I’m back, with wedding photos, garden, and Dobbs!
I said there would be a hiatus, and the trouble with those is that it’s hard to come back! For one thing, the dumb platform is so hi-tech and they’ve improved things so much that getting a picture up here is like swapping out discs back in the 90s. Dial-up was faster. Not sure how upgrades can be so very… thwarting, but there it is.
For another, over the weeks I’ve thought about so many topics and answered so many questions via email that I have more to say than can be popped into a snappy blog post, especially one where I have to add these important photos:
I’m working with cell phone pictures here, not my own!
This is our Will, our sixth child, third boy, marrying his sweet Jaime:
Here, these are sharper:
Isn’t that wonderful?
We couldn’t be happier to welcome dear Jaime and to rejoice with Will, almost the baby of the family — now a married man!
Besides wedding joy and an extended family vacation in Maine (totally not pictured), I have been spending all day every day in the garden — it’s officially an obsession, one that also has an element of a race against time and impending heat.
Here in New England it’s a mad rush from “it could snow in May” to “that was the Solstice, mate” — from hope for all the green growing possibilities to a philosophical resignation for this year’s realities.
I’m quite pleased with my decision to use my propane torch on the weeds in these bricks. My hands are now officially too arthritic to go through the work of pulling them, not to mention kneeling out there in the heat. I mean, I bought the torch to attack the weeds. But I was reluctant to use it here because I didn’t want to kill the moss along with the crabgrass. I think it’s going to be okay.
One of the events during my blog hiatus was the Supreme Court Dobbs decision — I must say something about it! I am almost frozen in disbelief that Roe and Casey were overturned. My whole adult life has been spent in what I thought was a quixotic, hopeless effort to achieve this aim — from, of course, the position of someone who could do very little.
For those who want not only to raise children in a healthy environment but, in some way however small, effect change in the sorry situation out in the world, this ruling is a great opportunity and gift, so much more than we ever hoped for. I will try briefly to explain why.
For too long, our attention and energy has been sucked away in federal matters, including the biennial election cycles, as we focused on the desperate need to fight for the unborn. But when we think about the principle of subsidiarity — and indeed the multi-layered system of government that our land has been blessed with — we realize that the further away from home decisions are made, the less we are able to influence them.
The reasoning of the Dobbs case in returning the matter to the states helps us make better use of our time. For some of us (not the Lawlers, alas, here in Massachusetts), this means being relieved of the urgent necessity to be active in this particular case. Since there are many other urgent political fights, activity can be directed towards them.
For others, extreme and unbridled abortion laws now kick into effect, and those definitely need to be fought. Incumbent politicians need to lose when new and better ones take their place. Laws need to be made to protect the unborn. But all that mental effort, all the campaigning and working for bills, all of becomes much more effective, the closer to home it gets. We can make so much more of a difference in a state race than a federal one. We can be heard when the forum is in our city or town. The state house is not that far away from us, wherever we live.
And that should be heartening. It’s always a good thing to be reminded of the paradox that the littler a sphere is, the more we should be devoted to it. In many ways, I think a lot of us have been overwhelmed by the seemingly exponential growth of the power of evil in our society. Wrong ideas and terrible actions, aggressive symbols and deafening noise loom over us.
We should never lose sight of the goodness that comes of living well — of marrying, loving our spouse with a cheerful heart, having children, making a beautiful — if humble — home, making a place in our home to remind us to pray, singing songs together, having friends over for a bonfire, and in general enjoying the good things God has given us, with gratitude.
That gratitude radiates outwards to the land. Without this inner life of peace and rest, we cannot be effective in the world. Sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking that when bad things are going on, it’s somehow sinful to be happy.
I think the benefit, the providential meaning, of this particular ruling for those of us who have been absorbed in the battle for so long, is to restrict the scope of our activism back to where it ought to be: in our neighborhood, town, and state. It’s a first step to recovering our place. Resist the entrenched institutions that want to keep hold of your attention out in the furthest level, the one that you can do little about. Embrace the opportunity to come back where you belong — home.
bits & piecesJohn Cuddeback on making time for the little things so we can raise our children like The Little Prince.The arguments against abortion are in natural law, but Scripture testifies also. (Contrary to what some say!)One fight that needs to happen: stop the mutilation of our children’s bodiesThe Magic of the Altar RailI had a conversation with Eric Sammons about the baby formula shortage — and the deeper reasons our country is so dependent on formula in the first place.I have a new podcast of my own on The Center for the Restoration of Christian Culture, but it hasn’t been released yet. It will be short and sweet — a reprise of my “Beauty Will Save the Neighborhood” post, which I just had to do as I noticed yard signs going from vague to outright scary. I will update this post with the information and then perhaps you can share it with someone who isn’t into blogs!One of the best short responses to Dobbs, by Suzan Sammons: Covid Jabs Revealed Hidden Pro-life HeroesAnother, taking on the wishy-washy Christians who argue illogically, by Leila Miller: It was Never about Just Hearts and MindsLet’s be honest: Peter Hitchens: Our selfish dismantling of marriage has left children in a lonely Dickensian hellI’m making bacon. I’ll tell you how it works — you tell me how yours works! This project sent e down a ridiculous rabbit hole involving me dehydrating celery so I could make powder of it and use that instead of pink salt (both powder and salt are unavailable in my area and I needed one of them STAT).from the archivesMath goals for your youngster (an example of what became a chapter in my book!)But never mind, do give your children an old-fashioned summer! (Also a chapter in my book!)liturgical living
Roman martyrs — and in the Traditional Roman calendar, The Visitation.
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My book, The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life is available now from Sophia Press! All the thoughts from this blog collected into three volumes, beautifully presented with illustrations from Deirdre, an index in each volume, and ribbons!
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My new podcast can be found on the Restoration of Christian Culture website (and you can find it where you listen to such things) — be sure to check out the other offerings there!
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