Resources
Korean Washcloths: Messengers of God’s Nearness and Love
For years when I was young, my mom took nightly baths, and I would join her. We would pile our thick, black hair on top of our heads, so strong and stiff it would shoot up like onion sprouts. We scrubbed each other’s backs with neon-colored, nylon washcloths, as if we were scrubbing potato skins…
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No Breaks in a Broken System: Common Horizon Excerpt
We sit in a small office off the main hallway. The insurance representative is pulling all the forms for me, the new hire at a medical records office. He spots the ring on my finger, my grandmother’s diamond newly set in the band. “Married?” he casually asks. “No. We are thinking of moving the date…
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Every Season Sacred: The Gift of Noticing
I’m pushing the stroller around the corner when the podcast I’m streaming cuts out. I frown and glance at my phone. Out of battery. I’ve just promised my older kids thirty more minutes of park time with friends while I walk the nearby sidewalks. What am I supposed to do with no podcasts, music, or…
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Our Lady of Hot Messes Excerpt
Life is so crazy. I used to think that I was doing it all wrong, that because I hadn’t figured out the secret code that every one else seemed to know, God was not interested in helping me with my life. I grew up going to a First Baptist Church in a small, rural south Texas town. I…
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The Beauty of Motherhood Excerpt: Nourished
Even before being discharged from the hospital following the birth of my second child, Isaac, I discovered my blood pressure increased. In the weeks leading to delivery at check-ups, the nurses had to double-check my pressure multiple times as the numbers kept getting higher and higher. I never needed additional medicine or a hospital stay,…
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Forgiving God Excerpt
This is how I ask the question of suffering now. I used to ask about theories, about how God’s goodness could square with God’s love, how different properties of God made sense in light of suffering. I used to read books about suffering and cry and wonder, in a safely academic way, how these stories…
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Everyday Sacrament Excerpt
This Is My Body, Given for You When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him…Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this…
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Blessing Our Children
Many of us pray with our kids before bed. But what does it mean to bless our children? Enjoy this excerpt from The Beauty of Motherhood along with a practice, prayer, and ritual you can use to pray for your children (and others) at night. While my kids sleep, I say a prayer for their…
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4 Scripture Stories for Mothers
Scripture offers tender images of God caring for us like a loving mother. But we don’t often get the chance to sit with these beautiful passages. Let yourself pray with a new image of God this week. God as comforting mother “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.” (Isaiah 66:13) Jesus…
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Lentiest of Lents
Loving God, this trudge toward Easter has been long and the sustenance meager. I find myself coming to you with empty hands and aching arms, from the effort of carrying a cross I did not choose. You know all too well that choosing a sacrifice this year was a luxury. In the midst of it…
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What to Do After a School Shooting
Today’s parents in the United States are regularly confronted with the horror of yet another school shooting. Each time this happens, we feel angry and anguished, grieving the tragedy and overwhelmed by what this means for our own children. Our faith compels us to cry out against violence and evil. God promises to hear our…
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How To Behold Your Child
Behold. It’s a powerful word in Scripture. An invitation to stop and pay attention. To open our eyes because God is about to do something new. What if we tried to behold our life? To behold our children. To try to see them with God’s eyes. With love. And compassion. And hope. Let yourself try…
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This Week on Mothering Spirit Rachael’s essay invited us to look at ordinary moments of motherhood with fresh eyes, to see the beauty within the mystery of God’s love. Rachel’s prayer spoke deep truth to weary bones, that we are always beloved. Resources to keep reflecting For more writing from this week’s essayist, read Courage, Dear Heart and The Quiet…
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Recently I shared on Instagram that we could use your help with Mothering Spirit. Deep thanks to those who have reached out with offers of help and support. You inspired me to make a list of what would help us most: from the spiritual to the practical. Pray for us What we need more than…
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This Week on Mothering Spirit Kirby’s essay explored the impact of generational trauma on motherhood. Rakhi’s words beckoned us to pray for the grace to love deeper and wider, reaching out to all who need God’s justice and mercy. Resources to keep reflecting Native: Identity, Belonging, and Rediscovering God by Kaitlin Curtice, a Christian writer and…
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This Week on Mothering Spirit Sarah’s essay challenged us to reexamine our understanding of home. Kimberly’s prayer (in both English and Spanish) invited us to find God right where we are, within the simple joys of family life. Resources to keep reflecting A prayer for migrants and refugees. For more essays from Sarah Bahiraei, read El-Roi at the…
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This week on Mothering Spirit Vanesa’s essay invited us to reflect on the shifting experience of time through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Kayla’s prayer helped us to bless the beginnings and transitions in our callings as parents. Resources to keep reflecting For prayer during pregnancy, check out our e-books of Prayers for Pregnancy and Prayers for Birth. Exciting news: we’ve got…
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Our 1st e-book is now available from Mothering Spirit! The Extraordinary Ordinary Time is a new collection from Laura Kelly Fanucci, the founder of Mothering Spirit, and includes: original essays on the spirituality of this holy season brand-new prayers for Ordinary Time best-loved poems that invite fresh reflection creative ways to pray through the longest…
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At the request of readers, I’m rounding up my favorite posts on Holy Week and Triduum. For wherever you are and wherever God may meet you this week: blessings on all of it, the mess and the joy. If you’re expecting: Labor’s Stages: A Triduum. If you have a new baby: Baby’s First Holy Week.…
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Pregnancy after the loss of a baby – following miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death – is a daunting prospect. From a distance I used to think “trying again” or “having another baby” must be a happy, hopeful, healing part of parenthood. (File this away under “Things I Didn’t Really Understand Until They Happened to Me.”)…
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Want to pray lectio divina with your kids? I had never heard of lectio divina until I started graduate theological studies. Thankfully I was blessed to study with the Benedictines, who are steeped in this prayer practice (which St. Benedict wrote about in his Rule dating back to 500 AD). So I learned from wise sisters and brothers how…
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Our sweet babe just celebrated his first baptism anniversary. One trip around the sun, one whole year a Christian. It’s a big milestone in our family. I’ve written about baptism anniversaries here and here, too. But I always find that these days sneak under the radar, despite circling the dates on the calendar and trying…
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Here are 4 simple ways to start the day with God as a parent: A prayer from childhood Growing up a mile from our small-town Catholic school, we always had just enough time on the drive each morning for my mom to make us pray (ok, sometimes to a chorus of groans) her classic, quick…
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Here we go again! Settling into Newborn Land… It’s a strange place to live. Everyone keeps odd hours. Crying is common. Spit-up and strange smells are expected. Nothing is ever clean. But it’s a sweet place to stay, too. Newborn neck nuzzles and curled froggy legs. Milky breath and fuzzy fine hair. Sleepy smiles and…
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