A giveaway of a pocket oratory and a book with your {bits & pieces}!

The weekly “little of this, like of that” feature here at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

Guess what! Lent is coming soon!

What this means is that very shortly you will be given the opportunity to start on the project you have been contemplating, or to make more beautiful the habits you have instilled already — praying in the Domestic Church!

With delicate foresight, Mother Kirk* has given us two beautiful seasons in which the awkward notions that have crept up on us poor parents can be seamlessly put into practice. Or rather, she offers us built-in seams, so to speak, that cover up our uncertainty about when and how to begin this all-important yet strangely hard-to-implement custom of praying together as a family.

Those seasons are Advent and Lent.

Beginning again — that merciful gift the Church gives us! Lent is a chance to begin again.

Comes a day when the ashes get pressed onto our foreheads and it certainly doesn’t seem odder for us to announce, “your Father and I will be praying Vespers this Lent. You may join us at our little prayer table if you are willing to refrain from being monsters. It will only be for 10 minutes, so perhaps you can manage it.”

And they just do. Or you put them to bed. Either way. Praying occurs. (David and I spell it out in the book. It happens — it truly does!)

To facilitate this endeavor, I am offering you a chance to win two items — and then, when the giveaway is over, a discount on them. One is my book, The Little Oratory: A Beginner’s Guide to Praying in the Home.

Even to this day, someone will ask me, “But how will I teach my children all that they need to know to live their faith,” and it flashes across my brain: “Rosary — night prayers — the Liturgical Year — live your own faith — Lent is a good time — make a place in your home –” and I think, “if only there were a book I could give her!”

So here you go.

 

In this book there is, courtesy of Deirdre, among others, a charming little drawing of a little pocket oratory. I had found a photo of a vintage one, and it’s one of the (or perhaps the most) pinned pin I have.

 

Our friend Nanci has beautifully recreated these pocket oratories, and has graciously offered our readers a custom version (the value is $35), which means that you get to choose specific icons and prayers, as well as the material for the cover, which can be wool felt or real leather (nappa lamb’s leather).

The inside is a lovely linen. You can see different versions on Nanci’s website. I am sure that you could send Nanci your own special medals or crucifix if you were wondering how to use them fittingly.

 

This pocket oratory is really beautifully made and captures the charm of the antique one perfectly. For someone on the go — let’s say a traveling husband who would like a mobile oratory that can fit in a pocket (it’s about two inches square!), or a person whose desk needs a discreet corner for that “loving glance” at holy things that so helps us pray — this oratory would be a tremendous gift.

Leave a comment on this post to enter the giveaway!

And onto our links:

A nice article about the importance of telling our own history in stories. I never knew anyone for telling stories like the Chief does, so I appreciated this reminder.


Ever wonder about how our spelling in English got to be the way it is? This video combines that appealing cartooning with a good explanation. It will help ease those spelling drills to know that all those vexing words bring a little piece of the collective memory along with them.


I always love videos and information about how things are made, and why. The f-hole in violins.


I know every one of my kids would have enjoyed watching this video (probably over and over!): The 107-year-old Hulton Bridge was imploded outside of Pittsburgh in dramatic fashion on Tuesday morning. The century-old bridge was replaced by a newly constructed bridge which opened in October. (I must say the new one is rather boring.)


Time to think about gardening — this no till/no dig method is one I try to use, but I need to work on improving the soil as I do it.


It’s always inspiring to see others’ methods: gardening with raised beds.


Risk compensation. As you read this article, try to think about child-raising as well. There are always risks, and the temptation we are now experiencing is to do our utmost to give the appearance and get the feeling of making a life that entails zero risk. And that’s not only not possible, it backfires, which is the point of the article. I also thought it was interesting that the topic was football, but the author used contraception as an example of the point he was trying to make about risk compensation — confirming a theory I have, which is that you have to see what people say when they aren’t talking about a subject directly. When the issue at hand is condoms, all the experts assure us they solve all the problems. When the issue is football (or what have you), the complexities of life in other areas are acknowledged.


A good long read by Romanus Cessario, in honor of the feast celebrated earlier this week: Aquinas, Doctor for the Ages. I can’t resist some quotes:

Speaking of Aquinas, the pope says, “In him, the Church’s Magisterium has seen and recognized the passion for truth; and, precisely because it stays consistently within the horizon of universal, objective, and transcendent truth, his thought scales ‘heights unthinkable to human intelligence’” (Fides et Ratio, no. 44).

In natural philosophy, Thomists defend the realism of creation, or what some theologians might want to designate the scandal of creation. [my emphasis — a great phrase!]

Rationalism does not prepare the mind to believe that God sent his Son into the world to be its way, truth, and life.

The desire to know the truth that God has placed in the human heart will not disappear, nor will the two wings of faith and reason on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of this truth. Thomas Aquinas illumines the dynamics of this upward flight.

In the old calendar, today is the feast of St. Martina. As we move towards Lent, it’s good to begin a gentle wondering about what God might be asking of us… he’s gently “sowing the seeds” in our hearts. Let’s live our Lent this year! On Pinterest, I have a board: Lenten work for children living the liturgical year.

Also: Candlemas is Tuesday!

From the archives, it might be helpful to take a few steps to avoid February burnout before it happens.

And if you’re planning a wedding, here are some tips about wedding flowers!

Don’t forget to leave a comment to win a book and a pocket oratory!

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*Mother Kirk is a (perhaps gratuitous) reference, as our C. S. Lewis fans will recall, to The Pilgrim’s Regress. She is the traditional church, the mother who shelters us. “Kirk” is Scottish for church!

 

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