A smaller selection for a busy weekend.
Church
Another saint for modern times. I think we will see more of these come out of the woodwork. The lay life is generally a hidden life, and so the process takes longer than for the likes of JPII and Mother Teresa.
Some great tips on lectoring.
Health and wellness
Emotions, psychology with a spiritual twist. Really well put.
I always appreciate seeing these articles on how to help people through crisis. I never knew before we were in crisis. I certainly blundered at times in talking to people who were in crisis. People who haven’t gone through it, won’t know unless someone shares with them. So here it is.
I am very much in favor of fertility awareness methods. Not only do they demand respect for the woman’s body by not dismissing its normal cycles or masking normal cycles, but it also helps women know when something is amiss and what it might be connected to (particularly helpful with emotions related to those hormones involved!). For me, there are theological reasons, as well, because we work with our nature instead of against which gives due respect to our Creator and aids in openness to life (not to say people who use artificial methods would not embrace it, it just makes starts with openness at the front end). People are trying to develop apps to assist in tracking. We tried one but found it was inaccurate when checked against my paper charting. Verily has a nice breakdown of the pros and cons of using this technology.
I have never struggled with infertility. One might say we struggled with super-fertility (seven pregnancies in eight years, three babies lost). I really appreciated this piece from Verily in which a woman shared in detail her struggle with infertility. Everyone has a cross, whether or not we can see it, and everyone’s cross is different. The best thing we can do is listen and say, “I’m here for you.”
Culture and Consumerism
I love this: thinking of Halloween as an occasion for hospitality.
Even I am melting a little bit over this collection. I wonder how it matches up with their desire to use local artisans for work.
The best part of about bad music are the parodies that come. Behold, Farmer Derek.
…
With all my heart, I give thanks to God for the firefighters and all those working to save who and what they can in these terrible wildfires. There were grapes still on the vine. My heart goes out to the families and farmers whose lives have been turned inside out.
