Tag: rosary

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Faith Formation Ink Slingers Maurisa Prayer Rosary

Praying the Rosary Well

In October the Church celebrates a month dedicated to the Holy Rosary. Many saints have promoted the Rosary as the weapon for these times and as one of the greatest prayers of the Church. For the past 25 years our family has prayed a family Rosary most every night before the children go to bed. That adds up to a lot of “Hail Marys” to be sure and there have certainly been times when I’ve found the prayers to be dry and have allowed my mind to wander unchecked. While a poorly prayed, unfocused Rosary is still better than no Rosary at all; a directed well prayed Rosary is infinitely more effective. If you are like me and often find your mind drifting while trying to pray there several efficacious tools that can bring your meditations back around. 

Scriptural Rosary

One particularly popular method is praying a Scriptural Rosary in which passages related to a particular mystery can be read before the “Our Father” or even between each “Hail Mary”. Resources for this method can be purchased in booklet form or found online.

“The Rosary is the book of the blind, where souls see and there enact the greatest drama of love the world has ever known; it is the book of the simple, which initiates them into mysteries and knowledge more satisfying than the education of other men; it is the book of the aged, whose eyes close upon the shadow of this world, and open on the substance of the next. The power of the Rosary is beyond description.” – Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Contemplative Rosary

Recently, during a podcast by Dan and Stephanie Burke, they promoted the Contemplative Rosary App. Available from the Apple store the app has various helps including lovely pictorial works to meditate upon or clausular aspirations said in the middle of each “Hail Mary” to help one recalibrate the mind to the mystery. For example “Blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus, who suffered agony in the garden of Gethsamane”.

Virtues Rosary

Another way of looking at the mysteries is to consider the virtues one might find at work in a particular scene. This method is one of my favorites allowing one to hone in upon the virtue manifested in the character of Jesus or the Blessed Mother. One can then ask for an increase in that virtue for oneself or for someone else.

Using the Joyful Mysteries as an example, here is how this method plays out:

1st Joyful Mystery—The Annunciation

Virtues which stand out: humility, gentleness, obedience

Picture Mary serenly at work in her family home when the Angel appears and greets her with the Ave and delivers the message to the Handmaid of the Lord. Mary gently and humbly responds in deference and obedience.

2nd Joyful Mystery—The Visitation

Virtues which stand out: kindness, courtesy, loyalty

Having received Gabriel’s message Mary promptly sets out to visit and assist her cousin Elizabeth out of kindness, kinship, and loyalty. Elizabeth joyfully greets Mary and welcomes her with warmth and affection.

3rd Joyful Mystery—The Nativity

Virtues which stand out: humility, meekness, perseverance

After their long and arduous travels, Mary and Joseph seek a place to stay in Bethlehem. Persevering in the trial, they are led to a stable and our Lord is quietly born in the lowliest of conditions.

4th Joyful Mystery—The Presentation

Virtues which stand out: piety, prayerfulness, obedience

Mary and Joseph faithfully present our Lord in the temple in accord with the laws of their Jewish faith.

5th Joyful Mystery—The Finding of Jesus in the Temple

Virtues which stand out: religion, docility, respect

Having found Jesus in the Temple among the teachers after searching for him for three days, Jesus responds to his parents with docility and respect.

Of course, there are many more virtues which can be pulled from each mystery. These are just a few examples and how I’ve used them to contemplate while I pray. 

“Say the Holy Rosary. Blessed be that monotony of Hail Mary’s which purifies the monotony of your sins!” -St. Josemaria Escriva

Scatterbrained Rosary

What of those evenings when I know my brain is completely shot and diligent concentration is just not going to happen? In this case I have a very simple technique requiring very little effort or focus. For each bead I think of someone—the Holy Father, cardinals, bishops, priests, secular leaders, family members or friends—to offer that prayer for. Just bringing that person to the forefront of my thoughts is a tremendous help in maintaining a prayerful mindset.

 “The Rosary is a powerful weapon to put the demons to flight and to keep oneself from sin…If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, and in your country, assemble each evening to recite the Rosary. Let not even one day pass without saying it, no matter how burdened you may be with many cares and labors.” – Pope Pius XI

A Weapon for these Times

Currently we have an important election coming up, a seemingly never-ending virus rampaging, and alarming civil unrest. Let’s spend this upcoming month of the Holy Rosary begging Our Lady’s intercession. She’s given us powerful ammunition for spiritual battle. Let’s use it well!

Holy Mary, Queen of the Rosary, pray for us!

Resources:

Online Scriptural Rosary

Scriptural Rosary Book

Contemplative Rosary App

Interactive Virtue Tree

The Rosary is Boring (and that’s Actually Pretty Great)

The World Needs the Rosary Now More Than Ever

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Alyssa Azul Ink Slingers Prayer Rosary

The Gift of the Rosary

The Gift of the Rosary

The Gift of the Rosary

My very first rosary was given to me by my grandmother when I was around 5 years old, It was blessed in Rome and had a strong but natural fragrance when from what I remember…roses I’m certain.

My grandmother lived in the Philippines, and she would come to visit us in Canada when I was younger. During one of her first visits, she taught me how to pray. I don’t recall ever learning about how to pray the rosary in church or in school, so I owe it to my grandmother for teaching me, among the many things I learned from her. She had a very specific nighttime routine, and praying the rosary was never left out. Sharing a bed, we would pray out loud together before sleeping. I used to follow her, and eventually as I became more familiar, I’d be able to finish on my own when she fell asleep.

The rosary is more than a tradition, and a connection to my grandmother, but in a very important and profound way, it was my shield. During that time, my parents’ marriage was turbulent. Because of how young I was, I can hardly remember a time when they weren’t fighting. This turmoil was my normal. It’s only reflecting on it as an adult, that I am able to understand more of the picture.

Their fights were the loudest and most intense late at night. I remember that my grandmother would push forward with our bedtime routine. We would pray the rosary every night, despite the noise. She was persistent in the prayers, and I drew that fortitude from her. Truthfully, the memory of praying the rosary is more salient than the environment in which we prayed in. 

Now whenever I pick up the rosary, I feel a sense of strength, like a warrior picking up a sword before going into battle. Reflecting on the holy mysteries and saying the words remind me that the power of prayer is great enough to conquer anything I might be facing, tangibly and intangibly. I’ve come to truly understand the role of Our Lady in my life; she’s a tender and upstanding mother, protecting her child under her mantle. At every age, that is her role in our lives and we are always in need of our mother.

The Holy Rosary for me is also a tool to I use in managing anxiety. Focussing on the beads and the repetition of the prayers takes my mind away from the worry. The rosary brings me closer to understanding the life of Jesus, and that his sorrows and joys are like mine, or even greater. This doesn’t eliminate my stress and anxiety completely, but it reminds me of the most important things in my life. I am validated and loved by the greatest Love, which helps redirect my gaze towards eternity, and off of circumstantial things. 

Whenever I feel vulnerable, I hold on to my rosary. I might not always feel it, but I know in my heart that God’s hand is in my life. Since then I’ve been given the chance to embark on a very different journey, praying the rosary with men and women in prison. Using the rosary to pray for each other a deeply moving and powerful, and it reminds me that even if we had nothing but the shirts on our backs, we would still be able to pray using our fingers, meditating on the life of Jesus, and praying the Our Father’s and Hail Mary’s.

I believe one of the best things you can give to someone else is a rosary.

You can read more about the rosary in our archives.

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Anni Ink Slingers Prayer Rosary

Five Ways we Benefit from the Most Holy Rosary

FiveWaysweBenefitfromtheMostHolyRosary

I recently made a meal for new parents, pouring attention, prayers for the new baby, and love into all of the dishes. As I was preparing the meal, I was listening to Christian music, soothed with being able to cook and bake only being interrupted occasionally by the toddler, rather than the two older kids who were at their respective schools. Cook times meant I had plenty of time in the kitchen with my music, and at one point, I briefly considered praying a Rosary with one of my apps. But, I was enjoying the lack of spoken word, and basking in the joy of song and the random groove to the music, and didn’t recite the Rosary that day.

As we fought through traffic to deliver the meal post-school pick-up, my oldest asked why we “always” make a meal for a new family. In a subtle way, he was trying to figure out why the baby didn’t get a new toy. His question made me think of the mystery of The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth, and I reminded him that, in the same way that Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, I find it very good to visit new parents and drop off a meal so that they only have to focus on eating and the baby, rather than preparing a meal.

Yet, as the days slipped by, I began to consider the Rosary in a new light. I began to see how the Rosary, as a devotion, brings us close to Christ – and, in an equally amazing manner, radically transforms us into doing what He desires. And, while I can’t say I picked up the Rosary and began praying it immediately in the aftermath of the conversation with my oldest, I can share some of the reasons the ways we have an opportunity to benefit from frequent, if not regular, recitation of the Holy Rosary.

We find ourselves transformed to be more Christ-like. When we sit with the Rosary and contemplate the mysteries and the fruits of the mysteries, we begin to see the Rosary change our own outlook. We stop living in our own world and start seeing those around us in a new light. We have a tendency to begin to look for and recognize the little ways we live out the mysteries in our daily lives. This challenges and encourages us to extend ourselves, even when we doubt our own abilities. We begin to make life about others, rather than about ourselves.

We are brought closer to Christ. The monotony of the memorized verses of the Our Father and Hail Mary affords us the opportunity to get to know the mysteries and the fruits of the mystery a little better. When we pray the Rosary, we are meditating on the life of Christ – significant milestones in His life, from conception through Assumption. While meditating on those, we are able to see parallels in our own lives, that show us the splendor of Christ’s fully human and fully Divine nature. We recognize the frailty of our own humanity, as we meet the perfect nature of love and sacrifice through Christ.

Christ and His life come alive. Sure, we all know the story of the angel appearing to Mary, but how frequently have we contemplated that unique, historic, glorious occasion? We have all read about Anna and Simeon approaching and honoring the baby Jesus in the Temple, but how often have we contemplated the fidelity and faith they held in order to wait year after year for the Savior? We all know the Stations of the Cross, but how often do we have the courage to rest with the events of that fateful, yet necessary for our salvation, day? When we pray the Rosary, we begin to view the events of Christ and His life in a different light. We begin to be active participants in the bible stories we either read as children, or heard aloud read at Mass. In any case, we begin to experience the “stories” of Christ’s life in an altogether different way.

Our relationship with God becomes deeper and richer. As the events of Christ’s life begin to truly unfold, we find ourselves brought deeper into a relationship with a Father Who loves us so much, He sent His only Son to ensure a salvation for our souls. Those who have hardened hearts will slowly start to see them soften, as they begin to recognize the magnanimous love that God holds for each of us. Our souls begin to take refuge in knowing God and loving God, and our actions begin to orient toward God and His will.

We become more confident and courageous. Have you ever noticed small children have confidence that makes them act quickly, surely, and without excuse? As our hearts soften and our relationship with God deepens, we begin to display the confidence we see in little children. We become confident in our role as beloved children of God, and as our faith life becomes richer, we find ourselves leaning more on God’s will, rather than our own. With that comes the confidence to seek, know, and do God’s will, without excuses or remorse.

Praying the Rosary will lead to the most aggressive spiritual attacks, as we begin to find ourselves bombarded with self-doubt, with self-criticism, and even with attacks against our character by other people. The goal of these attacks will be to derail us from reciting the Rosary. It is important that we recognize these attacks for what they are – a mission to drive us further from God.

Yet, even hidden within the first Joyful Mystery, we find the antidote to the attacks that will inevitably come. We will find our source of strength from the humongous fiat uttered by a “small” human girl. If Mary could help us defeat Satan by agreeing to carry our Savior in her womb, then she can certainly help us defeat Satan every time we are tempted to put aside the Rosary for any length of time.

Change is absolutely scary. Praying the Rosary will change us. It will transform each of us, and this transformation in turn transforms the world. In the end, a world transformed for love of God is beautiful.

So, if it has been a day, a week, or even a decade since you last picked up the Rosary, I invite you to join me in picking it up again today. If you can’t commit to praying a daily Rosary, I invite you to join me in starting small. Pray a Rosary once a week – specifically this Month of the Holy Rosary (October), with your goal to truly, radically transform into being the most loving Christian you are able to achieve. Call upon your prayer partners, your Guardian Angel, your patron saints, and more to help you dedicate a greater portion of your prayer life to unfolding the deep mysteries and treasure contained in the Rosary.

As you present a rose to the Blessed Mother with each Hail Mary, and your life begins to radically transform, know that your reward will be great in Heaven. No matter where you are beginning, join me in having faith and trust that with God, all things are possible – especially when we grow with Him through the Most Holy Rosary.

 

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Feast Days Loss Mary Victoria K

A Space for Grief: A Reflection on Our Lady of Sorrows

our lady of sorrows

our lady of sorrows

A Confusing Feast

On first look, Our Lady of Sorrows is confusing. It’s a whole day, a whole “Feast” Day, devoted to sorrow. How does one celebrate and commemorate sorrow? What’s more, Mary’s the Queen of Heaven, and Heaven’s a place of eternal happiness. How does that fit with this Lady of Sorrows? She’s a woman, draped in dark clothing, a tear falling down her cheek, a sword of sorrow piercing her heart. What do we, on our journey towards Heaven, have to learn from this woman, filled with grief?

Our Lady of Sorrows made no sense to me for a long time. But there was a lot for me to learn from our mother Mary in her time of grief. What’s more, I found that I need her in my own sorrows.

 

A Self-Realization

For me, Our Lady of Sorrows was particularly confusing because I’m really bad at experiencing sorrow. Even now I’m trying to find a joke I can attach to that statement. Like, “I know, I know, how can someone be ‘bad,’ at being ‘sad?’” Or, “I’m the life of the party at funerals.” But I’m working to not gloss over this self-realization with humor.

This realization came to me at a very specific moment. A little over a year ago, my grandfather passed away. He was joyful, intelligent, and quick with a sly smile. You never saw him without a book in hand, reading on topics ranging from ancient Greece to films from the jazz age to the intricacies of ocean sailing. As I grew older, I would listen to him explain the books he was reading at great detail, forming my budding ability at critical thought.

On the day of my grandfather’s heart attack, my father called me while I was working, overseeing about a dozen middle school students working on their homework. I ignored the first call, and then he called again, and again. On the forth call I picked up. I remember distinctly not understanding what my father was saying, I knew the words but I couldn’t piece together the meaning.

After a time, his meaning finally clicked. My grandfather, while shoveling the Minnesota snow, collapsed from a heart attack. I acknowledged that I understood what my father was saying, and little tears fell down my cheeks. After hanging up, I wiped those tears away, and got back to work.

It was like nothing had even happened.

 

No Space for Sorrow

I ignored the event, and went on with my life. So, that on its own would not have been such a big deal. Sometimes it’s important to compartmentalize, to be able to get the job done, to not fall apart.

But I never gave my sorrow any space. At all. I went home. When I told my husband, it was like I was sharing another piece of news. I prayed for my grandpa, but it was mechanical, something I did because I was supposed to. The next day I went to work, never mentioning it to anyone.

I buried it and moved on.

Everyone experiences sorrow in their own way. There’s no right or wrong way for grief to appear. But the way I had buried it inside myself was not healthy for me. I loved my grandpa immensely. I still love him, and at times I miss him with a sharp pain (A sword of sorrow pierced her heart). To go on, pretending nothing had happened, was a lie. It cheated the love I felt and owed my grandfather.

 

All the Grief Came Gushing Forth

At my grandpa’s wake, I didn’t want to approach the open casket. I had so successfully buried my grief, and I knew, I just knew, that if I saw him it would all fall apart.

But I loved him. Like Mary, longing to be close to her son, I longed to be close to my grandfather. Therefore, just as Mary stood at the foot of the Cross, I approached my grandpa’s casket.

As I did, all the sorrow, all the pain, all the hurt, all the grief, came gushing forth. I wept. After burying everything for so long, I wept in front of everyone.

Shortly thereafter, we prayed a rosary in the funeral home. My attention was caught by a particularly beautiful image of Our Lady of Sorrows on a prayer card. I felt very strongly our Mother’s compassionate presence beside me, praying for my grandpa with me.

Our Lady of Sorrows, who had confused me for so long, started to make a lot more sense.

 

A Necessary Part of Love

Now when I see Our Lady of Sorrows, I understand. In our fallen world, where death and sin are our realities, grief is a necessary part of love. If we love, we will experience loss and hurt. For our hearts to be pure, sometimes, they will be broken.

Our Lady of Sorrows gives us a place for our sadness, our distress. She sits with us in the moments that can’t be fixed, that can’t be made better by ignoring them. Like a loving friend, she empathizes with our grief. She doesn’t judge or chastise, or tell us to “cheer up” or “get over it.” She listens, all the while pointing back to the hope that only her Son can provide.

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

 

Looking for more reflections on this beautiful devotion?  Check out two reflections on The Seven Sorrows of Mary, Remembering Our Lady’s Sorrows and Seven Quick Takes: The Seven Sorrows of Mary.

You can also find a beautiful prayer and reflection here.

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Ink Slingers Martina Mom So Hard Series

9 Ways Two ‘Isms’ can Coexist in Your Large Family: Catholicism and Minimalism

9 Ways Two Isms can Coexist in Your Large Family

MOM SO HARD Finessing the Intricacies of Your Modern Catholic Family

Not Naturally Organized…Naturally

It wasn’t long into our marriage that one of us (uh hem, me) decided that living with clutter and mess wasn’t suitable. Of the two of us, it became like that episode of Everyone Loves Raymond where they leave the suitcase on the stairs at the end of a trip to see just who would take it upstairs. Determined to see who would “cave” first, Debra and Ray both refuse to take the suitcase upstairs, each for their own reasons.

Not that our reasons were anywhere nearly as exciting or sitcom worthy, neither of us were particularly neat people to begin with. Married life both highlighted and compounded this problem, and while I didn’t feel pressured into doing something about it, it definitely came down to my feeling like I’d had “enough” and it was just time to make a change. I couldn’t stand looking at the endless mess due to…if I’m being completely honest here…laziness. I couldn’t pin it on anything other than our collective laziness as the reason why we lived in piles of papers, unpacked boxes, sink filled to the BRIM with dishes, clean dishwasher fully opened and unloaded (it simply became another location in which to pull clean dishes, just like the cabinets and drawers).

The Family Grows – and so do the logistical challenges

As our family grew, so did the challenges of incorporating strategies and ideas that lessened those everyday stresses. It was a lot like shoveling sand against the tide – futile. Add to that, you’ve read over and over again that I’ve said I’m not naturally organized, and you can see how I had all the ingredients for the perfect storm. Over the years, the desire to declutter was always there. What I lacked was vision and focus. Oftentimes, I would sit down to work on a project only to be derailed by hitting a brick wall on what to do next. Frustration often won out and so I would throw my hands up, give up, and walk away. It would take me sometimes years to finish a project – sad, right? The garage became the bane of my existence. After each move, it was filled with all the unpacked boxes and furniture I couldn’t part with. When we downsized, our garage was stuffed so badly, you couldn’t even walk around in it. I had to open the garage and work on boxes from the outside in, that’s how bad it was. By the time I had the first two house garages completed, we moved. One house we lived in seven years, and the other five. I often joked that as soon as the garage was unpacked, it was time to move. 

The Stakes are Finally Raised

Then we decided to move, upsizing our house after downsizing – that’s a whole OTHER post, friends. We moved in the summer and I gave myself ONE YEAR to get that garage in order – the tightest deadline, ever, lol. With our kid count at seven at that time, I had to get to work thinking about needs and how to organize the garage and I got to work.

I know the current secular push is to evaluate what you have and keep what “sparks joy” but for our large family (and maybe yours) it never really touched on sparking joy so much as it came down to sentimentality (within reason) and practicality.

Large families, by our nature, have different needs than a single person, married couple with no kids, and even small families. Add to the mix that we are Catholic, there are things that we will need to have multiples of or hang onto from one kid to another.

I finally told myself there wasn’t a problem with having a lot of something, but it really came down to its use and could it be stored adequately between uses. And that became my foundational rationalization. 

Let’s get right down to it – how do we make this happen?

So, how can Catholicism and…minimalism coexist, especially within large families?

The good news is they aren’t mutually exclusive. The Tiny House infatuation that has taken over America the past few years has highlighted something good about having less that everyone can benefit from. And even large families can benefit from this practice, too!

  1. Implement good cleaning habits. If you aren’t naturally organized, you will probably have to work a bit harder to create inroads to more organization in your family. When I began turning over a new leaf, I looked to Fly Lady for help in not just establishing good cleaning habits, but working through ways to organize. I’ll admit at the time, I only had two children, one in school and a baby at home, but as our family grew, what I learned from Fly Lady became foundational to my success.
  2. Three boxes. When you’ve got a good cleaning schedule in hand, the next step is to assess what you have and decide how to pare down. This is when three boxes come in handy: trash, donate/sell, and keep.
  3. What time of day works best? This helped immensely when it came to starting a decluttering/paring down project. Night owls might find evenings are a good time to work on a room – I’m not a night owl, so I tend to pick a block of time or a weekend and hit it hard in the morning. I rarely work on something all day long, as that just leads to a lot of frustration and overwhelm for myself. I also tend to find a burst of energy the day before trash goes out in making those final decisions on things we don’t need. Sometimes it translates to getting tossed, and other times, it means things are bagged up and put in the van to take to the thrift store. 
  4. Take your bags of donate items to the store NOW. Don’t delay. Don’t be like I was for years, driving my donate bags around town for no good reason other than just…laziness, lol. I think the record for me was something ridiculous like four months of bagged donate items in the back of the car. Never again. We have three thrift stores within a handful of minutes around, two of which within spitting distance (there’s my East Texas popping through, y’all!) of the grocery store, so no real reason not to stop by and drop those bags OFF!
  5. Take inventory of the items you DO need to keep multiples of or store for a time. Because we are large families, there WILL BE certain things you accumulate and with good reason. This varies from family to family. I’m not going to tell you to ditch X – because if I do that, and it’s something you may actually truly need, that doesn’t work. What I am saying is think it through, decide if the need is sentimental or practical, and decide where and how you will store said items. If you have the space and proper storage bins, those are things that can help factor into keeping items your family will use again. In our home, we keep shoes and clothes stored, and a lot of them! They are all stored in bins in the attic. Because our birth order alternates, we tend to hang on to clothes for a while. This has always been a practical need for our family, but that might not work for other families. Additionally, keeping garments for sacraments from one child to another is a practical need. Minimalism for large families should leave room for items we know we’ll need down the road. Plus, sentimentalism has value I’ve found isn’t worth tossing. 
  6. Toys. We have large families. I get it. Keeping toys out or easily accessible doesn’t always jive with the feel of minimalism, but there are some clever ways to tackle that. Tuck toys behind the doors of small or large furniture. Some other ideas can include a cabinet, drawers, or even a coffee table with drawers for specific toys. Barring that, if you have the space and the ability to set this up, you can peruse Marketplace on Facebook for some fabulous steals for storage. We have two locked closets in our house, one for school supplies (our former homeschool closet) and a game closet. Inside each, I was able to find two 2×4 Expedits for a steal from a local person who was moving. I have one shelf unit in each closet, and in the game closet, it contains baskets filled with sorted toys. Keeping the toys locked helps us decide when we rotate toys through and keeps the kids excited when new toys come out to play!
  7. Clothes. To keep clothes from getting out of hand, we keep bins in the kids’ closets to toss clothes that don’t fit as they grow out of them. Once in a while, we empty it, and decide what will be stored for the next kiddo, donate it to friends or the thrift store or just trash it if it’s too far gone!
  8. Books. I am a HUGE fan of books and it’s one of the few things we do not part with unless they are beyond repair. That said, you can always pare down on religious books and bless others in your community if you have an overabundance like I might – uh hem. Consider joining a local Catholic group on Facebook or elsewhere that you can both request books as needs arise as well as find takers on your overflow book stash.
  9. Rosaries, sacramentals, and consecrated material. This is one area in particular that I won’t tell people to pare down unless you have good reason. Rosaries, sacramentals and consecrated materials tend to tell a story: given by a loved one or picked up on a special trip, they should have a loving place in the home. Sacramentals that are plastic or have no sentimentality to it can be gifted to someone in need. If they are blessed, broken, and beyond repair, please please please properly dispose of the sacramentals. This includes any books that have been blessed as well. To read more on how to properly dispose of these sacred items, visit this site for more information.

As you can see, having a large family doesn’t mean you have to own all. the. things. We don’t have to be drowning in things because we think our large family requires it. The emphasis here is on active and ongoing discernment of balance in the family. There will be seasons when you will need more of X and guess what? That is TOTALLY fine! As long as the active discernment is in play, you will be able to assess your family’s needs and adjust accordingly. 

What works today, may not work tomorrow for the family. And you know what, friend? That also is totally OK. 

Thank you for reading this installment in the series MOM SO HARD – FINESSING THE INTRICACIES OF YOUR MODERN CATHOLIC FAMILY. This series is focused on taking a look at the Faith through the lens of being a Catholic mom. Using a spiritual foundation as our starting point, we walk with you and share candid and practical elements that make up our days. We will look at primary spiritual elements, recognizing that without God, nothing is possible. How do we start our day? How do we end our day? If God does not bookend our days (at a minimum), we can start to see how feeling overwhelmed or worse can creep into our day. Even the most mundane of chores and activities can be done to glorify God. 

 

9 Ways Two Isms can Coexist in Your Large Family