Confessions of a Catholic Mom and Philosopher's Wife
Monday, May 23, 2016
At the NCRegister Blog: 4 Ways to Form a Sacramental Imagination in Children
When my husband and I began discussing ideas for our family life together, we wanted to develop the sacramental worldview in ourselves and in any children we would have. Now that we have four children, I think that we can safely say that some of our ideas are working: our children seem to have sacramental imaginations.
The place where humans process their experience of the world is in their imaginations. In the imagination, our sensory experience and our rationality meet. And it seems that having a well-developed, active imagination is essential to experiencing the true sacramentality of the world and living in a truly human way. With a good imagination, it is easy to experience God in our daily, mundane lives. And with a good imagination, a person is unable to reduce the world to a pure science, which the mentality that mainstream society has embraced.
Friday, May 13, 2016
At the NCRegister: It is Time to Pray for Our Country with a Fool's Hope
With the way the 2016 presidential election is going, things really do
seem bleak when it comes to the direction of our country’s political
future. Catholics are wondering is there any viable option of whom to
vote for for president this autumn. My conscience will not let me vote
for any of the two major parties. Neither likely candidate is worth the
risk for my soul.
So, what is left for us? What can we do? I think the best analogy is that of a hobbit waiting on the edge of a battle that he cannot escape. He looks up at his friend the wizard, and asks if there is any hope.
There never was much hope, and there is just a fool’s hope now.
And I am ready to do something that seems foolish in the eyes of the world, because there is nothing I really can do beyond that.
Now is the time for prayer.
So, what is left for us? What can we do? I think the best analogy is that of a hobbit waiting on the edge of a battle that he cannot escape. He looks up at his friend the wizard, and asks if there is any hope.
There never was much hope, and there is just a fool’s hope now.
And I am ready to do something that seems foolish in the eyes of the world, because there is nothing I really can do beyond that.
Now is the time for prayer.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Finding my Normal
There is that day after each pregnancy (well, besides the first one), that I have felt "normal" again. My mind is clear again; I feel like I have emerged from the fog that I was in since the beginning of pregnancy. And my old jeans fit again (the ones I got after baby #2).
It has been 11 months since T was born, and 11 weeks since my concussion, and the past few days I have felt myself again. I can't remember exactly when it happened after the other babies. I think with my third it took over a year. With my second, I am not sure, maybe 10 months? I ran a 5k when she was that age. And with my first, it was not until my second was 10 months, because, you can never go back to your pre-first-baby self.
Another thing about this post-baby time is that this is the first time we have lived three years in one home since we were married. This is the first time we are coming to the end of four school years in one place and we are not moving somewhere else.
We are here, in Minnesota. The roots we make here are not going to be taken up, if life continues as it has been going. The friends we have made we are not about to leave. We are here, and it is a little strange, but it is also good.
Life is moving forward, but we also have stability. The school year is coming to an end. The professor is on campus more than normal, but the end is in sight with last week being the last week of classes. It will probably be the last week of home school classes as well. Math and English are wrapping up.
And I feel like a normal human being (as normal as I can be when I my values seem to be radically different from most of the rest of the people in my country). I have had a four-plus hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the wake ups at night for the past week. I am functioning above baseline this week.
And despite all the things going on the world, I feel that life is good. It is good that we are here, and we are so blessed.
It has been 11 months since T was born, and 11 weeks since my concussion, and the past few days I have felt myself again. I can't remember exactly when it happened after the other babies. I think with my third it took over a year. With my second, I am not sure, maybe 10 months? I ran a 5k when she was that age. And with my first, it was not until my second was 10 months, because, you can never go back to your pre-first-baby self.
Another thing about this post-baby time is that this is the first time we have lived three years in one home since we were married. This is the first time we are coming to the end of four school years in one place and we are not moving somewhere else.
We are here, in Minnesota. The roots we make here are not going to be taken up, if life continues as it has been going. The friends we have made we are not about to leave. We are here, and it is a little strange, but it is also good.
Life is moving forward, but we also have stability. The school year is coming to an end. The professor is on campus more than normal, but the end is in sight with last week being the last week of classes. It will probably be the last week of home school classes as well. Math and English are wrapping up.
And I feel like a normal human being (as normal as I can be when I my values seem to be radically different from most of the rest of the people in my country). I have had a four-plus hour stretch of sleep in the middle of the wake ups at night for the past week. I am functioning above baseline this week.
And despite all the things going on the world, I feel that life is good. It is good that we are here, and we are so blessed.
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