Easy Summer Reading
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Thursday, July 29, 2010
Recently, I shared with you a few novels that have been my companions at the beach and on the back deck. Now for the non-fiction.
Annulment: 100 Questions and Answers for Catholics
by Pete Vere and Jacqui Rapp
I know, I know. This doesn’t sound like pleasure reading. But I was intensely interested in the topic. I know enough people who have experienced the annulment process. Sometimes it is hard... READ MORE
Cool Reads for Hot Days
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Summer reading!
Just the sound of those words makes me exhale, relax my shoulders, and remember those pleasant afternoons spent in a lounge chair in the backyard, with a tall glass of ice tea in one hand and a book in the other, while the little ones napped or splashed in a wading pool.
Now the kids are big and I work full time. My reading time is the long, light evenings after dinner, and sometimes... READ MORE
Three for Dad
Features | Posted by Daria Sockey in Reviews on Monday, June 14, 2010
Do any of the dads in your life like to read? For a little more than the price of a necktie you can give the gift of spiritual reading designed to appeal to the masculine soul.
Be a Man! Becoming the Man God Created You to Be:
by Father Larry Richards
Father Larry Richards is known here in my home diocese of Erie for the inspiring retreats he gives to teens, his work in an inner city parish, and for... READ MORE
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
