Daily Graces

Faces of Mercy {Plus Free Stuff!}

Published on January 30, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

During this incredible Jubilee of Mercy, especially during the upcoming season of Lent, Pope Francis is encouraging us all to recognize and engage in the corporeal and spiritual works of mercy. As a parent, sometimes we forget that our day is filled with these acts of mercy – we clothe the naked baby that is streaking out the front door, we feed the hungry spouse who worked a late shift, we instruct the ignorant child in the ways of courtesy, morality and self discipline, we comfort the afflicted teenager who is suffering their first break-up, we bury the dead when we say goodbye to our own parents or relatives.

As a mom, though my day may be filled with opportunities of mercy, sometimes I’m less than filled with a merciful spirit and temperament. Recently, through the awesome website catholicmom.com, I found out about an incredible opportunity for moms, and all people really, to help us grow in mercy.

During all of Lent there will be an online conference taking place called Catholic Conference 4 Moms. There are going to be 27 speakers presenting on topics that really spoke to me. Not only do the presentations sound great, they will be available for download whenever is convenient for you all of Lent!. Plus, by registering, you will get a digital swag bag full of online goodies and discounts.

Are you part of a mom’s group? Wouldn’t it be incredible for you ladies to be able to come together and reflect on this important topic of mercy? Or maybe you and some friends have been talking about getting together but can’t quite seem to make your plans work. Why not invite them over to your house (Lysol or Pledge wipes and scented candles work wonders!), everyone bring something to share, and watch a presentation or two? If you think that your parish would be interested, the conference has discussion packets and information about hosting the conference videos on site. These topics and presenters are dynamite and are sure to inspire you however you view them.

Here are just a few of the topics I’m excited about (I’m excited about all of them really, but here are the ones I’m really really excited about)

What the World Needs Now is Spiritual Mothers – Pat Gohn

Mercy Begins in the Womb – Jennassa Terraccino

Mercy Calls Us to Witness: Becoming a Contagious Catholic – Kimberly Hahn

In His Mercy He Has Sent Us Angels – Mike Aquilina

Mercy in Marriage – Karee and Manuel P. Santos, M.D.

Suffering, Forgiveness and Mercy: How God Can turn Evil to Good – Rachel Muha

I could keep going, each presentation looks interesting and relatable for me, how about you?

I’m very excited for this conference in more ways that one. Not only do I plan on participating, I am so happy to share that through this blog, I am officially promoting the conference as an affiliate. It is a win-win-win for everyone.

Hopefully, this blog will encourage you, my dear readers, to consider participating in this opportunity. Win!
When you (I hope) register, you will receive a $4 discount if you use my promotion code (so instead of paying $14.99 for the conference you will only pay $10.99). Win!
When you use my code, I will receive a small financial kickback from the conference as thanks for supporting them and spreading the word about the conference. Win! This money will go directly to my small ministry here on the blog and support my writing ministry. This is an easy way that you can support me at no extra cost to you and both Ben and I appreciate it immensely!

My coupon code:

Graces

For barely the price of a book, and with no shipping costs, you can have access to all of these presentations, a digital swag bag and the spiritual support of moms from around the world – yes, this is going global! As a special bonus, on February 20 the conference will have Jennifer Fulwiler presenting live at 10:30am EST and a Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm EST.

The conference will start on February 20 and the presentations will be available all of Lent. I hope that you are feeling inspired and are ready to dive into Lent with these presentations and reflections as your sure and steady guide.

God bless

Saint Mommy

Published on January 24, 2016January 23, 2016 by Kate1 Comment

My husband has a complicated last name. When you look at the spelling, you would think it is fairly obviously pronounced just as you would sound it out. Whenever someone does this, I usually smile and say “Sure, that’s how it goes.” It’s much easier to move on than to stop our conversation and say “Well actually, it’s pronounced absolutely nothing like it is spelled, sorry for messing up every English lesson you had growing up for a moment.” Because of this, we made the decision early on that we would give our children first names that were classic and simple to pronounce. They are going to always struggle with the last name, at least their first people will be able to get on the first try. We also have intentionally named them after saints so that no matter what, they would have a solid role model attached to them in their name.

John (age 4) is becoming more aware of the saints as holy men and women who are now in heaven with God. Not only are they with God, they can help us by praying for us and reminding us to have good behavior and morals. We have already encouraged our children to pray to their name-saint, asking for help in whatever area of the day they struggled with .

When Ben left for his last deployment, John was pretty upset Ben’s last night home. We decided while praying together that we should choose a family saint – a saint that could watch over our family while Daddy was gone and we all could pray to during our nightly prayers, no matter where in the world we are. John liked that and of course, asked if our family saint could be St. John. The next day, he figured we should add St. Rose and St. Clare too for Rosie and Clare.

This evening at dinner, Rosie (age 3) was trying to figure out the whole saint thing since we’ve been talking about it so much. “Mommy, St. John helps John make good choices and helps take care of him right?” “Yes Rosie, St. John can do that.”

“And St. Rose can help me?”

“Yes”

“And St. Clare can help Clare? Well, Clare is a baby, but St. Clare can help her someday?”

“Yes Rosie, St. Clare can help Clare.”

“And Mommy, St. Mommy will help you too! And St. Daddy will help him too! And St. Uncle Steve will help Uncle Steve!”

Oh my sweet Rosie. What a beautiful thing she came up with. While we might be a little confused about the whole name = saint thing, she is laying a beautiful foundation of understanding for the communion of saints.

Even if your given name isn’t a canonized saint, you can still adopt one (or many) as your own patrons. Patron saints are saints that you feel close to, that inspire you or challenge you. Though my name is Kathryn and there are a number of St. Catherine saints, presently I feel closest to St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Frances of Rome, and a Carmelite monk from the 1600s, Br. Lawrence.

When you ask a friend to pray for you, the saints operate in the same manner. They are dear friends who happen to be situated that much closer to God – we believe they are in heaven after all.

Be a Good Past Self

Published on January 21, 2016January 21, 2016 by Kate1 Comment

kktaliaferro.wordpress.com. Lenten Resolutions, Be a Good Past Self #DailyGraces
My husband has a funny habit of talking about himself in 3 versions: Past Self, Present Self and Future Self. He will have a dilemma, a project or task that Present Self does not want to deal with but he knows he will have to do eventually. There is a choice, do the task and move on, or, let Future Self deal with it. Then, when Present Self catches up with Future Self and the task cannot be put off any longer, something like “Past Self sure is a jerk sometimes” will be uttered before he gets to work.

I love these little debates and have actually started having them myself sometimes. As I was reflecting on what to do for Lent this year (yes, I’m sorry to bring up the fact that Lent is already coming! It seems like it came too quickly this year, probably because we’ve been practicing Lent songs in choir for what feels like weeks now), I kept thinking about this whole Past Self/Future Self quandary.

We all have things we don’t particularly enjoy doing. Maybe for you it’s cooking breakfast. Maybe for someone else it’s folding laundry. Maybe for someone else it’s cleaning the bathroom (I’ll raise my hand for that one). Maybe for someone else it’s mowing the lawn or taking out the trash. Whatever your something is, you know you’ve got it.

Now imagine (or maybe just reflect on reality depending on the task – I’ll probably be doing that for this exercise) what the task in question would be like if you put it off for a week. You did nothing to help yourself out, you didn’t do a little piece at a time. Maybe you felt you didn’t have time, maybe you chose not to make time. How much more difficult is your task going to be and how much longer is it going to take because you have avoided it entirely? Your job will most likely take longer, be more difficult, and you are more likely to do it with a grimace on your face.

Now, imagine a different scenario. Let’s say your unpleasant task is doing the dishes. Rather than letting them pile up throughout the day you explore an alternative option. When you wake up, you immediately unload the dishwasher (yes, you can get your coffee going first). Then, after breakfast, your dishes immediately go in the already emptied dishwasher. Your kids want a snack a while later. No problem, especially if you ask them to bring their dishes to the counter or if they are big enough, to put them in the dishwasher themselves. No dishes on the table and none in the sink and it’s already lunch time! Continue the trend. Most importantly, you clean up as you go with as you make dinner. Dirty a spoon? Straight into the dishwasher. Finished with a pan? You’ve got a bowl of hot soapy water waiting in the sink. Evening comes and your dishes are basically done, maybe just a few ice cream bowls to celebrate a dishes day well spent. You were a good Past Self, so Future Self gets to relax and enjoy her Downton Abbey and not have to scrub the living daylights off the crusty oatmeal bowls from breakfast.

Most of life works like this. We can do a little at a time, or let things pile up. Personally, the higher the pile, the less likely I’m going to do it (kind of like the pile of laundry I’m presently avoiding because, sometimes, my Past Self is a jerk too).

So, Lent this year: Be a good Past Self. Hopefully it will mean I ultimately have more time for prayer and I will do my tasks with a happier disposition.