This is the fifth installment of a ten-part series on "The Ten Commandments of a Christian Education" found in Mother Love: A Manual for Christian Mothers. Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt love thy children all alike, for the sake of God. Thou shalt not leave unnoticed their good conduct and qualities, but encourage them to persevere and improve in good, and accustom them to its practice. There is a lot rolled into these two sentences, and I could probably break this one commandment down into its own series. For the sake of simplicity, however, let's keep it to one post and simply take it cla ..read more

This is the fourth installment of a ten-part series on "The Ten Commandments of a Christian Education" found in Mother Love: A Manual for Christian Mothers. Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt not leave the religious education of thy children entirely to their spiritual directors and teachers. Thou shalt train them thyself in morals and doctrine which later on they will learn both in church and at school; viz., the holy faith, love of Jesus Christ, confidence in His ever blessed Mother, reverence for the saints of God, and prayer. Teach them as early as possibly to make the sign of the cross, and ..read more

This is the third installment of a ten-part series on "The Ten Commandments of a Christian Education" found in Mother Love: A Manual for Christian Mothers. Third Commandment: Thou shalt pay particular attention to the first six years of childhood, since they are the most important in the matter of Christian education. Thou shalt not spoil thy first child, since the others will follow its example. My youngest turns six this year, and it is bittersweet. There is nothing like those first six years: they are tender, filled with wonder, and uniquely suited to the Mother's heart. Fathers and oth ..read more

This is the second installment of a ten-part series on "The Ten Commandments of a Christian Education" found in Mother Love: A Manual for Christian Mothers. 2nd Commandment: Thou shalt look upon thy children not so much as thy own, as the children of God. This they have become through baptism. Thou shouldst deem it thy special and highest duty to rear them as His children in the way of perfection. I am currently reading Talks with Our Daughters by Sister M. Eleanore, C.S.C., Ph.D., with my eleven-year old daughter in Adoration. We enter the silence of the Adoration Chapel, kneel and pray ..read more

"What on God's good earth is more glorious than this; to be a mother?" - Cardinal Mindzenty In the last year or so I stumbled across a lovely little prayer manual entitled Mother Love, originally published in 1888. Among the various prayers and devotions, all tailored to the needs of motherhood, it includes a list entitled: "The Ten Commandments of a Christian Education." The list might be more appropriately entitled, "The Ten Commandments of Motherhood," for upon reading the list, I found myself wishing I had spent time in prayer and reflection on these points long before becoming a mothe ..read more

Or, How Our Decision to Homeschool Helped Clarify our Family Culture My family began our homeschooling journey in 2020 when my daughter was beginning second grade, my eldest son was four, and our littlest had just turned two. Since that time, we have tried a variety of options: full time homeschooling, homeschooling one or two at a time while the youngest was in Mothers' Day Out, and, for the last two years, a classical hybrid option for the oldest two while I worked one on one with our youngest (and also worked part time as formation director at our local parish). During this time, the yearn ..read more

This post is the second of a series of posts with my father, Dr. Terry Ellis, reflecting on the influence of my upbringing as a Baptist minister’s daughter on my conversion to Catholicism as an adult. In the first post, we looked at my dad’s response to my conversion, anti-Catholic/anti-Protestant sentiments, and the debt all Christians owe the Catholic Church. If you missed Part I, you can find it here. This week, we consider some of the differences in sacramental theology between Catholics and Baptists. Lauren: When I first started discerning whether to become Catholic, I spent a great deal ..read more

Welcome to December, friends, and the start of a new liturgical year! In addition to Advent and Christmas, this month is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There is a plethora of liturgical living activities to enjoy this month, and it can get very overwhelming if you try to do them all. Just pick a few that appeal to you, mark your calendar, and enjoy what you can! This is an especially holy time of year, so if all else fails, just lean into the daily mass readings and work on cultivating the silent night of your own heart in hopeful, joyous preparation for the ..read more

“You must widen your circle of prayer to include now the whole human race if you wish to fulfill my will. I am the sole judge as to when a person’s heart is prepared to receive such graces of conversion, and many stand waiting to receive, yet there is no one who will make the effort to ask of this for them. Prayer is the prerequisite to spiritual favors and gifts and must be asked for by someone. You may not always know who is being helped by your prayers, but it is not necessary for you to know as all of these matters are kept in the mind of God who will reward you in abundance for even the s ..read more

This post first appeared at Taming the Wilds. Republished with permission. Back when I was working fulltime as an attorney, I used to daydream about what it would be like to be a homemaker. I thought of all the gardening I would do, the new recipes I would dazzle my husband with, the DIY projects I would accomplish around the house, the happy faces of our well-rested and ever-obedient children beaming as they showed off our latest liturgical living crafts. I would have so much free time, I thought (veteran homemakers feel free to chuckle at me here). I finally would be able to get off the “ham ..read more