What to Read

Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Domestic Life
Leila Marie Lawler
Sophia Institute Press, 1,376 pages (three-volume set)

“If we look at it a certain way, all the details of the life of man on earth are concerned with the one challenge of preparing children to take their place in the world and in our heavenly home,” writes Leila Lawyer in the second book of her epic three-volume set. And a huge piece of that preparation is the children’s education — not just in the four R’s (including religion), but keyed on order and wonder. This magnificent set passionately expresses her vision for keeping your home — and sanity — while forming children in these essentials. There’s a lot to take in here, but please do read and reflect. She’s on to something.

Better than OK: Finding Joy as a Special-Needs Parent
Kelly Montoan
Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 168 pages

Learning that your child has profound disabilities requiring an extraordinary amount of care and accommodation can be a shock to the most devoted and faith-filled parent. Kelly Montoan had to work through the grief and sense of being overwhelmed herself as she found herself with not one, but two such children. She found herself going through stages of grief, denial, and depression before she could come to acceptance and, ultimately, finding joy through reliance upon grace. She has been there, is still there, and she can help parents in similar situations walk that journey too — and find peace and gift in what God is asking them to do.

A Teacher of Strange Things: Who Jesus Was, What He Taught, and Why People Still Follow Him
Cy Kellett
Catholic Answers Press, 240 pages

People like their Jesus in sound bites. He was nice, and kind, a great teacher who preached love and acceptance rather than judgment. The takeaway for many is that this Jesus Lite places no expectations upon us, and we will be just fine as long as we are nice like Him. Cy Kellett shows here that although Jesus was indeed a model of perfect compassion and love, He also challenged us to lead lives of repentance, humility, service, sacrifice, and mercy. This book reveals not Jesus Lite, but Jesus as the “light of the world” who leads us out of darkness. It’s a place to meet the real Jesus, or perhaps to become more deeply acquainted with the Jesus you already know.