The Value of Holy Moments

 

There is a time and place for heavy theological tomes, but sometimes it is good to read a simple book that reminds you of the value of the choices you make each day. In Holy Moments, Matthew Kelly explains how our lives are made up of moments, moments in which we have the opportunity to choose the good and to make a difference in the lives of those around us.

Kelly speaks to the universal human desire for meaning. We’ve all had that experience of life of feeling restless, of wondering what we were made for, and of yearning for something more. “Each of these yearnings is a summons to live a more meaningful life” (14). We find that meaning in living for God. “The more disconnected from God our lives become the more meaningless life becomes” (21). Holy moments are the key to living our lives for God.

What are “holy moments”? “A Holy Moment is a single moment in which you open yourself to God. You make yourself available to Him. You set aside personal preference and self-interest, and for one moment you do what prayerfully believe God is calling you to do” (23). A lifetime of choosing to do what God wants, one moment at a time, can lead to a lifetime of holiness.

It’s easy to become intimidated by the thought of needing to live a holy life day in and day out for years and years until we are called home to be with God, but each of us can make a holy choice for a moment. And if we screw up and make a poor choice, we can turn around and make a better choice in the next moment. These holy moments don’t always have to be a big choice. They can be as simple as smiling at someone we pass by or putting down our work and giving our complete attention to a child who needs us at that moment. “No act infused with goodness can ever be considered small. Every act of goodness triggers more goodness.”

The idea of holy moments is one that can be shared with our children as well. We can invite them to create their own holy moments and perhaps review them at the end of the day with a simple question: “Where did you have a holy moment today?” The ideas contained in Holy Moments can help both us and our children live with more intentionality and make a positive impact on the world. It is a simple book with a powerful message.

Holy Moments is available on Amazon, but for those who would like to share this book with others (perhaps through a book group), six free copies (shipping must be paid for) are available at https://holymomentsbook.com/products/free-6-pack.

 

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Open Book for August 2023

 

Welcome to  #OpenBook. I'm joining up with Carolyn Astfalk who hosts an #OpenBook Linkup on CatholicMom.com. Here's what I've been reading this past month. The dates indicate when I finished the books. Thanks for stopping by!

 

7-9-23 Emily's Quest - L.M. Montgomery - I finished up the Emily trilogy by L.M. Montgomery. This book covers Emily's life as a young adult and features several love interests and the ups and downs of her career as a writer. I am so glad I read these books, and honestly, I probably appreciated them more as an adult than I would have if I had read them around age 10 or 11 when I was reading the Anne books. I wish there were more in the series!

7/13/23 - Rosary Gems: Daily Wisdom on the Holy Rosary - Fr. Donald Calloway - This is a lovely book of quotes by Servants of God, Venerables, Blesseds, and Saints on the beauty and power of the Rosary. If you need some added inspiration to pray the Rosary each day or simply want to reflect on this prayer, I highly recommend this book.

 

7-19-23 The Secrets Beneath - Kimberley Woodhouse - This suspense-filled romance sent shivers up my spine. It has several plot lines. Set in 1870s Wyoming Territory, the main character is trying to gain respect as a paleontologist working in a man's world. She reconnects with her first love (the romance part of this tale), but the mysterious disappearance of her best friend 10 years earlier still haunts them. When a child goes missing again, it seems like history is repeatiRng itself. (Read for a book review publication)

7-20-23 Finding Dorothy - Elizabeth Letts - I enjoyed this book so much! It is focused on Maud Gage Baum, the wife of L. Frank Baum, who wrote The Wizard of Oz and is a dual timeline tale with the story of Maud and Frank interspersed with Maud being involved with the creation of the movie after Frank's death. 

7-24-23 The Echo of Old Books - Barbara Davis - I had a delightful time reading this book! It is a dual time-line story taking place in the days before WWII and 1984. In the 1984 era, Ashlyn Greer is a rare book dealer who can feel the "echoes" of old books - who owned them and what they were feeling. When she comes across a pair of unusual books, she is on a mission to discover the true story behind them. 

7-26-23 7 Secrets of the Eucharist - Vinny Flynn - The Eucharistic Revival makes this a great time to read this classic by Vinny Flynn. It will help you develop a greater appreciation for the Eucharist. I'll offer you with this one quote from the book to ponder: "We are each called to enter into an unbroken relationship with God, and Christ remains with us in the Eucharist to make this possible."

7-27-23 - Blink and We'll Miss It - Ginny Kochis - This is clean YA fiction set in North Carolina that deals respectfully and honestly with mental illness and generational trauma. Teenage Mae struggles to live her own life in light of her mother's mental illness and her grandfather's overbearing nature. Complicating matters is that Mae has "blinks" in which she can see images of the past.

7-30-23 After Anne - Logan Steiner - I had been eagerly awaiting this book to come in from my library holds list! It is a fictional retelling of the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables and the Emily series that I recently read. She also wrote many other books. I have read biographies of her life before, so I knew going in that this story doesn't end well. One of the hard things about writing a book about someone's life is that you have to deal with the messiness of real life. There was no fictional way to give her a happy ending. However, I did enjoy this book. I thought it was a well-written effort that was well-researched and attempts to get into the mind of the author. My only criticism is that the timeline is disjointed. It jumps around a lot and it is hard to keep track of what is going on when. I do recommend it for those who want to learn more about the woman behind the Anne stories.

Since spring of 2019, I have been making my way through the Great Books Curriculum of Thomas Aquinas College (I'm currently working on the readings for sophomore year). 

The Fairy Queen - Edmond Spenser - I have come to the conclusion that I am just not a fan of epic poetry. I find it difficult to read, even with the explanations close at hand, and I don't understand it. So, I have been slogging through The Fairy Queen. According to the introduction in the version I am reading, this was written in the late 1500s as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth I. The queen is held up as the embodiment of temperance who had the power to redeem female history. The queen was the earthly manifestation of God's light. Supposedly, this is a very Protestant book. I am just looking forward to finishing it and moving on.

My twelve-year-old daughter and I read the following books this month:

7-11-23 The Chosen Prince - Diane Stanley - This was an enjoyable story that takes place in ancient Arcos. Alexos is a prince chosen at birth by Athene, but being chosen doesn't mean his life will be easy, especially after he experiences a life-altering illness. This book had important themes such as sacrifice and forgiveness. It is interesting for anyone who enjoys stories about the ancient world, including Greek mythology.

7-28-23 Second Sleep - Diane Stanley. My daughter and I enjoyed The Chosen Prince, so I decided to get another book by the same author. This one is hard to explain - it has time travel and mystery, so I'll include the actual description because it says it better. But, it was very interesting and I was eager to see how it would all turn out. 

To get Max and Rosie’s minds off their mother’s mysterious disappearance, their grandmother, Mozelle, suggests that they visit the old log cabin where their mom spent her summers as a child. This is a place where, when it gets dark, you go to bed. But according to Mozelle, their mother had her happiest dreams during her nights at the lake. 

That first night, Max and Rosie travel in their dreams to an almost impossibly beautiful place where they meet a wonderful new group of friends. But was it really just a dream? Or is there something extraordinary and magical about this compound by the lake?

As Max slowly grasps what is really going on, he wonders if he might have found the key to the mystery of his mother’s disappearance—and how to bring her safely home.

 

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Increase Your Appreciation for the Rosary

 

The Rosary is a beautiful meditative prayer that the Blessed Mother has asked us to pray at several of her approved apparitions such as Lourdes and Fatima. Repeating the prayers and meditating on the four sets of mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious) allows us to bring our needs to God and the Blessed Mother while reflecting on events in the life of Jesus and Mary.

Often, we know that we should say the Rosary, but then we get busy with other activities. Or we wait until bedtime to pray the Rosary because that is the only time we can be alone only to fall asleep from exhaustion before the introduction is completed. Or we try to pray it with our family but it is anything but a prayerful, positive experience. So, we figure, “Why bother? Maybe I can pray the Rosary when my children grow up and leave the house and I have more time.”

Please don’t give up. The Rosary is such an important prayer and one that is worth saying both on our own and with our families. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. If you can only pray one decade of the Rosary with your family, so be it. If you pray the Rosary on your own while driving the kids around or while doing housework, it is still prayer.

On days when your desire to pray the Rosary is low or if you simply want to reflect on the beauty of this prayer, Rosary Gems: Daily Wisdom on the Holy Rosary by Fr. Donald Calloway is a great resource. There is a quote from a Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed, or Saint for each day of the year on the blessing of the Rosary. While this book could certainly be read one day at a time from January through December, you can also simply open the book and read a random quote for some inspiration. There were so many wonderful quotes in this book, but here are a few that spoke to my mother’s heart and that I hope will speak to yours as well.

 

To pray the rosary for children, and even more, with children, training them from their earliest years to experience this daily “pause for prayer” with the family, is admittedly not the solution to every problem, but it is a spiritual aid which should not be underestimated. – St. John Paul II

 

It is the rosary prayed by families that will keep the lights of faith glowing in the days of darkness of faith, as it has done in the past. – Venerable Fr. Patrick Peyton

 

If you desire peace in your hearts, in your homes, in your country, assemble every evening to recite the rosary. – Blessed Pope Pius IX

 

Rosary Gems: Daily Wisdom on the Holy Rosary includes appendices on how to pray the Rosary and the 15 Promises of Our Lady made to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche for those who pray the Rosary. It is a lovely book to help foster devotion to the Rosary. 

 

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Discover the Life and Lessons of St. Zelie Martin

 

Just in time for St. Zelie's Feast Day on July 12th! My newest book, The Life and Lessons of St. Zelie Martin

 

Discover St. Zélie and the important lessons she can teach us!

 

Although she lived a hundred and fifty years ago, St. Zélie Martin (1831-1877) was a modern woman. She was a working mother who cared deeply about both her family and her career. She struggled to balance all her responsibilities. She often worried. But she always put God first and strove for holiness in everything she did.

 

She and her husband, Louis, were canonized together on October 18, 2015. They are best known as the parents of five daughters who entered religious life. Their most famous child is St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, one of the Church’s most loved saints and a Doctor of the Church.

 

Together, Saints Louis and Zélie are role models for a holy marriage and Catholic parenting. St. Zélie is a spiritual friend whom today’s women can turn to in their times of need. Discover this holy woman and the important lessons she can teach us. 

 

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