On the Edge of the Holiest Week
Like the liturgies to come, there’s more here than you can hold
This week I shared a round-up of favorite Easter books on social media. Here’s the full list. If you’re looking for a quick & lovely gift to tuck in a basket, my younger kids are always drawn to these printable Easter story cards from Green Urban Creative.
Check out these books my friends have been brought into the world:
Fat Luther, Slim Pickin’s: A Black Catholic Celebration of Faith, Tradition, and Diversity by Marcia Lane-McGee and Shannon Wimp Schmidt
Jane Austen’s Genius Guide to Life: On Love, Friendship, and Becoming the Person God Created You to Be by Haley Stewart
Luminous: A 30-Day Journal for Accepting Your Body, Honoring Your Soul, and Finding Your Joy by Shannon K. Evans
Pray For Us: 75 Saints Who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness by Meg Hunter-Kilmer (only $16 and free shipping with code LAURA0222 here through 4/15).
In Image Journal, Julia Hembree Smith reflects on family fractures and forgiveness, capturing in photographs the rupture and repair of her relationship with her sister.
Claudia Avila Cosnahan’s Lenten reflection at Commonweal on images of death and hope reworks the hard soil beneath the parable of the fig tree and gives new ways to grapple with triggering photos in the news.
Have you heard about FemCatholic’s new campaign for paid family leave in the Catholic Church?
I inhaled Brene Brown’s interview with Susan Cain on her new book Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole.
Kimberly Knowle-Zeller’s latest newsletter introduced me to the writing of Sarah Bahiraei. Her essay on El-Roi at the airport asks what it means to be a mother, a refugee, a family.
From First Things, Cassandra Nelson dives into a theology of Catholic fiction and the overlooked influence of Sr. Mariella Gable. Cassandra is a brilliant scholar (also once my roommate at a Collegeville Institute writing workshop!) and everything she writes is worth your time.
A moving essay on a mother’s love beyond the grave from Modern Love at the NYTimes.
My latest column for Catholic News Service asks how families can live out the works of mercy at home.
This essay from Abigail Raminsky at Cup of Jo is breath-taking. Yes, it’s about how families survive stillbirth (from a sibling’s perspective) but also the undercurrent of loss that we all endure. “The most important thing is that you not disappear on them.”
Happy (almost) Holy Week!
Peace,
Laura
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Find my books here: Everyday Sacrament | Grieving Together | Prayers for Pregnancy & Birth | To Bless Our Callings | Living Your Discipleship