Motherhood – Page 5 – Daily Graces

Book Review: Talking To God: Prayers for Catholic Women

Published on May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

I have two purses, one that functions as my diaper bag/emergency first aid kit/small grocery store of snacks/receipts from the past 3 years in crumpled balls purse. The other is my date night/girls night/bible study/holy cow I get to go shopping by myself purse. When switching between the two, I usually just transfer my “essentials” – wallet and keys. After praying my way through Julie Cragon’s Talking to God I think I’m going to have to add this small book to my purse essentials that stay with me always.

Talking To God is a small handbook of prayers for nearly any situation a woman might find herself in. Discerning how to handle a disagreement at work? Julie has a prayer for that. Struggling with patience or controlling anger? There’s a prayer for that. Rejoicing in your son or daughter’s First Communion or Confirmation? Yep, prayers for those and more. Praying for your spouse (or future spouse) and your marriage? I think you get it by now.

Not only has Julie written unique prayers for a myriad of life situations (even prayers about prudence and temperance with eating habits and alcohol, prayers for the beginning and end of the day, throughout the day, and loss of loved ones), she also includes a scripture verse or quotes from saints which directly tie into the situation she is highlighting.

We browse through the table of contents and spot a chapter for our particular need, and we know we are not alone. We realize not only that other women encounter the same situation, but also that the Lord himself wants to accompany us in this moment (Foreword written by Grace Mazza Urbanski from Apostleship of Prayer and Catholicmom.com).

Julie’s prayers are written in a simple, conversational yet elegant style. As I prayed them, I felt the words easily becoming my own, even when I was praying a prayer that did not necessarily apply to my present circumstances or stage in life.

This lovely little book is being released on May 6, just in time for Mother’s Day. It has already been such a blessing in my life and it’s only been in my house a few short days!

Book Review: My Sisters The Saints: A Spiritual Memoir

Published on April 28, 2016April 28, 2016 by KateLeave a comment

Book Review: My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir. kktaliaferro.wordpress.com #DailyGraces I have struggled to write this book review. Colleen Carroll Campbell’s My Sisters The Saints: A Spiritual Memoir is thoughtfully written, compelling and and personal. She opens more than just a window into her life’s journey as she explores her spiritual transformation with the reader. Truthfully, I loved this story and connected with Campbell on many points.

My struggle with writing this review comes into play as soon as I start talking about the trials of Colleen’s life and how she chose to face them. Colleen’s father, a strong spiritual figure in her life and one of the guiding forces which lead her to encounter spiritual mentors such as St. Maria Faustina and St. Teresa of Avila, suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease. These sections were difficult for me to read because my own great-grandmother suffered from this disease. I hope that anyone who reads this book and has a personal connection to Alzheimer’s will find Campbell’s writing inspirational, even if it does highlight wounds and loss, fresh or otherwise.

One of Colleen’s and her husband’s greatest crosses which she humbly shares was their struggle with infertility. The Campbell’s road to parenthood was long, complicated, full of feelings of defeat and hopelessness, and required all of their faith and trust in God. Through this process, Colleen discovered through the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother Theresa what spiritual motherhood truly means. She also beautifully expressed what it means to carry one’s cross:

I wanted to analyze and dissect my cross, to know how long I would have to carry it and how my carrying it would glorify God. Like a groggy patient fighting to sit upright amid her operation so she can monitor her surgeon’s progress, I wanted to stand outside my suffering and scrutinize God’s work in my soul as he accomplished it.

Jesus, I realized, wanted none of this. He did not need my supervision, and he was not asking me to understand my cross. He was asking me to carry it. He wanted me to wake up each morning, bend a knee on the cold wooden floor beside my bed, and offer that day’s sufferings and joys for whatever purpose he wished to use them. He wanted me to joyfully embrace my daily duties and leave the big picture to him.

Page 166

I’m not going to spoil what happens in the book. But I do feel obligated to offer a word of caution for anyone who has struggled with infertility. Campbell’s struggle was real, constant and long. In today’s world of fertility treatments and options, more and more Catholics are choosing to use alternative means to try and conceive their children. These children are beautiful gifts of God and are cherished joys for their parents, no matter how they came into being. Hopefully, the Campbell’s story will encourage and inspire those families who share the same struggle and choices that they faced.

Maybe I’m overthinking the issues, but I want to make sure that anyone thinking about reading this book is ready for the journey ahead of them. It was a beautiful book and for me at least, very life giving.

What NFP is NOT

Published on April 15, 2016 by Kate3 Comments

Well that was a long break! Thanks for sticking with me as I’ve been mulling over some new ideas and projects. I hope to be able to share them with you all soon. I’ve also been procrastinating a bit on this post. It’s one I feel called to write (frankly, each time the past 3 weeks I’ve tried to sit down to blog this is all I can think about), but let’s face it – awkward topic! So, here it goes.

Last summer I put up a brief post sharing about NFP (Natural Family Planning) awareness. I was a newish blogger and took the easy road – I just put up a quick blurb and said I would be sure to write more later, because it’s kind of an awkward subject and I didn’t really know what I wanted to say anyway. And then I never did write more later.

Well, NFP seems to be coming up a lot in my life lately, so it’s something I’ve been thinking more about. My bible study/moms group just had a lengthy discussion about it. We were all over the board for where we stood when it comes to the Church’s teachings on contraception. Some expressed the belief that it was time for the Church to “catch up” with modernity. Others felt pills were not acceptable, but condoms were OK because let’s be honest now, abstinence isn’t usually the greatest of times. One mom said she and her husband were starting to discern, discuss and sometimes argue about what plan they were going to go with. They have four children already and he has started a new, more complicated Air Force job which frequently has him away for extended periods of time. Up to this point they have gone with God’s plan for their family and child spacing, relying on breastfeeding to delay the next pregnancy. But now they are starting to feel stretched and are considering whether NFP is the way they want to go.

With NFP, for those who are unfamiliar, the couple tracks the natural fertile and infertile periods of the woman’s cycle. Then, based on that information, they discern whether or not they are going to be intimate that night. If the couple is open to a new baby, then if they happen to be on a fertile day and they are feeling romantic, awesome. But, if the couple has prayerfully discerned that at this time a new baby would not be good for their family, then they would abstain from sexual intimacy during those fertile times.

What NFP is NOT: kktaliaferro.wordpress.com #DailyGraces — bngdesigns (2014) via Pixabay. Public Domain

There are a couple of key things I’d like to hone in on from that last paragraph.

NFP can be used for both conception and avoiding conception.
NFP is practiced by the couple, not the woman by herself
NFP is based on the natural cycle of the woman as created by God

Note that NFP is not a lifestyle, it is a tool (more on this in Part 2).

I’m going to cut this off here before it gets too long. Part 2 is in-progress and will be posted in a few days. I’d love to hear from you all about your joys and trials of NFP, how you feel about it etc.

Also, I realized in a whole year of blogging I’m not sure if I’ve told you that I pray for all of you who read these blogs. I appreciate your time and would love to know how I can pray for you, how we as a community can pray for you.

God bless

Kate