Resources

growing into identity

Korean Washcloths: Messengers of God’s Nearness and Love

By Tasha Jun | September 22, 2023

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…

READ MORE
working mom hurdles

No Breaks in a Broken System: Common Horizon Excerpt

By Anne Marie Brannigan | September 15, 2023

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…

READ MORE
gift of noticing

Every Season Sacred: The Gift of Noticing

By Kayla Craig | September 8, 2023

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…

READ MORE
God's Love for All

Our Lady of Hot Messes Excerpt

By Leticia Ochoa Adams | September 1, 2023

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…

READ MORE
finding God in meals shared

The Beauty of Motherhood Excerpt: Nourished

By Kimberly Knowle-Zeller | August 25, 2023

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,…

READ MORE
questioning suffering

Forgiving God Excerpt

By Hilary Yancey | August 18, 2023

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…

READ MORE
mother's body given for you

Everyday Sacrament Excerpt

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | August 11, 2023

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…

READ MORE
Blessing Our Children from The Beauty of Motherhood

Blessing Our Children

By Kimberly Knowle-Zeller | April 21, 2023

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…

READ MORE
Maternal Scripture Passages

4 Scripture Stories for Mothers

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | April 14, 2023

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…

READ MORE
prayer for a hard, long Lent

Lentiest of Lents

By Katie Cassady | April 7, 2023

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…

READ MORE
What to do after a school shooting

What to Do After a School Shooting

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | March 31, 2023

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…

READ MORE
behold your child

How To Behold Your Child

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | March 24, 2023

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…

READ MORE

Mystery and Motherhood: Your Turn

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | September 30, 2022 |
mystery of motherhood

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…

READ MORE

Mothering Spirit: How You Can Help

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | September 27, 2022 |
working together | help mothering spirit

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…

READ MORE

Grace and Generations: Your Turn

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | September 23, 2022 |

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…

READ MORE

Home and Hope: Your Turn

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | September 16, 2022 |

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…

READ MORE

Time, transitions, and beginnings: your turn

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | September 9, 2022 |

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…

READ MORE

The Extraordinary Ordinary Time: A brand-new e-book

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | July 19, 2022 |

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…

READ MORE

How To Holy Week: A Guide For Where You Are

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | April 17, 2019 |

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.…

READ MORE

the spiritual side of pregnancy after loss

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | March 28, 2017 |
pregnancy after loss

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.”)…

READ MORE

how to pray lectio divina with kids

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | October 13, 2015 |

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…

READ MORE

eat, pray, light, bless: celebrate a baptism anniversary

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | July 23, 2015 |

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…

READ MORE

Morning Prayer Matters: Easy Ways to Start Your Day

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | February 12, 2015 |

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…

READ MORE

spiritual practices with newborns: a new series

By Laura Kelly Fanucci | June 9, 2014 |

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…

READ MORE