, and he along with St. Thomas Aquinas  is a patron of young people and education. The more I read about him, the more impressed I am with him! Connected to last week, he had a great devotion to St. Francis de Sales, even naming the congregation he founded the Salesians after St. Francis. (Of course, we have no idea whether St. John Bosco found St. Francis funny like I do, but let’s hope he does).

    The Office of Readings for saint feast days often includes a writing by or about the saint, and the feast of St. John Bosco features “A letter by St. John Bosco.” It is really worth reading in its entirety, so check out the Universalis app Office of Readings for January 31. But I’m going to excerpt a few lines for you:

    First of all, if we wish to appear concerned about the true happiness of our foster children and if we would move them to fulfill their duties, you must never forget that you are taking the place of the parents of these beloved young people. I have always labored lovingly for them, and carried out my priestly duties with zeal. And the whole Salesian society has done this with me.

    My sons, in my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth. It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself, and to threaten a boy than to persuade him. Yes, indeed, it is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys. We must be firm but kind, and be patient with them.

    “It is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys.”

    Yes! Absolutely.

    I thought, why haven’t I read more about St. John Bosco, or writings of him? So I did a little research and found a website from the Australian Salesians offers downloads of a number of the writings of St. John Bosco. This essay about his “preventative method” of working with children is so forward thinking!

    One thing I appreciate about St. John Bosco is he stresses more than once that kids can do heedless things because they are kids, and adults need to give them some grace. Can I just say that that can be a difficult part of parenting? It does get easier the older you get, fortunately.

    St. John Bosco wants us to understand that kids doing dangerous, mean, foolish, or goofy things is not a reflection on their character, or your work as a parent, but just a feature of kids! He doesn’t write it this way, but he is describing the undeveloped prefrontal cortex in young people before their mid-20s. Lots of impulse control issues! It’s fine, everything is fine, and you can keep being gentle and instructive with kids, and eventually some of it will stick.

    Let me close with the Scripture that St. John Bosco uses frequently when he talks about our life with others, especially children: (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7)

    Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;  it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Want a Free Luxury Trip? Talk to a Credit Card Rewards Consultant—WSJ gift link 

    Once again, my hobby is ahead of the curve! I have started sharing posts every weekday on LinkedIn about travel rewards, with the specific goal of showing people how flexible traveling with points & miles can be. If you’re on LinkedIn, make sure to follow along!