The Mom Weekly

Author: Mom

  • In Praise of People Who Share Their Scam Stories (again!)

    In Praise of People Who Share Their Scam Stories (again!)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 88: April 15, 2025

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

    Notes

    I hope that you have filed your taxes by now, but if you have not, today’s the day! So get to it.

    Also, we are in Holy Week. The Triduum and Easter are in a few days. Enjoy this sacred season. To be honest, I will be glad—not for the first time—that Lent is over. It’s not my favorite season, but I want to appreciate it better than I do—something to ponder! For now, I’ll get ready to celebrate the Easter season. 

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    In Praise of People Who Share Their Scam Stories, Again

    I recommend you take a few minutes to read this Wall Street Journal article (gift link):

    “The Panicked Voice on the Phone Sounded Like Her Daughter. It Wasn’t.”

    It is so helpful to read these kinds of accounts. I’ve written about them previously here and here.

    First of all, so we can be sympathetic to people who have been through this. Everyone is susceptible to these kinds of scams, and that’s why involving trusted others (such as family members) in our financial lives is so important.

    Also, it does make me fear for what AI can do to perpetrate these scams, and how we can guard against it. I do not have any firm thoughts on how to do this, except to say that we should stay vigilant.

    A good resource on this? Frank Abegnale’s book Scam Me If You Can: Simple Strategies to Outsmart Today’s Rip-Off Artists.

    This book, published in 2019, so well ahead of both the pandemic and the AI trend, is by the scammer turned FBI agent who wrote the autobiographical Catch Me If You Can (the book is way better than the movie!), not only covers the seemingly endless variation of ways that fraudsters try to cheat money out of people. It also covers the psychological tricks that criminals use to get people to trust them, or feel a sense of urgency. 

    I first read this book early in 2020, before all the pandemic news, but one quote I wrote down from is especially helpful during this time:  

    “I believe we have to get back to forming strong communities where people know and look out for one another. A lot of fraud happens in isolation and online. If we look up from our electronic devices and limit our online time to specific tasks and goals, we will vie less prone to scammers online. We’ll also feel happier and less isolated.”

    What I wrote many months ago still is true, so no need for me to write it in a different way. Here it is, from “Expect to be Scammed.”

    So, what’s the moral of this story? And the title, “Expect to Be Scammed”? Should we be constantly vigilant and expecting to be cheated at every moment? Looking over our shoulder, living in fear, and constantly worried about becoming a victim?

    No. But we can be extra cautious when it comes to our financial lives. We can also begin to be relatively transparent about our finances with several trusted people in our lives.

    “Expect to be scammed” means being realistic about the existence of bad actors in the world, who come up with sophisticated and devious ways to prey upon people. “Expect to be scammed” means we should practice excellent online “hygiene” when it comes to our financial, and indeed, our online lives in general.

    Interesting/Notable

    Marriage Article of the Week—How I Plan My Weekends: Laura Vanderkam

    This may not seem like a “marriage article of the week” but it describes some of the the division of labor that goes on in a family, and how to make fun and good things happen for a family.

    I thought this was a great paragraph that outlines why it’s good to “plan ahead” for group physical activity—so that inertia won’t take over:

    I also see that all family members are free on Sunday afternoon from about mid-afternoon to evening. As the older children won’t actually have done much on Sunday, I feel like we could make a reasonable case for a family walk or bike ride during this time. The weather should be good. If everyone gets their heads around this beforehand, it will probably happen. If we wait until Sunday afternoon to try to decide to do something, inertia will take over and there will be a lot of screen time instead.

    An Action Item: Plan Your Weekend

    In the Laura Vanderkam school of thought, planning your weekend makes it more likely that you will do things you want, and not just what you need to do. You’ll be glad that you did!

    Also, did you notice that I was ahead of time management guru Laura Vanderkam? (Not really, because I have read her for years and absorbed a lot of her ideas!). But still, remember that I had a section of The Mom Weekly for the first year and a half or so: “What Are You Doing This Weekend?”

    Here are the questions again, and I will try to include these episodically, but not often enough so we get too used to them.

    What are you doing this weekend?

    So, now that it’s Tuesday, what are you planning for the weekend? I’m going to suggest trying to cover four “F”s to get ideas flowing:

    *faith—when are you going to Mass?

    *friends—what friends will you see or connect with?

    *food—any fun recipes you plan to try, or restaurants you plan to visit?

    *fun—anything interesting you are going to play, watch, or do this weekend? Now’s the time to think it through, and put it on the calendar (even informally).

  • Surely God is With Us (A Rich Mullins Lent)

    Surely God is With Us (A Rich Mullins Lent)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 87: April 8, 2025

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

    Notes:

    Last week, I should have shared another funny “gentle” April Fools’ Day “ jokester: Duolingo. Last year, there was the hilarious Duolingo on Ice.

    “Duolingo on Ice”

    This year’s was equally as clever, with an actual link to Carnival Cruise Lines. Is this product placement? Who knows? it’s funny.

    DuoLingo 5-Year World Cruise

    Also, I don’t think that my reflection below on “Surely God is With Us” quite explains my thoughts as well as I would like. However, the perfect is the enemy of the good, and I wanted to get it out before the end of Lent. 

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Headline: Surely God is With Us (A Rich Mullins Lent)

    This Lent, one of my favorite Rich Mullins songs has been “Surely God is With Us.” There are actually two versions in the world. 

    One is the demo tape (yes, an actual tape) Mullins made just a few days before he died in a vehicle accident in September 1997. The other is from singer Mark Robinson, which was part of The Jesus Album, made in the year after Mullins’ death, with both the demo versions of the song, and covers of the each song by various artists, such as Michael W. Smith. For “Surely God is With Us,” I prefer Rich’s version.

    Well, who’s that man? Says He’s a prophet

    Well, I wonder if He has got something up His sleeve

    Where’s He from? Who is His daddy?

    There’s rumors He even thinks Himself a King

    Of a kingdom of paupers

    Simpletons and rogues

    The whores all seem to love Him

    And the drunks propose a toast

    And they say: “Surely God is with us

    Surely God is with us”

    They say: “Surely God is with us today”

    Who’s that man? Says He’s a preacher

    Well He must be, He’s disturbing all our peace

    Where does He get off? What is He hiding?

    Well, every word He says those fools believe

    Who can move a mountain?

    Who could love their enemy?

    Who could rejoice in pain?

    Turn the other cheek?

    And still say: “Surely God is with us

    Surely God is with us”

    Who’ll say: “Surely God is with us today?”

    Blessed are the poor in spirit

    Heaven belongs to them

    Blessed are those who make peace

    They are God’s children

    I Am the Bread of Life, I am the Way”

    You hear that Man? Believe what He’s sayin’

    Tell me who’s that Man? They made Him a prisoner

    Tortured Him n’ nailed Him to a tree

    Was He so bad? Who did He threaten?

    Did He deserve to die between two thieves?

    See the scars and touch His wounds

    His risen flesh and bone

    Now, sinners have become the saints

    And the lost have all come home

    And they say: “Surely God is with us. Surely God is with us”

    They say: “Surely God is with us today, today”

    This may seem like a digression, but bear with me:

    Matt Talbot, a Dubliner who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century, was an alcoholic from a family of alcoholics. He was considered a “hopeless alcoholic” from the age of 13 years old, and struggled with it for many years, spending all of his earnings on alcohol, and even stealing from people to support his habit. 

    When he was 28, he became sober, back then called “taking the pledge.” He then spent the rest of his life penitentially, and especially practiced a sincere devotion to his Catholic faith, with daily Mass, prayers, and penances.

    He died of heart failure on the way to Church on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 1925, when he collapsed on the street, alone.

    When Dad & I were in Dublin, I think we must have walked to Granby Lane to see where he died, and there is a little plaque in the brick wall marking the place where he died, basically an alley. 

    the plaque on a wall in Granby Lane
    This is another photo I took of a warehouse on Granby Lane in 2016; I found the signage very photogenic, but it also shows how it really was like an alleyway.

    And I’ve always thought it seemed somehow fitting that he died that way, since he is a patron of those struggling with addiction. How many people with addiction end up dying alone, either on the side of the road or in some sort of equivalent.

    Rich Mullins also died on the side of the road. It was actually along Interstate 39, not far from where we live. They both died alone, on the side of the road, forgotten. They didn’t choose their deaths, but they might not have minded, since they each had a solidarity with the lonely, forgotten, and hopeless.

    And yet, surely, God was with them. Surely God is with them. And surely God is with us.

    The manner of their deaths might be pointing people to the truth that God is with us, all of us. No one is alone. No one lives alone, and no one dies alone.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Marathon in 24 hours — Beau Miles (YouTube)

    As you know, this video inspired someone in our family (!) to run his own “marathon in a day.” The subject of the video ran one mile each hour, and had a list of tasks he wanted to complete, and knocked them off in between.

    (I confess, I am thinking of my own version of this, but not a marathon in a day. I don’t want to stay up for 24 hours. I would like to intersperse completing lots of tasks along with bursts of activity (like running or walking a mile) to reset your energy level and motivation.

    Anyway, after watching it, I wondered what made this particular video so appealing, and I found this “making of” interview. Really interesting!

    The how-to of the filming of a marathon in 24 hours

    An Action Item: Complete Your Taxes

    A week from today is Tax Day!

    I mentioned back in January that you could start your taxes, and in February talked about the idea of extending your taxes. 

    Now is the time to finish your taxes, if you have not already done so. You know you will feel great when you have this completed, so knock it off in the next day or so!

    Bonus for those who have already completed their taxes: check your Roth IRA. How much have you contributed yet this year? 

    If you are under 50, you can contribute up to $7,000 to your Roth IRA. If you want to be on track to max this out, you should have approximately $1,879. I bet you could try to get at least there (or a bit beyond).

  • Check the Date

    The Mom Weekly Volume 86: April 1, 2025

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

    Notes:

    (This section is “not” an April Fool’s joke/prank in any way!)

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    Check the Date

    Most of you know that I’m not a big fan, or a fan at all, of April Fool’s Day. It’s just not my thing, because it seems like pranks or jokes can get elaborate or messy or mean or land poorly, etc. Too much risk for not much reward.

    It turns out that I’m not the only one—and this cyber security company used the “holiday” as an opportunity to educate people about scams.

    Fortunately, there have been some cute April Fools posts/videos related to personal finance over the years. Let me share some for some comic relief (or at least a chuckle) this day. Most are from YNAB, because when I went looking those were the best produced and funniest.

    YNAB AI—What Could Go Wrong?

    YNAB for Pets

    I Never Had More Money Than When I Started Using this App

    YNAB Live Push Notifications

    The Motley Fool April Fools Jokes Throughout the Years

    Interesting/Notable:

    Keeping Small Things Small: Laura Vanderkam

    Best quote from this piece:

    Or you can ask yourself “Whose issue is this anyway?” It might be nice if your colleague didn’t use double exclamation points in all his e-mails, but this hardly reflects on you.”

    The Pros of Keeping Christ on the Cross

    Another Substack writer I came across. Maybe someone shared it? I find Substack’s current interface odd and non-intuitive.

    An excellent quote:

    “The crucifixes are not descriptive of where Christ is right now, they’re an exploration of what that moment entailed.”

    An Action Item: Prepare Your Net Worth for Quarter 1

    Remember that at the end of each quarter, the action item is to update your net worth. March 31 was the end of Q1 (or the first quarter of 2025), so it’s worthwhile updating.

    Repeating my regular script:
    This may take slightly longer this first time, if you have not done so. But I promise you, over time, you will be happy that you do this. 

    The reason I hesitated is that, especially for younger people, it could be pretty likely you have a negative net worth, largely because of student loans. But that’s will be so temporary (over the long haul!) that it should not discourage you. 

    When people begin to track their net worth, they call it “getting back to zero” when they have a zero net worth. That may not seem promising, but it’s a great accomplishment for those who have paid off a significant amount of debt, whether student loan debt, credit card debt, or other types of debt. 

    And it can be very encouraging to see an improvement in your net worth over time. 


    Here my super-simple net worth calculator spreadsheet .There’s no formatting with cool colors and such, but it works and completes the calculations for you. Let me know what you think about it!

    A couple of notes:

    *Unfortunately, Google Sheets does not allow password-protecting of items. I prefer to keep this information, and most of my spreadsheets, in a format I can password protect. Think Microsoft Excel, Apple’s Numbers, etc. You can even do this on paper if you want, and store it somewhere safe. 

    *There are two “sheets” in the shared spreadsheet —the first is a blank one, and the second is a sample with random numbers that I have included. I have added in pretend numbers to the sample sheet, so you can see how the numbers change over time.

    *Sometimes people do not add in their vehicles or mortgages. I do, because you can see how much equity you have in the house or vehicle. But I mentally don’t include them the same weight as other assets, since they are not liquid and it’s not likely one would sell them for living expenses, in retirement or not.

  • I’m Glad You Were Born

    I’m Glad You Were Born

    The Mom Weekly Volume 85: March 25, 2025

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

    Notes: 

    The Rich Mullins Lent reflections are just going to have to wait, as I am having a world of trouble finishing the first one!

    However, you can still listen to his music during Lent. Here’s my “A Rich Mullins Lent” Spotify playlist again. I think you will find it spiritually fruitful, but if not, feel free to abandon it. But maybe try to pick some music to listen to during Lent that could be spiritually fruitful for you.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    I’m Glad You Were Born

    Today is the Feast of the Annunciation. I’m always surprised that it is not a Holy Day of Obligation. I think I mix it up with the Assumption in August, which is a Holy Day of Obligation.

    Fra Angelico , The Annunciation (from Wikimedia Commons)

    Anyway, this is a great feast day. I have such a vivid memory of my oldest nephew being “overdue” many years ago (I was in high school!) and my Mom’s Irish friends saying novenas that the baby would be born on St. Patrick’s Day. They did this just to annoy my Mom, who (jokingly, I’m sure, being fully Italian) did not want that to happen!

    And then he was born on the feast of the Annunciation! I remember my Mom being so happy about that. It’s also just a wonderful feast of solidarity with pregnant women and babies.

    There are a lot of birthdays upcoming—today, and tomorrow, and the next few months.

    As I pray for those people on and around their birthdays, a prayer that keeps settling in my heart is: “I’m glad you were born.”

    I’m not sure what that means related to the Annunciation—one would think I would have that kind of Holy Spirit Nudge would appear around Christmas. But I’m trying to be more open to the Holy Spirit and my guardian angel. (Re-read “Holy Spirit Nudges” to recall what I mean by that. Every time, I giggle when I think about my guardian angel rolling her eyes at me).

    So there it is. I’m glad you were born.

    Interesting/Notable:

    Five Ways to Reduce Your Microplastics Exposure—Dr. Peter Attia

    I definitely want to reduce my microplastics, but I am still going to enjoy my occasional fountain sodas and Dunkin’ iced coffees. Fortunately, we already have a reverse osmosis system in our kitchen, so I’m doing one of the highest-impact actions for this. 

    An Action Item: Mary’s Girlhood by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

    When I taught high school for two years before you kids were born, an English teacher (Mrs. P!) was in the classroom next door.. She introduced me to this poem, and we taught a joint class between our two classes on it several times. I love to read it each Annunciation. (And I was “sure” it was written by his sister, Christina Rossetti, but I was wrong!)

    Mary’s Girlhood

    This is that blessed Mary, pre-elect
    God’s Virgin. Gone is a great while, and she
    Dwelt young in Nazareth of Galilee.
    Unto God’s will she brought devout respect,
    Profound simplicity of intellect,
    And supreme patience. From her mother’s knee
    Faithful and hopeful; wise in charity;
    Strong in grave peace; in pity circumspect.


    So held she through her girlhood; as it were
    An angel-water’d lily, that near God
    Grows and is quiet. Till, one dawn at home,
    She woke in her white bed, and had no fear
    At all,—yet wept till sunshine, and felt aw’d:
    Because the fulness of the time was come.

  • St. John Vianney, Pray for Us (From the Vault, February 2010)

    St. John Vianney, Pray for Us (From the Vault, February 2010)

    The Mom Weekly Volume 84: March 18, 2025

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

    Notes

    I had a 75 percent finished draft of a meditation on a Rich Mullins song, but there is no way that me on Monday evening (when I am writing this) could reasonably get it to anywhere in the ballpark of 100 percent. That’s because of the last few days of moving, which have been fun, but also draining! Similar to “how many motors do you have?” I have about 7/100 brain cells working.

    So I went looking in the “vault” for a good second week of Lent writing. I just scrolled through a bit, and skimmed this one and thought, here we go! Not for the first time do I thank my younger self for taking the time to write a reflection so today’s me could have a break.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    St. John Vianney, pray for us (From the Vault, February 2010)

    “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils,” write C.S. Lewis in his preface to The Screwtape Letters. “One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.”

    The Screwtape Letters—imaginary letters from an elder demon to his demon-in-training on ways to tempt a human— is one of my favorite Lewis works. I have it on my reading list for Lent, and while I hadn’t read the book in a long time, (I hadn’t opened it this Lent, which is still very young…), the book, and this quote in particular, kept coming to mind last night as I watched (along with members of our parish) a drama about the life of St. John Vianney performed at our local cathedral.

    While everyone else around me—including some I love and hold in friendship—enthused about its drama and quality, I have to confess it I was underwhelmed.  In fact, I was put off, to say the least, by the way the devil became a character—arguably the most compelling—in the creative vision of the artist, who I believe is sincere and loves God and His Church.

    I hesitate to critique someone who I believe is in good faith trying to tell an exciting story about the life of this great saint, but I think it missed the mark by a wide margin. I think others may have had a different reaction to experiencing this drama, but I wanted to put out my thoughts as an alternative vision. The devil is too strong of a character in this drama, and it can lead us to what Lewis calls “an unhealthy interest.” Is that worse than disbelieving?  No, because there is an enemy to our souls. But ultimately we have nothing to fear because we belong to Jesus.

    St. John Vianney, the beloved Cure of Ars, was known for hearing confessions for up to 16 hours a day.  He had a gift for “reading” souls. There are so many good stories about St. John Vianney–the one of him consoling a wife whose husband committed suicide by saying, “His soul is safe in purgatory, and you should pray for him. From the bridge to the water, he repented.” And yes, there were the stories of him being tormented by demons and kept awake, but they were just part of his life, of his good work and tireless effort on behalf of his flock.  His life was really for Jesus, not simply against the devil.

    Before this drama, if I had one word to describe St. John Vianney, I would have said, and still say, “confession.” But I think many people leaving that drama would say—and properly based on the dramatization, because it was the center of the “struggle” in the play—”devil” .  That’s a bad exchange, and one I think would not be pleasing to St. John Vianney.  

    It took a long discussion with Sir when I returned from the play last night, some reflection time, and comparing it with my lived experience and knowledge of St. John Vianney, to order my thoughts.  

    What I would encourage for others—even related to this kind of religious drama that we are perhaps encouraged to accept uncritically -is that one can and should still filter out what is not helpful to a healthy spiritual journey, just like one would when reading a novel or seeing a movie.  Some may find it edifying and helpful, but many may not, and there is nothing wrong in that, and in admitting that.  

    This is one artist’s vision for a dramatization of the life of St. John Vianney, not “the life of St. John Vianney.” We are free to leave behind what is unhelpful, in the same way we can be attracted to the lives of certain saints and not to others. There’s a lot of room—for our own personality to shine forth in the experience and life of our faith. It’s not called the Catholic (which means “universal”) Church for nothing. And thank the Good Lord for that.

    Marriage Article of the Week:

    The happiest couples use 2 phrases when talking about money, says self-made millionaire–CNBC

    Excuse the dumb headline, but this is a solid article featuring Ramit Sehti, who wrote “I Will Teach You to be Rich” and “Money for Couples.” These are quite helpful books about automating your savings and more. I met him at the 2019 FinCon and was impressed with how he explains money mindsets and the importance of planning.

    The two phrases are 

    “What’s our rich life?”  

    And “in this family, we….”

    The meaning of “What’s our rich life?” is: understanding what matters to you and what doesn’t, and then aligning your spending with that. Basically, what would make us happy to spend money, time, and resources on? And how can we make sure to do more of that?

    And “In the this family, we …” means having a family culture that values certain things—and therefore spends money on them—and doesn’t value others. I can think of a few for our family!  In this family, we think seeing and visiting family members is worth a good bit of our time and resources. In this family, we give extra money to charity during Lent and Advent. In this family, we believe the 1995 BBC “Pride & Prejudice” is superior by many degrees to any other version. In this family, we believe everything tastes better after a hike. 🙂

    This is actually a fun thought experiment. Give it a try!

    An Action Item: Celebrate St. Joseph’s Day Tomorrow!

    Here’s my recipe for savoiardi, that I posted last year. I am making them right now, and they are being enjoyed!

  • A Rich Mullins Lent

    A Rich Mullins Lent

    The Mom Weekly Volume 83: March 11, 2025

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

    Notes: 

    Well, that was a “fun” start to Lent! She said ironically (or Byronically, but only the English majors reading will laugh at that). 

    I’m not sure how your Lent started, but mine was funny. I really didn’t have too much trouble with eating meatless and fasting. But I decided on something to “do” during Lent, other than my regular things.

    I thought, how about this?: refrain from purchasing anything on Wednesdays and Fridays. That includes, for instance, coffee at Dunkin, shopping at the grocery store, and online shopping. 

    I probably go to the grocery store too much (but not as much as other people I know, whose initials are Dad, wink). Also, I’m too used to my little treats, that if I made a point not to shop on those days, I could probably save quite a bit of time, and also money to give to the poor, and plan ahead to get things (groceries, especially) on days other than Wednesdays and Fridays.

    I was doing great all of Ash Wednesday, and thought, okay, this is going to be a good Lenten thing. I didn’t go to Dunkin. I thought about ordering some toiletries online during the day, but reminded myself, no, that can happen tomorrow.

    And then right before heading upstairs for bed, I checked email, and there was a notice from an online shop letting me know that an item had come back into stock in my size, and I could order it if I wanted.

    Without even thinking, I did order it! I knew I wanted the item, and it was a good wardrobe staple. Ha.

    “Just” as I was getting into bed, I realized, oh, honey, you just bought something on ASH WEDNESDAY. And I had to laugh at myself.

    Anyway, I will try to get in the habit of (mostly) no-spend Wednesdays and Fridays through Lent. When I fail, I will do better the next time.

    Remember how much I love you,

    Mom

    A Rich Mullins Lent

    bonus points if you know where this photo was taken, in November 2018

    Last year, my book group was reading My God and My All, a biography of sorts about St. Francis of Assisi, written by 20th century British author Elizabeth Goudge. And I really struggled with it. I do love St. Francis of Assisi—hey, we named our firstborn after St. Francis, after all! And remember how much we all loved Assisi. 

    But something about the way Goudge wrote made his love of poverty seem unappealing in the worst way. St. Francis himself was almost repellent. I struggled so much, and I am not ashamed to say that I’m glad some other women in my book group felt the same way.

    It made me think of Rich Mullins, to be honest. Let me explain.

    Around the same time, an online friend from Colorado shared on social media an unintentionally goofy video from the CMA Country Christmas of Amy Grant & Trisha Yearwood performing Rich Mullins’ song “Sing Your Praise to the Lord” (oh, the incongruous dancers!). 

    She mused about what Rich Mullins, who died in a car accident in 1997, would say about it if he could see it. She joked that he would be keeping the people in heaven in stitches with a running commentary about it.

    As you know, I have been a huge Rich Mullins fan since the 1980s, even naming my blog after one of his songs! (The song is “Let Mercy Lead.”)

    Mullins, who was days away from converting to Catholicism when he died, lived in voluntary poverty (even though his music made lots of money), and admired St. Francis greatly. There’s a documentary about him I love that’s on Amazon Prime (Rich Mullins: A Ragamuffin Legacy). 

    My friend shared this older documentary called “Homeless Man: The Restless Heart of Rich Mullins”. I watched it, and I teared up often watching it and seeing his deep faith and words. 

    It struck me how Mullins is a kind of 20th century St. Francis. And I find his life, and his words about radical poverty and closeness with Christ, more attractive than Elizabeth Goudge’s portrayal of St. Francis in My God and My All. I am pondering why that is!

    Since then, I’ve been listening to Rich Mullins music off and on, and I find some of his songs very fruitful for Lenten reflection. So, for a few weeks during Lent, I hope to post a reflection based on one of his songs. We will see how it goes! 

    Interesting/Notable:

    Marriage Article of the Week: For Luck in Love, Couples Are Breaking Plates (On Purpose) (NY Times Gift link)

    I shared this article here in 2023(!), and I’m not necessarily arguing for this as a night-before-a-wedding tradition! Though it is kind of cool. It is worthwhile sharing as a marriage article of the week. This quote in particular: 

    “We swept up the pieces that spilled out of the box together, which was my favorite part. It’s a reminder that while building a life together, things break, but none strong enough to break the bond of marriage.”

    An Action Item: Listen to Some Rich Mullins 

    I find listening to Rich Mullins music to be edifying and meditative. So I made “A Rich Mullins Lent” Spotify playlist. Consider playing some of the songs if you want during Lent. I played this while I finished writing and posting this weekly!

    But I fully understand that not everyone has the same music taste, so if Rich Mullins music isn’t your thing (after giving it a good listen!), then please make your own playlist of good songs to listen to during Lent. It’s pretty easy!