Everyday Sacrament

Laura Kelly Fanucci is the research associate for the Collegeville Institute Seminars. She is the author of Mercy: God’s Nature, Our Challenge and Dashed Hopes: When Our Best-Laid Plans Fall Apart in the Alive in the Word series; Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting (Liturgical Press, 2014); and the coauthor of Living Your Discipleship: 7 Ways to Express Your Deepest Calling (23rd Publications, 2015). She blogs about spirituality and parenting at www.motheringspirit.com.

• ContentsIntroduction: Before Beginning—An Unexpected Story   Part I: Beginnings: Baptism and Confirmation   9Chapter 1: Bathed in New Life—Baptism   11Softened with Showers   11Prelude to Baptism   16Parenting toward Possibility   22Chapter 2: Celebrating Grace—Confirmation   29Infertility’s Long Initiation   29A Strong Hand on the Shoulder   36The Spirit’s Flashes   42Part II: Rhythms: Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick   49Chapter 3: Broken for You—Eucharist   51This Is My Body, Given for You   51Lessons from the Dinner Table   55Chrysalis in the Communion Line   59Chapter 4: From Frustration to Forgiveness—Reconciliation   65When He Loved the Sitter More than Me  65Bad Moods and Breaking Bread   71The Gift of the Pilgrimage   74Chapter 5: Helping to Heal—Anointing of the Sick   82Kneading Hands   82The Wounds We Hold  90When the Heart Breaks Open   94Part III: Callings: Marriage and Holy Orders   99Chapter 6: Everyday Vows—Marriage   102The Focal Point   102I Do. Again.  109Where the Story Begins   115Chapter 7: Challenges of the Calling—Holy Orders   120A Litany of the Dirty Work   120Showered with Blessing   127To My Children, Called in Childhood   134In Gratitude   143

“Everyday Sacrament is a gift to every parent everywhere. Whether she's writing about giving a newborn a bath or flying with a cranky toddler, Fanucci reveals the holiness that lives right in the mess of parenting. Her writing is graceful, sensitive, and honest in its portrayal of the highs and lows of motherhood. This beautiful book is a feast for the mind, the heart, and the soul.”Ginny Kubitz Moyer, author of Random MOMents of Grace: Experiencing God in the Adventures of Motherhood