Mothers Of All The Living (Week 52)

Feast of the Holy Name, ousia & ontology, my Clarkson year, economics of abortion, & holiday memories

Happy New Year! I’ve recently finished several books, but instead of including them here I’ve decided to do a 2022 book roundup. Be on the lookout for that soon!

Reading

Books

The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, Madeleine L’Engle

My book club read the first book in this series of journals penned by L’Engle, and I think it was my favorite book of the year. This one is just as great.

“The Greeks come to my help again; they have a word for the realness of things, the essence of a frog, of the stone bridge I am sitting on, of my mother: ousia. If I am to be constant in loving and honoring my mother I must not lost sight of ousia. It’s a good word; it’s my new word. Last summer my word was ontology: the word about being. This summer I need to go a step further, to ousia, the essence of being, to that which is really real.”

Waiting on the Word, Malcolm Guite

I’ve appreciated reading a poem a day during Advent. It seems appropriate that as I practice waiting on the Word who is Jesus Christ, I wait on the words of poetry to reveal their meaning.

“It is the purpose of poetry to show us something we think we already know, and in that showing, show us something more.”

Articles / Essays

Mary Consoles Eve (interview), Sister Grace Remington and Joy Clarkson, Plough

This drawing has captivated me since the first time I saw it. For a long time, it occupied the background on my phone. I enjoyed reading this interview Joy Clarkson conducted with Sister Grace Remington, the artist herself.

“I also hope the picture communicates the way Christ is present in our encounters even when we cannot see Him. The picture is of Mary and Eve, but Jesus is there too. He is, in fact, at the very center. If it was just a picture of an un-pregnant Mary with Eve, it might be lovely, but the presence of Jesus in that picture is what gives it real meaning. If Jesus wasn’t there, I don’t think people would be so drawn to it. I always think of this during Advent: even before his birth, Christ was already among us within Mary. So many Advent texts talk about “awaiting the coming of the Savior” and we sing “O come, O come Emmanuel,” but he was there for nine months before that Christmas night. And now, too, we live in the “now but not yet” of the coming of God’s kingdom. Advent seems to me a perfect time to reflect on these two “mothers of all the living.””

There Is No Mary Problem In ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ Clare Coffey, The Bulwark

An insightful take on Mary in the Christmas classic. John makes fun of me because I don’t particularly like this movie. But this article might make me see it with new eyes.

“George’s life is shaped by a recurring characteristic act: the heroic acquiescence to duty when circumstances require it. But Mary sees the greater vision from the start. She is determined that George will lasso the moon, even if she is the only one who can see it in the sky.”

Middlemarch Marriages, Sarah Clarkson, Plough

I’ve semi-jokingly referred to this year as my “Clarkson year,” as so much of my thought has been shaped by these sisters and their mother’s ideas. The lovely bookclub I’m in read Sarah’s Book Girl as our inaugural read, and later in the year we read Middlemarch on her recommendation. I was beyond excited, then, to see that Sarah had penned this poignant reflection on the marriages in Middlemarch, a book I greatly enjoyed.

“I was once as ardent as Dorothea in my idealistic hunger for meaning, but I have discovered that the desires I bear – for true love, for a world cleansed of evil, to nurture children and form beauty – can’t be satisfied in an instant by one great symbolic gesture. Such heroic beauty can only be won day by faithful day, tiny act by tiny generous act, the gentleness and self-giving of a lifetime creating that unhistoric beauty that changes the world. I have known this beauty in the quiet, heroic gifts of others who stood by me in seasons of darkness.”

Does American Society Need Abortion? Ross Douthat, The New York Times

I’ve enjoyed this series Ross Douthat has written, and deeply grateful that the New York Times has allowed it to be published in its pages.

“…the right to abortion creates not just new social incentives that disfavor commitment and paternal obligation but also a kind of moral and spiritual alienation between the sexes. The most transformative thing that men and women do together becomes instead a ground of separation. The man’s right to avoid marital obligation separates the pregnant woman from either him, her unborn child or both. The woman’s right to end the pregnancy separates the man who doesn’t want to see it ended from what would otherwise be the most important relationship imaginable. And downstream from this alienation lies the culture we experience today, in which not just marriage rates but also relationships and sex itself are in decline, in which people have fewer children overall and fewer than they say they want, and also have more of them outside of wedlock than in the past.”

Poetry

The Lanyard, Billy Collins

This one made me laugh and cry. It was read at my bookclub as a reflection on Advent: all the gifts we bring before God are much like the lanyard presented to the mother — and we’ll never be close to even.

Audio 

Being Mortal, Atul Gawande

I’ve only just started listening but am appreciating the author’s opening observation that modern medicine is about avoiding death, rather than assisting patients in dying well. It also has me thinking about something my husband, John, and I have talked about frequently: our sense that (to the extent possible) aging and dying should occur with and around family, not in sterilized hospitals or nursing homes.

Writing

12 Days of Christmas: January 1, Feast of the Holy Name, Mere Orthodoxy

This is a piece I wrote two years ago for my church as part of a 12-part devotional on the 12 Days of Christmas. Mere Orthodoxy graciously published them online, where they now live. I include it here since January 1st and the Feast of the Holy Name is upon us; it’s also interesting to me to read now, given the fact that in the time since I’ve written this piece, I’ve had the joyous and solemn occasion of naming three human beings.

“A name is a containing – not simply a descriptor, but a fulfillment of the essence of the entirety of a person him or herself.”

Author’s page, WORLD Magazine

I’m a regular opinion contributor at WORLD Magazine since October 2021. Here’s where all my WORLD articles live. I’ll also share new articles as they’re published. I’ll have more coming soon!

Loving

Loving the NYT Cooking subscription my husband got me for Christmas! Here’s to a yummy and experimental 2023 ahead.

Remembering

This Week

I probably won’t include this many pictures every week, but I wanted to be sure to include the special people and places we’re spending time with this holiday season :)

Wonderful getting to catch up with lifelong friends. We’ve known each other since elementary school, and now we’re having children of our own!

They kissed her unprompted, I kid you not.

Christmas morning with these Christmas boys! They were so excited this year! They loved opening presents more than they actually loved the presents!

“Horsey, Dada!”

Proof of Mom :) Doing a lot of snuggling these days, and I’m loving every second of it.

Last Year

The boys are even more obsessed with trains this year than they were last year! Polar Express has been their favorite movie this year. They call it “Big Choo-Choo” :)

Our 2021 Christmas card :)

Two babies on bikes and one in a cape. It’s too much for me.