It’s the Jubilee Year of Mercy. If you’re Catholic, go to mass at least semi-regularly, and haven’t heard the news, you may have been living under a rock.:)
Over the past few weeks, our parish priest has mentioned mercy several times in his homilies, and I’ve come across some nice blog posts and magazine articles about the Year of Mercy, too. But during those homilies I’ve been wrestling naughty/bickering/wiggly children in the pew, and when I’ve come across those articles, it’s late at night when I’m decompressing from a day where I completely lost it with my three wild children-again.
Mercy. It is still a little bit of a fuzzy concept for me, but mercy is still very much my hope and consolation these days as a mom, when all too often I find myself as a parent “[not doing] the good I want to do, but [doing] the evil I do not want to do” (Romans 7:19). And as I face (with joy, though!) a fourth precious baby on the way, the timing is just about perfect this year–for me at least–to dive more into what it means to have mercy on my children, my husband, and myself.
Earlier this week, I got an email from my sweet bloggy friend, Lis, about the “Faces of Mercy” Catholic Conference 4 Moms. I clicked over to the speakers page, and the name of talk after talk by some of my favorite speakers and bloggers really drew me in. By the time I saw that all the talks could be downloaded as podcasts, and would be available for download all month and beyond, I was sold.
So, I’m registering for the conference this year, and I’m going to choose a handful of the talks to listen to as podcasts and pray with during Lent. And because community is amazing, and because I love to get together with my friends and talk about faith, I’m also thinking of having some friends over one evening to watch one of the talks and discuss it (all the talks will be available on HD video, too).
Do you have a mom’s group you’re involved in? Why not be brave, step out in the apostolate of friendship, and have some girls over to your house to watch a talk on a Saturday morning or after the kids go to bed? You will be surprised at how grateful people are when somebody takes the initiative for a get-together like that. And some words of advice: You’d be amazed at what a quick sweep with a Clorox wipe and a clean hand towel can do for the guest bathroom, and what a 10-min tidy-up of toys, empty kitchen sink, and a well-placed candle or two can do to make your home ready (enough) for grateful guests who won’t notice that you didn’t bleach your master bedroom shower curtain. And asking everyone to bring a little something to share makes things fun, and takes the pressure off you to provide much more than the coffee.:)
Here are the names of a few of the talks that will be available for those who register for the conference. I wanted to list some of them out because the topics are so wonderful!
St. Faustina, Apostle of Mercy: Lessons from her Life for Moms – Michele Faehnle and Emily Jaminet (Michele will be on TRH soon!)
“Forgiveness: Cell by Cell” – Simcha Fisher
“‘Jesus, I trust in You!’: Overcoming Anxiety with the Help of the Lord” – Gary Zimak
“Mercy in Marriage” – Karee and Manuel Santos
“8 Steps for Teaching Children Mercy and Forgiveness” – Nicole Lataif
“In His Mercy He Has Sent us Angels” – Mike Aquilina
“An Oasis of Grace and Mercy: A Way to Combat Pornography in the Home” – Dr. Patti Zordich
“Showing Mercy to Ourselves: Mom’s Way of Showing Mercy to Others” – Lydia Borja
Do any of these sound right up your alley?:)
I am actually doing something I’ve never done before on Humble Handmaid, and I am officially a blogger affiliate for the Catholic Conference for Moms this year. The affiliate arrangement is just such a win-win for both me and my readers. I know that having access to the talks at this conference would be a great blessing to many of you, and when I found out that I could offer you guys a discounted registration fee and get some much-needed compensation to put back into my website and hosting costs, I knew this was a great idea for me.:)
Basically, if you use my coupon code when you register for the conference on the Catholic Conference for Moms website, you will get $4 off registration (just $10.99 instead of $14.99). I will get a small fee per ticket purchased with my coupon code (at no extra cost to you), any and all of which will going straight to my rising keeping-on-the-lights costs for my blog and podcast. Michael and I would really appreciate this easy way you can send a little support to my ministry!
My coupon code:
Humble
The registration fee for the conference will allow you to log in and view, listen to, or download for later use any of the talks you want, any time you want, starting on February 20th. The talks are all available as HD videos as well as MP3 files and podcasts, which I think is a great perk. Also, everyone who registers for the conference will receive a digital swag bag of goodies.:)
I am also linking up today with my friend Lis Luwia, the founder of CatholicMommyBlogs.com. Lis is actually going to be on my radio show in a few weeks, and I’m excited to chat blogging, community, motherhood, and crazy kid stories with her on the show.:)
God bless you and yours today, and may you be blessed especially in this Year of Mercy with spiritual growth, and peace in your home and family!
Erin, I’m so glad our topic of “Mercy in Marriage” appealed to you. Please let us know how you liked the talk!