Eight on Holy Saturday

Some quick updates, then back to the quiet of the day

I hope this finds you either in the midst of a blessed Triduum or joyfully celebrating Easter in the days following. I considered stepping back from this newsletter during this time, but instead of pushing it off, I’m going to keep things short so we can get back to what today is about.

1. Some updates

The Road to Hope: Responding to the Crisis of Addiction is officially published this Monday. How beautiful that a book about hope, love, mercy, and the power of God should be released into the world during the Octave of Easter. I’ll be on Relevant Radio to talk about it bright and early Monday morning!

Keaton and I learned late this past week that the first printing has already sold out, and Our Sunday Visitor is working hard to get more books printed (a challenge during the holiest time of the year!). You can still order on OSV’s site and they’ll ship as soon as possible. When we last checked, Amazon still had stock as well. You might shop around and see who else has it available.

We are thrilled, humbled, and grateful. Keaton says this is what happens with Mother Mary is your marketing director, and I think she’s right.

If and when you, dear reader, have a copy in hand, we'd appreciate your posting a review at Amazon, GoodReads, Barnes & Noble, Target, and/or wherever you buy books.

If you’re local, we’ll be celebrating the book’s release April 23 at the Oratory of St. Joseph in Stirling, NJ at 3pm. Keaton and I will both speak, she will sing (I will not), and there will be, God willing, doughnuts and cake. And, we hope, books to sell. Then again, Mama’s got a handle on this, so I’m not too worried.

2. What I’m reading

For my graduate class, I’m rereading (revisiting?) Brideshead Revisited. I read it on my own maybe seven or eight years ago, and it’s so much fun to read it again with some distance, as well as a different perspective and a group of wise folks to discuss it with. My spiritual reading this Lent included Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love by Joseph Pearce—the professor under whom I’m reading Brideshead, My Sisters the Saints: A Spiritual Memoir by Colleen Carroll Campbell, and No Greater Love: A Biblical Walk Through Christ’s Passion by Edward Sri. Recommendations all around.

3. What my kids are reading

I don’t know the reason, but my eight-year-old daughter had developed a pattern of continually starting books without often finishing them—until now! Last week, she finished The Dreamer, the Schemer, and the Robe by Jenny L. Cote, the second book in the Amazing Tales of Max and Liz series. It’s over 450 pages long! I read the first book aloud to my kids last year (it arrived in their shared Easter basket), and this one showed up some time later.

Every morning and every night, my girl was telling me how far she’d read. First she said she’d finish by Easter, then she realized she could finish sooner, so she changed her goal to Palm Sunday. Then she finished the Thursday before! It’s not really about how long the book was, but that she saw a story through to the end and that she achieved a goal she set for herself.

4. Something I love

This Lent, I’m very grateful for the Hallow app. The Pray40 challenge was a good fit for me. Now I’m excited to get into Acts with Jonathan Roumie and Scott Hahn, starting next week.

We’re going to the Vigil Mass tonight for the first time as a family. I’m a little concerned about bringing our two- and five-year-olds out for a long Mass at bedtime—and when, praise God, about eight people will receive various sacraments!—but I’m also super excited to give our twelve-year-old these socks, since he was the one who pushed for this Mass:

5. What I’m creating (knitting, lettering, embroidery, etc.)

Nothing is finished yet, but I’m making progress on a shawl and a sweater I’ve had going for almost a year. The other day I put three rows of the shawl on my to-do list, and it felt good to make that progress, to allow myself time to make it happen. On the other hand, you can’t rush creative things. I also have lists of what’s started and what I ought to finish, but because no one else depends on these deadlines, I often go with what feels right, what fits into the kind of time I have. A little bit here and there for now, and perhaps more finished pieces when my class is over and we enter into summer mode.

6. Where my work is

Radiant: How to Pray the Stations of the Cross During Lent and Year Round

7. What I’m working on

I’m working on a new novel, which my writers workshop will critique next week. It’s a very rough draft, but I have to start somewhere! Some of my friends are working on their MFA theses now, and I’m seeing how important it is to have a full draft before the semester starts. I think that will be spring 2025 for me, which is not as far away as it sounds.

8. A quote to sit and sip with

“Without labour, no rest is won; without battle, there can be no victory.”

- The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis