The Mom Weekly Volume 109: September 9, 2025
You can read this, or any other previous Mom Weeklies, by going to the home page here.
Notes:
This weekly is based on yet another song. I thought for a minute: Hey! I have been sharing a lot of songs in recent months. If you are concerned that The Mom Weekly is turning into a song sharing platform, fear not. I have plenty of things to say!
But it’s not he worst thing to share (or overshare) some of the great songs and quotes that give me joy, comfort, and delight. Often, others can say things in song that we find hard to articulate ourselves.
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
Pencil in the Hand
Last Friday was the feast day of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
At the daily Mass I happened to go to on Friday, the priest (Fr. W!) spoke about St. Teresa and read some of her quotes. He read the one about Mother Teresa saying she was a “pencil in the hand” of God.
And you may not be surprised to hear that I immediately thought of … the Popple song! (Which, yes, was based on the Mother Teresa quote from this interview).
I am pretty sure that I can sing parts of any number of Popple songs from memory, including “Middle School Love Song,” “Puppy Dog,” “We’re Getting Loud,” and, of course, “Pencil in the Hand.”
Popple broke up a long time ago (amicably, I believe, as the two young men were starting families and on to other projects). But thanks to the wonder of Spotify, you, too, can go down memory lane and listen to some of these delightful songs again.
Listening to this self- described “Catholic acoustic humor folk beard rock duo” reminded me of a story I’ve told many times, about re-listening to some of my college favorites decades after college, and thinking, gosh, some of these songs are really depressing! So I don’t listen to some of them anymore. And that’s one reason that I truly enjoy praise and worship music (like “The Blessing”). Everyone is different in the things that they like and things that give them enjoyment. Popple is one of mine.
I’m going to print the words to the song as a quote below, but I will also embed the video, because it’s just a few minutes long and really worth a listen!
I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God
Writing love to all the world.
I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God
Writing love to all the world.
++++++
Oh, you put me on your canvas.
Oh, you draw me round in circles.
Oh, I spread across the landscape.
And what is beautiful, it’s all because of you.
+++++
I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God
Writing love to all of the world.
+++++
Oh, all I can do is scribble.
Oh, but you can make it wonderful.
Oh, I could never do good things
Oh, but in your hands, perfect is what I am.
+++++
You give me free will
To do what I want to do.
You give me free will…
+++++
I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God
Writing love to all the world.
I’m a pencil in the hand of a writing God
Writing love to all the world.
Interesting/Notable:
Unusual suspects: Meet Frassati’s ‘Wise Guys’–The Pillar
From the subhead: A small Adriatic town is home to one of the most dynamic communal experiences in Italian Catholicism, inspired by the soon-to-be saint Pier Giorgio Frassati.
I love that the group is named after the name Frassati gave to his group of friends—wise guys, usual subjects.
This one is fun to share since Pier Giorgio is now St. Pier Giorgio, after the canonization on Sunday. I look forward to hearing all about the canonization! (We were able to watch an English-language translation later that day here, but we can’t wait to hear about what it was like in person.)