More Than Television
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Wednesday, March 17, 2010
“We don’t have TV in our home,” says the radical Catholic mother.
Before you decide that this is just too (Choose one: weird, intellectual, Amish-wannabe, impossibly high a standard for your family, isolationist, child-abusive), please note the lack of the indefinite article. She didn’t say they had no television set. She probably meant that they didn’t get cable or satellite and only watched the... READ MORE
Violence and Vengeance
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Faith on Monday, January 04, 2010
“This praying the psalms idea doesn’t work for me,” a friend once told me. “I mean, parts of them are nice. Like the twenty-third psalm. And the ones that just praise God all the way through. But then you come to those parts that ask the Lord to squash your enemies like bugs. Aren’t we supposed to love our enemies? This stuff doesn’t sound very loving.”
“Squash my enemies like bugs? Which psalm says... READ MORE
Complain. Trust. Repeat.
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Family on Wednesday, December 16, 2009
If there is one thing I’ve learned from the psalms, it’s that it’s okay to complain to God.
There was a time when I though this was wrong. I had overdosed on saint stories that give the impression that unless we positively crave opportunities to suffer for the love of God, and burst into rhapsodies of delight at each new illness, inconvenience, and disappointment, we are not really being very holy. ... READ MORE
'Acclaim Him All You Peoples!'
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Faith on Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Want to memorize some scripture, or have the kids do so? Start with Psalm 117. It’s the shortest one, so you can have the satisfaction of saying you know a psalm by heart within 60 seconds or so.
Oh Praise the Lord, all you Nations,
Acclaim him all you peoples!
Strong is his love for us,
He is faithful forever.
That’s it. Although you might add the Glory Be at the end when you pray it, since this... READ MORE
'Your Love is Better Than Life'
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Faith on Tuesday, November 17, 2009
I’m stuck, crawling behind a dump truck all the way home from work. I walk in the door and see a sink full of dishes that the kids should have washed. And there on the table is a bill with “second Notice” stamped on the envelope. The house smells like the dog rolled in something. And I am sick, sick, sick of all the small stupid irritations of life. It’s moments like this when the words of Psalm 63... READ MORE
Fairy Food and Forbidden Fruit
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Faith on Wednesday, October 21, 2009
(Disclaimer: Lest anyone credit me with brilliant spiritual insight, I should share that the following is based on a sermon my pastor gave several weeks ago. I never would have thought of this myself.)
Mythology, folklore, fairy tales — stories that tell of man’s adventures in other worlds — have a common thread regarding food. Basically, if someone adventuring in another world eats the food of that... READ MORE
The 13th Day Delivers
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Thursday, October 08, 2009
Quick quiz: What was the most important event of 1917?
a. The Bolshevik revolution that led to Communist rule of Russia for 70 years.
b. The United States entered World War I
c. God publicly proved his existence before a crowd of 70,000 people
Faith & Family readers are a Catholic-savvy bunch, so I’ll bet most of you connected “1917” with “crowd of 70,000” and thought, “Oh yeah. She’s talking about... READ MORE
Padre Pio and Me
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Faith on Wednesday, September 23, 2009
My parents read a book about Padre Pio during the late sixties. I was eight or nine. Mom showed me pictures of the Italian friar who bore the wounds of Christ, and told me stories of how he could heal the sick, tell penitents in the confessional their forgotten sins, and appear miles from his cloister to help those in trouble.
I was annoyed that the Pope couldn’t declare Padre Pio a saint while he... READ MORE
Summer
July/August 2009 Magazine Issue | Posted by Daria Sockey in Season on Thursday, August 06, 2009
Then followed that beautiful season ... Summer ...
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light, and the landscape
Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.
— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Activities for you and your family
Feasts, Traditions … and Fun
July
3 St. Thomas the apostle
• St. Thomas is the patron of those who have doubts. He was not willing to believe that the... READ MORE
Yell No More
July/August 2009 Magazine Issue | Posted by Daria Sockey in Features on Thursday, August 06, 2009
It’s 4:30 p.m. The stew is burning to the bottom of the pot and you are trying to salvage dinner by transferring the unburned portion to another pan. A toddler is clinging to your legs. You notice that the child who was supposed to load the dishwasher has not done so, and a certain something in the air tells you that the designated kitty litter scooper has failed in her duty, as well.
Then from the... READ MORE
