Ready for joy
God of Advent, lend us Your love. Even (and especially) when others are hard to love.
Welcome to the Mothering Spirit newsletter! Each Saturday morning, you’ll receive a round-up of the week’s posts—perfect for your weekend reading.
This week on Mothering Spirit
Jessica Mathisen weaves together her family’s story of birth and death, joy and grief:
“While it is eerie to think how we prepared for October 3rd all year in order to welcome a new life into the world, I also find comfort knowing that God knew it was the same day He would welcome a good and faithful servant into His everlasting kingdom. God operates outside of time, yet we are so bound to it…As we remember [Grandma Willy] in the years to come, I pray for a way to honor her life through celebrating her life and thanking God for her as I mother my sweet girl.”
This week’s Advent Prayer for Overwhelmed Parents asks for the grace to love within the challenges of extended families:
God of love, You came to us within a family. You know how hard family life can be.
This season when we gather with relatives, especially those we don’t see often, be with us through our challenges and conflicts.
Practical Tips: we shared 3 last ways to celebrate Advent or Christmas with yourself and your kids.
Advent Extras
It’s not to say for a quick Advent prayer! Here’s a perfect one to prep for family gatherings (deep breath, you can do this).
Pause with this week’s One-Minute Retreat when you need to dig deep to love in hard moments as a mom. On Instagram or TikTok.
From the Mothering Spirit archives, Mary of the Third Trimester:
“I wonder how she spent the last few days. Whether she sought the wisdom of women who knew, her cherished circle of a trusted few who hadn’t fled when the rumors flew. Whether she drew strength from their stories of passage, their steadying counsel and sage advice. Or whether their tales terrified, her body still so young itself, barely strong enough to survive what was demanded of her. I wonder whether she wanted to be alone or whether she confided in companions. Whether she prayed to her God in the darkest moments, or whether she spoke softly to the stranger-turned-spouse now strong and silent beside her."
A final word for reflection
“Lord, it is nearly midnight and I am waiting for you in the darkness and the great silence…Do not let me ask any more than to sit in the darkness and light no lights of my own, and be crowded with no crowds of my own thoughts, to fill the emptiness of the night in which I await You.”
(from Thomas Merton’s prayer before Midnight Mass, Christmas 1941)