Category: From the Vault

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.

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.

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!

The Mom Weekly Volume 82: Tuesday, March 4, 2025

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

Lent, Lent, Time to Repent….

Do you remember the CD we had back in the mid-2000s from the “Dogma Dogs”? I think it was two young college students who created all those fun songs, such as “21 Ecumenical Councils” (I know but remember it was very funny!).

One of the songs I remember is “Lent” and it had a chorus, “It’s Lent, Lent, time to repent.” 

Sadly, I could not find the Dogma Dogs on Spotify. Dogma Dogs, if you’re out there, upload your songs to Spotify. 🙂

Anyway, I did find this link to a description of the group and some of their fun songs. Helpfully, the post links to a clip of the song itself (and a few others), and I encourage you to give it a listen, just for the smile:

Clip of the song “Lent”

And to get yourself in the mood for Lent!

Preparing for Lent, In Tiny Ways

So, yes, Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on March 5, tomorrow. It might be a good idea to take a few minutes to think about planning for those six weeks.

I know Lent can be a less than positive time for some of us, but I would propose that planning for some of this can help make it less burdensome.

First, remember that there’s no holy day of obligation for either Ash Wednesday or any of the Easter Triduum. But if you want to go, especially on Ash Wednesday, and if you go early in the day you can have people asking you all day, “Did you know you have something on your forehead?”  🙂

Fasting and abstinence. Here is an article about the “rules” .

But briefly: No meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent. 

I remember when I was young and since, and I didn’t have an easy way to remind me about what day of Lent is. More than once, I accidentally at a Wendy’s cheeseburger on a Friday. (See, I’ve liked Wendy’s for many decades! I’m consistent).

Today, though, we have online calendars and reminders. So consider putting in your calendar “fast” on Ash Wednesday (March 5) and Good Friday (April 18). And then “abstinence” from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent. 

But especially the fasting rule does not count for health reasons. You know what those are, and using your best judgment to decide how to proceed.

Also, what are some ways to make Lent meaningful when it may be especially hard?

First of all, we can bring any of those to prayer. God knows everything about you, and He wants to hear from you, so taking the time to pray about what you detest or dread about Lent.

There are innumerable articles online about creative things to “do” or “give up” for Lent. I would have my own (eat more protein! Talk to a friend every day! Text your Mom more often than you do! Haha), but I know you can come up with some good ideas on your own, that would help you live this season in the way that’s best for you. You could even do something nice for yourself, every day of Lent.

I really liked this one from Lent 2024.

If you read through the ideas, there are quite a few creative ones that would be a way to make Lent more “doing.” “Here are few I loved: “give up speeding for all of Lent” “daily games with family” “every time you go to Mass, introduce yourself to someone new” “call someone you don’t regularly talk to” “intentional give sincere compliments to everyone you have a conversation with”

I also like this list—it’s for kids, actually, but really helpful for adults, too!—from our own local Katie Bogner of Look To Him and Be Radiant. She has a new book coming out on Lent, which I’ve pre-ordered, but has not arrived. However, the printable from the book are on her website. She is so prolific, and such a great artist!

These are all super simple things to do —- “ways” — for the 40 Days of Lent. They are not to do in order, but just as you think of it. I plan to print this out and to leave it with my daily lists and notebook, and to “check off” things as I meditate on them, and perhaps even accomplish!

Here is a Drive link to the 40 Ways for 40 Days printable.

Finally, An aside: For you calendar nerds like me, here is an astronomical website from Australia, naturally?), which lists the dates of all Easters from 1700-2299. 

Interesting/Notable:

Marriage Article of the Week: Add to Your Communications Toolbox with These Strategies —- Renzo and Monica Ortega 

Because the content is so good, I’m ignoring the minor things I want to change about their website font and a few other things. I’m by no means an expert website developer, but sometimes I get strong ideas, especially if something (like a font change) would be an easy fix).

This article talks about creating a “communications toolbox” — terrific ideas here!

I also really appreciate their podcast, Two Become Family. A TMW last year on the “manosphere” featured this podcast episode they did about the phenomenon:

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.

The Mom Weekly Volume 79: February 11, 2025

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

Notes:

I was actually looking for something else when this post popped up, and I laughed and laughed all over again. Please enjoy!

Also, today is the birthday of my youngest sister and one of your aunts, so be sure to wish her a happy birthday! It is also Our Lady of Lourdes, and World Day of the Sick.

Remember how much I love you,

Mom

The Ball in My Head (From the Vault: July 2009)

Earlier this week, Max had a “feber” as he used to like to say, and was quiet and under the weather for a day or so. At several times he talked about “the ball in my head,” as in, “Mommy, the ball in my head hurts when I cough” or “I have a ball in my head.” It means a headache. It’s actually a really good image.

This is similar to his regular question “how many motors do you have?” to ask how much energy you are feeling. “Mom, how many motors do you have? I have 100!!” to which I reply, “A lot, but not 100.”

This morning, in my continuing “training” for the Seattle sprint distance triathlon in a month (I’ll be doing it with my sisters), I ran 3 miles, and then decided to go to a fitness class at the gym. We joined this gym that our family joined in May so I could swim laps. We’ve all enjoyed going to the pool, and taking advantage of the gym and the classes.

On Monday, I attended my first Body Pump class. Fortunately a friend who belongs to the gym went along with me and introduced me to the instructor. There were a few of us first-timers, in a fairly large class of women of all ages at the noon class It is basically an aerobic weight-lifting class, and exactly what I need because I don’t lift weights and can’t seem to figure out the machines. Lifting weights is good for building strength and endurance and preventing injuries, all things I’m for. The class was truly enjoyable, and I chatted with my friend, the ladies around me, and the instructor afterwards.

Today’s about the first day I wasn’t too sore to consider going again. It was suggested that suggest you try to do Body Pump twice a week.

This morning, what a difference! Same music, same routine. But huge, huge numbers of people, lots of age ranges though mostly in the 20s. There were a majority of men, some even around my age. Some couples of various sizes and ages. I thought, maybe I will try to get Sir to attend one of these with me, as it is really a good workout.

The only problem I encountered at first was I wondered about club etiquette of where to place my weights and mat, etc., since there was so little room in the gym half. The class was taught by a man/woman team. Were they married? Dating? Don’t know, even though they were chit-chatting back and forth the whole hour because once it started the MUSIC WAS SO UNBELIEVABLY LOUD I COULDN’T HEAR A THING.

The instructions, the banter about their kayaking trip (maybe?) —at least that’s what I THINK they were talking about—COMPLETELY DROWNED OUT in music about 10x louder than the weekday class.

I looked around, but no one else seemed to NOTICE. During the break times between types of exercise, I literally put my hands over my ears. At one point the male instructor turned down the music to talk about form in a particular exercise, and I thought, please, for the love of all that is good, please keep the volume there. But no, once he screamed, “IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE,” he turned up the music even louder than before, if that is possible.

I left the class with my muscles well-worked, my ears ringing, and a firm resolution to never attend the 8 a.m. Saturday class EVER AGAIN.

I called one of my sisters on the way home to chat and said, “If it seems like I’m screaming, here’s why,…” and she screamed, “Okay!”. On purpose, I didn’t call the sister who thinks I speak too loud sometimes. You know who you are 🙂

When I got home, I told Sir that the ball in my head hurt. He reported that before he had his coffee, Max sought his help putting together something Lego, and that gave him a ball in his head. The coffee helped.

Interesting/Notable:

Twelve Dudes and a Hype Tunnel: Scenes from the ‘Super Bowl for Excel Nerds’ –NY Times gift link.

Nerd alert! Nerd alert! Spreadsheet competition! This is wonderful.

The Agony of Adoring Online Dogs—NY Times gift link

I know many of us have followed Norbert, and this article features him prominently. A sweet read.

An Action Item: Consider Filing An Extension for Your Tax Return (even if you plan to file it on time)

This is such an interesting concept, and something I had never heard of before. 

Basically, this tax attorney explains how you can prevent getting an IRS notice years after you made a mistake on your taxes. This is just a little over 7 minutes—well worth watching. My takeaway from this is to check my IRS transcript, and to file an extension 

How to Avoid An IRS Notice—Jasmine DiLucci