Transcript

Proverbs 31 describes the life and the heart of a godly woman, but how does that description translate to the 21st century?

Join us as we discuss the heart of godly womanhood with Kimberly Hahn, author of Beloved & Blessed: Biblical Wisdom for Family Life.

I'm Father Dave Pavonka, and I'm president of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and you're watching Franciscan University Presents.

Please stay with us.

And welcome to Franciscan University Presents.

I'm your host, Father Dave Pavonka.

I'm President of Franciscan University of Steubenville, and today, we're talking about Biblical wisdom for family life.

I'm joined by our regular panelist, Dr. Regis Martin.

Welcome.

Hello.

He is a professor of systematic theology here at Franciscan, and Dr. Scott Hahn, the Father Michael Scanlon Professor of Biblical Theology and the New Evangelization here at Franciscan.

And we are pleased to welcome our special guest, Kimberly Hahn, a popular speaker, author, and host of the EWTN Radio show and podcast, Beloved & Blessed.

Kimberly's written numerous books, including the worldwide bestseller, Rome: Sweet Home, which I think she got some help with.

Uh, and she holds a Master's in Theological Studies from Gordon-Conwell, uh, Theological Seminary.

Kimberly is also a councilo- a councilwoman for the City of Steubenville, a mother of six children, uh, 20 grandchildren, yet growing-

Mm-hmm.

...

to my understanding.

Great.

Mm-hmm.

And she's well-qualified to discuss the questions of godly womanhood, family life in her book, Beloved & Blessed: Biblical Wisdom for Family Life.

Welcome.

It's wonderful to have you here.

Thank you.

It's just a great blessing to have you.

A breath-catching introduction.

Yeah, it is.

It is.

It is.

You're running a family, and you're now running a city.

A corporation.

Right.

Well, it is-

Mother of a city.

I love it.

Yeah.

A building.

A building.

It's just a blessing to have you.

Thanks.

And, uh, I enjoyed the book very much, and we'll get to talk about it, but why this?

What kind of motivated you and moved in your heart that says, "Okay, this is what I need to do"?

Yeah.

So we would open our home and have Bible studies in our home, and I loved to welcome the Franciscan University women.

And they loved going there.

Oh, it was wonderful.

We would just pack the room, you know?

And I wanted to be able to share a vision of what it is to be a woman of God, what it is to embrace the vocation of marriage and family life.

Um, what surprised me were the numbers of students who had very different experiences at home.

You know, some beautifully intact, large, generous families, some whose parents are not Catholic who, uh, or who are Catholic, but sadly divorced.

And so they came with a lot of, uh, a lot of misunderstandings, I think.

Um, so to have an opportunity to open Scriptures, and we used Proverbs 31 almost as a table of contents-

Okay.

...

and then ranged throughout the Scriptures, filling that in and saying, you know, what does it mean to understand myself as a woman, to, uh, the daughter of God, before I get into my vocation, and then what does that vocation mean?

Um, and how can we live that out in a, in a really beautiful, uh, compelling witness to the world of the relationship between Christ and the Church and what he has done?

I think you said that beautifully, and- and you really do the- lay the foundation that before there's a vocation, before your call, what you're called to do, it's- it's just understanding who you are as a woman before the Lord.

Yeah.

So maybe just speak to that.

That, what does it mean just to be a woman of God, and what does that look like, and where do you find examples and direction in this area?

How much time do you have?

Yeah, yeah.

This is a four-part series.

Um, so we begin with the fact that God is the one who decided that I would be.

Which is important today.

It's really important.

You know, when people say, "Did your parents plan you?" They don't understand, that's not even a relevant question.

Yeah, right.

Right.

Because you have existence, you know God chose you.

Yeah.

And so we begin with God and not with our parents or whatever, uh, whoever brought us into existence, and then understand that not only has he created us, he has redeemed us.

He has done everything needed so that we're in right relationship to him, and I think before, it's, for instance, Proverbs 31, it's a queen mother explaining to her son who, who he should marry, and- and what values to, um, uh, decide on his own that he really needs to seek in a wife.

Top, top billing is, does she understand before she's the ki- the wife of the king that she's the daughter of the King of Kings?

Yeah.

And he is the one who gives us our sense of worth.

This, this is actually a very powerful, um, point when we gather with the college women, because it is so easy to get caught up in looking at ourselves and our own weaknesses, failures, sins, and deciding that God really couldn't love me, or he couldn't really redeem me because of X, Y, or Z.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And to just really deal with that and say, "He chose you from before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and blameless." I mean, that is-

Right.

...

his earnest desire.

He will give you the power of the Holy Spirit-

Well-

...

to do what he's called you to do.

Yeah.

That, I think, is what's so freeing about your book, that you begin with that foundational premise, that I stand in relation to God before, uh, I stand in relation-...

to a husband or a wife or the children.

Of the world and

Yeah.

And, uh, that, that's formative.

That's constitutive of who I am, and I should be grateful for that.

I'm a gift that keeps on giving.

Yes.

Uh, Fulton Sheen says, uh, "God was in love, but He couldn't keep the secret.

The telling of it was creation." And that means this discrete creation, you or me or you or anyone.

Yeah.

You know, and that's a lofty and profound background, you know, that we are in relation to God before we're in relation to anybody else, that he planned us.

He loved us into being out of nothing.

But it doesn't mean it stays lofty because what you do in this book is pretty much what is done in the Book of Proverbs generally and throughout wisdom literature.

It's very practical.

Yeah.

It's very personal.

It's also very interpersonal.

You know, Proverbs is the, the first of the books of Wisdom.

It's 31 chapters long.

The theme is the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Mm-hmm.

Proverbs 8 identifies wisdom as eternal and divine, but at the same time, Proverbs 31 shows us that wisdom is also embodied in a person, and that is a wife, a mother-

Yeah.

...

a woman.

And to me, it is so exciting that, you know, apart from all of the scholarship that is done on Proverbs 31, uh, hardly any Catholics have discovered this treasure.

I mean, you have been doing this now for decades.

I mean, even before you were Catholic, you were leading this.

Yeah.

But one last thought about Proverbs 31 that people don't often recognize is that it is a literary masterpiece.

When you look at it in Hebrew, it's what is called an acrostic.

The 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet identify the verses, and then it's also chiastic, and so it has this center, and it's all about finding the wife that will make you the kind of husband that will please the Lord.

Mm-hmm.

And, and so, you know, with all of that as background, it just comes down to earth in a way that, uh, you really are hard-pressed to find any other passage-

Yeah.

...

in all of scripture-

Yeah.

...

that unpacks it the way that chapter does, but the way you do.

And I should mention, too, that this is just one book, Beloved and Blessed, one of four.

Mm-hmm.

And, uh, you've been writing these books now for years.

You've been teaching this material for decades.

You've been living it now for 43 years.

Trying to.

Actually, really longer than that, but I won't say exactly how long.

Well, you've raised your children in the light of that wisdom.

Yeah.

That's right.

Amen.

And that, that's amazing.

I know.

One, one of the things that I did appreciate about it, and it goes with both of, what you were both saying, is that you, you begin and, and you are right, profoundly practical.

Yeah.

For, for this person reading this, like, "Wow, that was really practical." But that's a whole nother story for another day.

Aw, that's good.

But, but the thing that is...

'Cause you talk a little bit about what does it mean if you're not married and if you're a widow.

So one, I really appreciated that, that, that the foundation is, is a woman of God standing before the Lord-

Yes.

...

redeemed in Jesus, and then the other things that come from that.

But a person who is not married is gonna enjoy this book.

A person who is widowed is gonna enjoy this book.

So I think that that was a great, beautiful, insightful way to start.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, well, Scott, you, you seized upon h- I think the two pivotal Proverbs, 8 and 31.

Uh, I, I love, uh, Proverbs 8 because it speaks of Sophia, wisdom-

Right.

...

in relation to God.

Lewis tells us we're all feminine.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, and Sophia is the creaturely response to divine wisdom, the word, the logos-

Mm-hmm.

...

who utters this wisdom from all eternity.

But the creature is poised to receive it and delights to hear this wisdom and then to somehow put it into practice.

Yes.

And this is where your book takes off.

Yeah, to literally flesh it out.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

You spent a lot of time in, in Proverbs 31, but you also talked about some other women in, in Bibl- in the Bible that you can look to.

Maybe just speak to a couple of other examples that we find in the scriptures of women that, that we can- you can look to for models and examples.

Hmm.

Uh, it's interesting because you can look at some of the poor models and, and it's-

Yeah, you glean something from that.

...

it's, it's like, "Okay, this is not what I want to be."

Interesting.

And then you look at the positive ones, um, I- it's actually a very interesting walk through salvation history to look at the wives of each of the pivotal figures.

Figures, yeah.

You know, and, and to see how God is in the process of redeeming them as well as using their spouses to redeem the people of Israel.

And then you've got examples like Mary and Martha where there's no comment about them being married.

They're still living together, brothers, brother and sisters, the sisters-

Mm-hmm.

...

uh, of Lazarus.

And yet, how, how full their home is-

Yeah.

...

in hospitality.

Yeah.

Um, how eager, uh, they are, both of them, to receive from our Lord, Mary obviously sitting more easily at Jesus' feet, Mary more caught up in the serving, and yet God doesn't change their personalities.

Right.

And, and the next scene is not Martha sitting there right next to Mary.

She's still serving, but she's serving with the right attitude.

Yeah.

And she's not, uh, trying to dislodge Mary.

Becoming a saint in the process.

Well, yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Mar- you know, we shouldn't give her a bum rap.

No.

She's indispensable.

Yeah.

Mar- Mary may sit at the feet of Jesus and, and feast on the Word, but she needs bread as well- ...

that somebody has to spread and cut-

Yes.

...

and, and, and, and, uh, serve.

So Martha is pretty necessary to this, uh, uh, this, uh, equation.

And I think it's one of the things that I find so heartening in this whole vocation of marriage, but also even further what it means to be a woman is to nurture life.

Mm.

And so every woman, I believe, is called to a spousal commitment to our Lord at least, maybe to an actual person-

Mm-hmm.

...

but at least to our Lord-

Mm-hmm.

...

in that faithfulness and fruitfulness, and then, um, spiritual motherhood.

And it is not less.

And the, and the call to consecrated life, as you know, is not a call to being a neuter for God.

Right.

Yeah.

It is to bring the fullness of your manhood and your fatherhood to all of us.

And likewise, a woman who is not yet married or who is choosing to be consecrated to our Lord in singleness-...

still is a woman, and is to bring to the fore all of those beautiful qualities that go into nurturing life and sustaining life.

And, you know, creating a home, and being hospitable.

Mm-hmm.

Expanding herself with, with all these practical needs.

The, the, there's no human vocation that is more sublime than motherhood.

Mm-hmm.

And you, you cite Cardinal Mindszenty, uh, which is really a moving passage.

It is.

His description of, of the, the mother who is this monument, who creates this masterpiece, which is greater even than the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

Here is a dwelling place for an immortal soul.

Not even the angels have wrought, uh, such marvels.

Uh, a woman can do that.

She's really that much closer to the mystery of life.

Mm-hmm.

You know, God distinguishes to unite.

That's often ascribed to Saint Thomas Aquinas.

We distinguish to unite, not to separate.

But God is really the one who makes man male and female, not for the purpose of dividing, opposing, polarizing the way our culture does, and the, you know, the, the critique of toxic masculinity is not entirely without merit.

There's a kind of machismo that is easily threatened by strong women.

Mm-hmm.

But the solution to toxic masculinity is not to get rid of patriarchy.

Right.

It's to balance it with matriarchy.

Hm.

You know, and I think that as men, I at least tend towards the abstract, the theoretical, the intellectual, and I need to distinguish that from the concrete, the practical, and the personal, and that's the equilibrium that we bring to each other.

It's not like you're not also intellectual.

You are.

You've got your master's degree in theology, and I'd like to think I'm not entirely impractical.

Right.

But it's that distincting, it's, it's the, it's the distinguishing to unite that is in, in a certain sense en- enveloped in marriage, but it's, it's basically written into the fabric of all of life.

And yet we live in a culture that has completely denied that and distorted it.

Mm-hmm.

And made it beyond almost recognition.

Yeah.

And yet it's, it's, it's hiding in plain view.

Mm-hmm.

It's, it's right there in the middle of the room, and it's like waiting to be discovered just by kind of recognizing the obvious.

And again, thank you.

I just, I have to say this before we finish the first segment.

I've told you this before, but I am so proud to be your husband and so grateful, not only for the literary output, but for the human output.

The six kids and now 21 grandkids, and that number 21 is on the way, so glory to God.

We're all grateful.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, you, you pay occasional homage, uh, to Scott in the book.

I mean...

I sure do.

You say the most romantic thing a husband can do- ...

is maybe do the dishes.

Take out the garbage.

Clean out the garage.

Yeah.

And I suspect Scott is doing those things.

Everyone wants to be the fish.

But under the waves, you, you, you don't, you Maternal discipline, but...

You don't have to answer that.

Let's go on.

No, but really quickly, and, and maybe very quickly we can pick it up on the other side is, just that sense, you read the book and there's a stark image of what you present and what culture presents.

Yeah.

You put those two things up together and they're profoundly different.

So maybe really quickly, a word on that, and we'll go from there.

Yes.

And, and the difference is what's your focus?

Is your focus the Lord?

If the focus is the Lord, then being open to life is an expression of trusting God no matter how fearful circumstances may be, or if you just had the loss of a baby, miscarriage.

The world would say, "Why risk it?"

Right.

"Why, why be bothered?" Uh, the Lord calls us to generosity, and yet the world would say, "One, two," and then get sterilized.

Yeah.

And you know, and, and, and there's this constant push and pull.

Um, the Lord calls us to imitate him and that relationship between us.

Where he's the messenger.

Yes.

Yes.

We're just getting into our topic, so stay with us.

Franciscan University Presents will continue.

One of the things I love that Kimberly emphasizes is how important a relationship with Jesus Christ is first.

Because, you know, whatever vocation all of us have in our lives right now, having that relationship with Jesus Christ is so important first, and then from there you can build off of that and find your vocation and what you're called to.

Walk in the footsteps of saints and martyrs on a Franciscan University pilgrimage.

You'll explore the treasures of your Catholic heritage in the Holy Land, Poland, France, Austria, Italy, and more destinations.

Find out more at franciscan.edu/pilgrimages.

Welcome back to Franciscan University Presents.

We're talking about Biblical wisdom for family life.

Um, and you spend a beautiful amount of time in the book, uh, about marriage and family, and just some of the insights that you have, w- again, from a non-married person, I just thought was really helpful in-

Yeah.

...

in having given marriage prep to a lot of people.

Sure.

But the first thing you begin to talk about, or I wanted to talk about, is the nature of marriage as holy, that there's something holy about m- marriage and the sacrament.

Maybe speak to that.

Yes.

So it's not just having a relationship.

It's not just finding someone who's a companion for life, which is beautiful and wonderful.

But it's an actual call to holiness.

And so that means, that, that gets us back to I need to have my own relationship with the Lord, first and foremost, and I need Him, too.

It's not enough to just pair up with someone who's willing to let you raise the kids Catholic.

It is really, really important that we're on the same page, because being male and female, we will already be very different.

Mm-hmm.

No matter what our culture says.

Yeah.

We are, and it is in that complementarity as opposed to a competitive relationship that we seek the Lord side by side, and as Fulton Sheen said, "The closer we get to the Lord, the closer we get to each other." I love that image of the triangle moving us closer.

It takes three to get married.

Yeah.

So this is an actual call to holiness.

And I remember when we were in Joliet.

I, I was not a Catholic yet, but I was peering into these things, and I overheard a couple students.

One of them said...Um, so do you think you're gonna be a priest?

And the person said, "No.

I want to get married." And, uh, and, oh, sorry.

The question was, do you have a vocation?

Excuse me.

Yeah, yeah.

Do you have a vocation?

And, "No, I want to get married." And I asked Scott, I said, "Is that a Catholic answer?"

Yeah, it is.

And he said, "No, it really isn't." It isn't.

Right.

But it's also not a general call, and I think sometimes walking around campus, you can hear conversation about, you know, "I, I know I'm called to marriage." Well, you only know you're called to marriage when there's an individual there.

Mm-hmm.

You could feel drawn to it, or you could feel drawn to the priesthood.

Right.

Yeah, yeah.

I had one gal who felt drawn to consecrated life and was sure that God was gonna make her get married because she wanted to be a nun.

It was like-

Strange idea of God.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

...

God really doesn't work that way.

Yeah, yeah.

And so, so we, we have that opportunity to enter into a new kind of service through that vocation of marriage.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, it's the whole distinction that you've made a career out of between covenant and contract.

It's not a business enterprise.

Right.

You know, two people conveniently convene, get together, and maybe they'll produce a couple of kids, but for the most part, they, they're trying to, uh, aggrandize the self and advance their own self-centered, uh, interests.

I mean, that's, that's a mockery of, of union and intimacy.

What, what I, uh, would insist upon is that when you get married, something happens metaphysically.

There's an ontological shift.

I'm not the same guy I was before.

I'm now joined to the flesh of this stranger, uh, who will always remain other, this endless mystery, but the two of us are now one flesh.

I mean, that's unspeakably profound.

It is.

You can never come to the end of that.

Yeah.

You know, I, I didn't just make a career out of it.

Mm-hmm.

It's a sacrament.

It's a covenant.

But your God-centered approach to things might strike people as being, well, that's just too theoretical.

No, that makes it even more practical.

You know, when I married you 42 years ago, uh, you were the daughter of God, as well as the daughter of Jerry and Patty Kirk, but you still are.

And one of the things that I, that hits me in prayer when we are at mass together or when we do morning prayer or when I'm just praying alone is that God has entrusted his beloved daughter to me.

Mm.

And I'm responsible for that.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, your parents entrusted their beloved daughter, but first and foremost, you're his.

Yeah.

And when I remember that, you know, with fear and trembling, I express heartfelt gratitude and ask God for the grace of the sacrament to be released, so that I might rise to that calling, because, I mean, that isn't hard.

That's just humanly impossible apart from supernatural grace.

We can't live that out practically day to day, and yet you see me as God's son and, and serve and love generously, and I think that kind of adjustment is almost necessarily daily.

You know?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, because it's just too easy to think...

I mean, we are spouses.

You know, we're parents together and grandparents, all of the rest, but it goes back to the fact that we're related to God, and that is so much...

That, that's easily obscured, easily forgotten, and yet it's the most important thing of all, the Christ presence.

Y- Y- And I, and I stated it earlier, and I think it's true is that, that while this focus is a lot on marriage and family, even if somebody was not married, this is still, there's still a lot of really helpful, beneficial things, and that's because I think it's so rooted in Christ and so rooted in your relationship with the Lord, which is just, which is beautiful.

And you spend a lot of time talking about, uh, I mean, some really practical things about family, about...

I wouldn't have thought of budgets and all these kinds of things that you just spent time thinking about, which is very helpful, but you also, uh, as, as has been alluded, a busy life, you know, city council and writing and ministry and, uh, being a wife and my- how you, and you talk about juggling it all.

In my experience in the confessional so oftentimes, and, and I'll always tell moms, it's a hard job.

It is.

And 80% of the time, they just start crying, right?

They just needed somebody to say, "It's a hard job." But how, how do you juggle that without, I was gonna say, without getting discouraged?

My guess is you do get discouraged sometimes.

And, and how do you manage all that?

Sure.

Um, I think by valuing what, what it means to create a home and to sustain a home for your family is...

It goes a long way to helping with that discouragement.

Um, I, I remember, uh, walking up the stairs.

I gave this illustration.

I walked up the stairs with this load of laundry, and, uh, my eye caught a little help text shirt on the top, and Michael had worn it.

Gabriel had worn it.

Hannah didn't, uh, but Jeremiah had worn it, and now I was laundering it nearly every week for Joe.

Mm-hmm.

And I just stopped in the middle of the stairs.

Like, "I'm an intelligent person.

What am I doing?" "How many times am I gonna wash this shirt?" I, I really, and I literally out loud just said, "God, what am I doing?"

Yeah.

And, and He really answered my heart.

He said, "Look at this one little shirt.

How many children have you loved?

How many times-"

Mm-hmm.

"...

with this one little garment?" And I could have literally danced up the stairs.

The light became...

The load became so light.

And so, we do need to understand, what is it that we're doing?

W- Um, as my mom would say, you know, "I welcome you back from the storms of life." We're creating a haven.

Mm-hmm.

A place of peace, a place of beauty, um, the ministry of presence.

I, I, I really do not think we can financially quantify-

Yeah.

...

what difference it makes.

Your wife was home, and that's a choice.

We could have earned a paycheck.

Mm-hmm.

But the point is, I invested myself in their lives.

I think the peace that it gives a spouse who is working outside the home-

Yeah.

...

is tremendous because you are there.

You're greeting them as they come back from practices or with friends-

Mm-hmm.

...

or games, or you're teaching them at...

You know, maybe you're teaching them homeschooling.

Maybe you're just teaching them the faith, but you're still teaching.

Right.

You're correcting.

You're training.

Uh, like with the budgets.

And so-...

I, I, I believe that the d- the way we combat the discouragement is to get the big picture.

Right.

What is it that I am doing?

Well, you, you give a wonderfully instructive example of when one of your students accosted you to ask, "Isn't it frustrating having to stay home day after bloody day?"

Mm-hmm.

And you said, "Look, I'm changing the culture one diaper at a time." That's a lot of diapers.

That's a lot of diapers.

It takes a lot of transformation- Needs a pretty seismic change.

Yeah.

And, and in the perspective of Christ, nothing is merely banal, like that shirt that you've had to wash a million times.

It's, it's blessed.

It's beatific.

Yes.

It's an occasion for grace.

I actually have saved it because my David also wore it.

I could really do with health text commercial right now.

It'll become a fourth class relic.

I must say, I don't know what a health text is, but I'll look that up on exactly what that is after we're done.

No, but I think that's beautiful in just that, in, in making the difference in their life and being present to them, and, and you can't quantify that.

You can't put a number on that.

Was it hard for you to make that decision or was it always...

How do you, how do you deal with mo- other families that maybe have not made that decision and, and how do you wrestle with that?

Yeah.

W- well, the first, the first child was th- the hard adjustment.

Okay.

Because y- you, you have a whole different pace.

You know, I, I remember reading everything in The Sun out loud to Michael, who's two months, three months, four months old.

He's not even talking.

You know, you're at least getting smiles eventually, but, you know, there...

And so, I needed to hear another human voice, and if I couldn't, I would hear my own, you know, and I would take walks and look for any neighbor's house-

Somebody's feet, yeah.

...

so we could talk, you know?

So that's where I think older women need to really assist the younger women.

Um, help them get a little break.

Just because you choose to be home with your children does not mean that it's wrong to utilize a sitter or have cleaning help or, you know, have assistance.

I mean, I guess the, one of the phrases that I find very liberating is I am queen of the realm and the heart of the home.

Yeah.

And so how I live that out includes other people who come and help me with the grounds and help me with the house and, you know, assist.

It doesn't mean you do every, you know, you grow the grain to, to make the flour-

Right.

...

to make your own bread.

You mentioned Ministry to Moms, something that you recognized early on when we moved here, you know, that, uh, you get so caught up, you can almost feel trapped in the home.

Mm-hmm.

And so you brought students to our home, and then you also brought busy, haggard wives and mothers together.

And over the years, what happened?

Well, you exported a lot of those students because they came as far west as our home.

They made the trek.

I know.

And, you know, it's a ministry that continues at Franciscan.

Yeah.

Uh, which is so beautiful.

And I've tried to help other people duplicate it at other schools, but to the best of my knowledge, it has not been duplicated.

Explain it to us.

So as the women were coming to Bible study, they would say, "Hey, do you ever need help?" And one gal came and, and offered help, and then a second, and when the second one did, I thought, "You know-

There's maybe something here.

...

there are a lot of other mothers-

Right.

...

who need that help." So what they do is they volunteer three hours a week.

They come to the, to the home.

They will do whatever is most needed, so they help cook or clean or watch the children.

I had times that the women would...

I would hand them a list of, of, uh, errands, the keys to my car, all my children.

And I would be alone in my home.

Right.

Maybe sit at the piano and play or go and have a holy hour.

And it, it's like taking a pressure cooker and loosening the top.

And it just, it just gave a little bit of, "Okay, God, I'm refreshed.

I can go back into the fray.

I can do this again." And it has been so meaningful.

And I believe it was meaningful to the girls.

Um, many of them left little children, little siblings at home.

And so they were able to come.

Oh, yeah.

They've got a home cooked meal.

That was one thing we offered.

They could do their laundry while they were there, which is a task they had to do anyway, so why not do it at someone's home?

They found another family.

Yeah.

I mean, in so many instances, not just for ours.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But for many others.

It's very enriching.

Lifeline friendship as well.

Th- This may sound like an impiety, but I suspect even the Blessed Mother had to escape from time to time.

I know she went up into the hill country with Elizabeth-

She did.

She had to.

...

but she needed to get out.

Yeah.

Joseph, you watch this empty house.

You know, what the lesson is, the takeaway, openness to life for us, going back to like 1980 when you first read Humanae Vitae and we were seminarians, you know, and openness to life meant throwing away contraception, you know?

But that was like the pebble in the pond, the ripples, you know.

Then suddenly you're pregnant and over 30 hours of labor and a cesarean section, and then after Michael comes Gabriel.

And, and an openness to life is here comes life, here comes everything, you know, one thing at a time, but the ripples.

Openness to life is just nothing but a radical submission to the lordship of Christ and a trust that is never betrayed by the Lord.

He always gives us back more than what we gave him, but he always asks us to give him more than we can, you know?

And I think that can be seen in the home.

So it's not just the, the, you know, the woman is open to life or the couple is open to life, but my, my home was a home that was open to life.

We had a large family, but also my home was always...

kids were running through.

Yeah.

So it wasn't just you guys that were open, but you opened your family to that, and, and many people over the decades have experienced life in that.

Yeah.

You know, in, in, in your instance, in our ex- experience, uh, we have this thing where...

extended family.

And so in the last 31 years living here in Steubenville, you know, we've had at least 60 guys mostly live with us.

Yeah.

And they don't just...

They're not just boarders.

They really are, you know, role models for our kids, but they become like sons to us as well.

Well, you've touched their lives in ways that I think only in eternity will you know the full extent of.

Mm-hmm.

And they have blessed us.

Yes, yes, reciprocal.

Life- life gives life.

Yeah.

So we'll be right back with more Franciscan University Presents.

Stay with us.

One of the things that I found super touching in Kimberly's book was just how much she touches on spiritual motherhood and how important that is for even college girls my age, people my age.

We're all trying to figure out a vocation, trying to figure out, you know, what we want to do for the rest of our life and whether we're called to married life or singleness or, um, entering religious life.

You know, spiritual motherhood is so important to practice now.

It's so important to start learning how to care for other people now, so whatever vocation you're called to in the future, that is, you know, what you can emphasize and you can keep learning that and you can start learning how to do that now.

What if you discovered a university with unmatched science, faculty, and programs, a place where you didn't have to choose science over faith?

At Franciscan University of Steubenville, you'll find faith-inspired, student-focused, research-driven programs leading to satisfying careers in medicine, scientific research, engineering, computer science, and many more science and health fields.

At Franciscan University of Steubenville, education is more than just a word.

It's a discovery.

Welcome back and thank you for joining us.

You're watching Franciscan University Presents, which we, we record here at the Comm Arts Studio at Franciscan University in Steubenville.

Our students are operating the cameras and the equipment and members of our theology faculty, Dr. Martin and Dr. Hahn and I are discussing Biblical Wisdom for Family Life with Kimberly.

And Kimberly, as we were talking, um, I- I think a danger or perhaps a fear that some women have is that they're not gonna measure up, that they're not...

I mean, you- you present such a beautiful model of- of being a woman of God, of being a wife, of being a mother, and just because I deal largely with younger moms, there's a fear about that, that they're not gonna measure up.

Mm-hmm.

So maybe speak to that a- and help them be able to alleviate some of that fear for them.

First of all, it- i- it's a very slow process.

Mm-hmm.

So we can- we can take, uh, great joy in knowing I've got a long time to- to learn how to be a mom.

Mm-hmm.

You know, that little baby comes just-

So you don't have to have it all figured out the first day.

You don't have to have it all figured out.

Secondly, we need more mentoring of older women who will come alongside and say, "You know, that- that really is some- a problem that's gonna resolve itself," or-

Right.

...

"You- you actually need to give this a little focus."

Mm-hmm.

"This- this- this could become something-"

Yeah.

"...

you know, that would be a concern," and just giving that balance.

Um, I...

One of the things I offer my daughter and daughters-in-law is on a really tough day, call me and I will set the alarm on my phone and I will pray for you every hour until I go to bed tonight.

Mm-hmm.

And- and they just notice throughout the day, "Okay, Mom already prayed for me this hour."

Mm-hmm.

And there are days where you really feel like, "I don't know how I'm gonna get through this," and all of a sudden, it's the end of the day and you did.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Um, I- I think, uh, when- when I read what Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Saint Theresa of Calcutta said, she was holding a little baby here in the states and she said to the baby, "Why are they so afraid of you?"

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And I think there's an- a lot of fear, whether or not people maybe were- were raised in homes that weren't happy or just how unsettling it is to have one little one so dependent on you.

Um, it does demand a lot, even just to have one child.

And...

But it's not the way our society sees.

Or the way our society sees it is it's- it costs so much.

A burden.

You know?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's such a burden.

But if you read through sacred scripture, children are only and always a blessing.

Right.

And I remember, uh, thinking of your family, Regis, uh, with Psalm 128, where it talks about, um, the Godly man who is surrounded, um, by his wife and children like olive shoots around the table.

You know, you did not set out to say, "Can I afford to have-"

Right, right.

"...

10 children?" But they also didn't all come-

Did we have that many?

You got a look on your face like, "Really?"

They didn't all come at the same time.

None of them did happily.

Right, right.

You know, one at a time, they assist each other.

I mean, there's so much that is missed in evaluating-

Mm-hmm.

...

whether or not, you know, the cost-benefit analysis.

And I would say love is generous, lavish, and even just a little ridiculous.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

And- and it's just...

And- and what child ever, when you make the announcement that another one's on the way, what child ever says, "Oh, another one"?

I mean, it's pandemonium and joy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like it's a party, you know?

And we need- we need to celebrate life.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

You know, I remember when we were homeschooling for more than a quarter of a century, our philosophy was, you know, one year at a time, one kid at a time.

And then what that echoes, one day at a time.

But I remember you also sharing the wisdom of it's like one hour at a time.

Yeah.

One minute at a time, you know?

Right.

Mid-morning, we're already to plan Z.

You have not implemented that list of things that you had set out to do because of all of the things that appear to be distractions, but really constitute your actual vocation as a wife and a mom.

You know, another thing I want to say about this book, Beloved and Blessed, and all four of them, is, uh, I had lunch recently with a couple, and you weren't able to join us, but, uh, the- the woman shared what meaning it is for her to read this, knowing that, you know, she's still raising her kids.

And she said to me, "But Kimberly has run the race." I'm like, "Well, she's not over," you know?

No, but she has raised the kids as a- a wife and as a mother and now a mother-in-law and as a grandmother.

And I think that's what-And it isn't like you're writing and saying, "Just look at me." No, learn from the word of the Lord-

Mm-hmm.

...

as I have.

And, uh, you know, nothing has been more frustrating, I suspect, than being married to me.

And, you know, raising all of the kids.

I mean, nothing is more fulfilling than being married to you, but we've shared those frustrations.

We've shared those fears.

Sure.

We've shared sleepless nights.

Mm-hmm.

You know, and waking up, uh, with all kinds of anxiety and concern, and trying to pray, and struggling.

It isn't like, you know, we're a holy family.

There was only one, and it was in the first century, not-

Yeah.

...

the 21st century.

But wanting to be holy is something that you have never let go of.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And that inspires me.

You know, I don't want to just simply be your husband and hero.

I want to be a saint.

Yeah.

And, and you just re-enkindle that longing in me.

Mm.

Yeah.

Um, because for you, it comes naturally.

For me, it only comes supernaturally.

I, I don't know that there's a wife anywhere who hasn't harbored from time to time a, a furtive, homicidal, uh, impulse, uh, to simply annihilate her husband.

Yeah.

But, but to divorce him is unthinkable.

That's off the table.

We're in this together.

It's an adventure.

And God is a god of surprises.

Yeah.

He may surprise us with a kind of unexpected peace.

Yes.

Bliss, even.

Y- you have a wonderful example.

Well, many of them, but, but this stands out in particular.

I think a couple of weeks after you lost a child, you conceived another.

Ma- maybe that was Joe?

It was Joe.

Yeah.

And, uh, and he had this piercing insight.

Yeah.

He said, uh, "You mean, if, if that child had not been lost, then I wouldn't exist." And you say, "Well, that's right.

You wouldn't." And then he says, "Well, I'm so glad you had both of us, because now there are two that we can celebrate." I mean, that's, that's profound.

Yeah.

And you would not have had that insight, that sunburst, if, if it hadn't been God surprising you with this unexpected fruitfulness.

I mean, a lot of couples would have said, "Look, let's cut our losses.

We've had enough.

Let's try something else.

Let's...

L- let me get a job, find fulfillment, uh, in, in the marketplace." But no.

Mm-hmm.

Maybe we should try this again.

Yeah.

We should be open to the future.

And, and we have lots of limitations.

We really do.

Yeah.

In our, in our backgrounds, our personalities, maybe finances, whatever.

But God can provide what we need.

Yeah.

And I love that passage where Paul, in, um, 2 Corinthians 12, hits this wall.

He's begging God to change something, and he says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Yeah.

So, the question is not, am I strong enough to have 10 children?

Right.

Am I strong enough to be open to life after a miscarriage?

Am I strong enough even to get married?

It is, am I weak enough?

Right.

Am I weak enough to then depend on God?

Yeah.

And of course, as we model this, and we will blow it.

We will model for our children the need to go to confession, as well as-

Right.

...

wonderful moments of insight and holiness.

Yeah.

We also are pointing them in the direction for their own lives, which is embracing grace.

I think one of the struggles we see, in, particularly in social media, and honestly, maybe more with women, uh, is that what is often presented is this perfect image.

Yeah.

Sure.

And, and I always say, turn the camera around, and you can see the chaos.

But maybe just, how do you speak to that?

Yeah.

And then a comparison.

Yes.

And, and I'm not like them, and I think there's...

Yes, because people will treat...

Ad- I mean, I remember one woman coming by my home.

I was, 11:30 in the morning.

I was still in my bathrobe, and she goes, "Well, Kimberly Ons in her bathrobe." And I said, "Yes." And she said, "You, you just fell off your pedestal." And I said, "Then let me be off that pedestal."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who asked to get on there in the first place?

Okay?

Yeah, exactly.

We need models.

Yeah.

So, I can appreciate that.

But at the same time, there isn't a perfect wife and mom-

Yeah.

...

apart from the Blessed Mother and the saints that we can look up with.

You know, Churchill was in his bathrobe till about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

Yeah.

Found the time to win a war.

But it is sort of intimidating, that, that, that, that scripture passage, "Perfect love casts out fear." And you think to yourself, is my love perfect enough?

But really, it's not about you.

Christ is perfect love.

Let him cast out the fear.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And, and if I could just speak to the fear aspect, 'cause we were talking on the break about that.

This crisis of COVID is, seems to be somewhat unique in a variety of ways, but a key one is typically when people go through a major crisis, like a tornado, a hurricane, uh, an earthquake-

Blizzard.

...

a blizzard, they'll say nine months later, they're seeing all these babies at the hospital that are blizzard babies, you know?

Here, we had COVID, where people were home for months and months together, and they're seeing a decline in population from one side of COVID to where we are right now.

And I guess I just want to say, don't let fear-

Right.

...

be what motivates you...

Or paralyzes you, yeah.

...

or, or paralyzes you.

Lead with faith.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, we've never, we've never had the perfect time-

Yeah.

...

to have a child.

Well, if you're on a smartphone, lost in cyberspace, you're not likely to be making love, making babies.

You know, these people have no future.

It's, it's sterilizing.

It's also paralyzing.

I think that fear...

Mm-hmm.

...

has so overwhelmed, so disarmed so many people that they're literally afraid of the future.

That's what neurosis is.

Yeah.

They need therapy.

I'm gonna say something rather risky, because I, I remember reading in Saint Thomas Aquinas that, you know, there's a tendency of women toward vainglory.

Uh, vanity, you know?

And I suspect that is the wellspring for the whole cosmetic industry.

Because, you know, we need models, but we didn't, don't need models walking down, you know, that-

Runway.

...

runway, yeah.

W- we don't need cover girls.

Um, you know, what we, what we recognize is that, um, we ought to be looking to our own mothers or to our grandmothers or to a woman of God.

You know, I...

...

I remember sitting with you in the cabin with Dr. Billy Graham and Ruth-

Mm-hmm.

...

for a few hours.

It was an amazing time.

It was an enchanted afternoon.

But they were so down to earth, you know?

Yeah.

And he was a model for me at the time when I was a Protestant minister, and she was a model for you, I'm sure.

You know, and to echo what you said a few minutes ago, you know, she's famously quoted as saying, you know, "He was gone sometimes for weeks and months, you know, did you ever think of divorcing him?" She said, "It never crossed my mind.

Shooting him, yes."

Yes.

You know, the frustrations are real-

Yeah.

...

and especially when the absences or the tensions are there.

Yeah.

But the idea of modeling is not about, "How do I look?" You know.

Because frankly, I, I can't speak for all men, but I think most men don't really care how much makeup you have, you know?

It has much more to do with, you know, "How do I look compared to other women?" You know, it's like, "Timeout.

Get over it."

It's like, "There is not a-"

That comparison is just so futile and so...

Yeah.

...

you know?

And you'll always find, I find, y- you will always, y- you know, find a woman who cooks better than you, who cleans-

Right.

...

better than you, who, who does anything better than you.

Mm-hmm.

And so either your takeaway is, "What can I learn from her?" Or...

How do I-

I'm not enough.

Or, "I'm not enough."

Yeah.

Right.

And it, it's like-

Very fair.

...

yes.

Yeah.

And God, again, has not made a mistake.

You are unique.

Mm-hmm.

Your marriage is unique.

Yeah.

Your children are unique.

The, the, the, the fixation on what you might call cosmetic reconstruction is really obsessive and it's unhealthy.

I mean, my, my own wife, the thing that I'm looking for in her is a smile.

Oh, yeah.

If she bestows this smile.

Mm-hmm.

I- in fact, that smile is, I think, diminished if she's wearing lipstick or rouge.

Th- th- those are all distractions, but the face that God made.

Yeah.

That's what I'm looking for.

Yes.

And it's there.

And she is beautiful.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And I think so many things have gone on recently, w- particularly in marriage and what is marriage, and I actually as a preacher, I've, uh, liked that.

It's allowed me to preach more-

Mm-hmm.

...

about what is marriage and what is uniquely-

Mm.

...

uh, unique about Christian marriage.

And you've said a couple of times, Scott, and I believe it's fundamentally true, and that is, it is, it is supernatural.

It is.

It's simply what the Lord is inviting you guys to do with your spouses and your families is supernatural.

And I'm reminded what the catechism says about marriage, that the Holy Spirit is ever available-

Yeah.

...

to the couple.

And, and maybe just speak to that, how the Spirit of God, in moments of difficulty-

Mm-hmm.

...

has been present to you and helped you.

Yes.

So in moments of unspeakable joy-

Mm-hmm.

...

and in great grief and sorrow, I, I, I call on that Romans 8 passage where the Holy Spirit interprets, interprets our very spirit to the Father, and, and, and puts into words what I don't know how to articulate, whether it's v- very deep joy or very deep sorrow.

Um, He enables us, if we pause, to give us perspective, to, to look at the child who's just disappointed us and to be able to look at that child through his eyes and to then extend grace so that I can reflect the Holy Spirit to that particular child.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and then all of the ways in which I see the Holy Spirit bringing peace and joy and order out of the chaos, you know?

It's-

That's great.

That's what we can do in our homes.

Yeah.

I think there are a lot of ways-

Amen.

...

to share the Holy Spirit.

And up next, our panel and our guests will share their final thoughts on biblical wisdom for family life.

Stay with us.

An important topic that Kimberly brought up that I feel was very vital was the fact that women very often compare themselves to each other, and that it makes them feel insecure in themselves.

But I really thought that it was wonderful that she pointed out that instead of feeling low or feeling bad about yourself, it's important to learn from other women.

An important takeaway I received from what Kimberly had to say was her emphasis on sisterhood and how we can live that now even as students.

Um, and, and that means taking care of your fellow sisters, um, but as well as receiving help from your sisters.

Um, and I think it was a really important point that I haven't really heard that often, um, and it's something that we could do right now as students.

There is a place where education begins and faith and reason connect.

Franciscan University of Steubenville's online programs will advance your career through an e-learning experience that's both academically excellent and passionately Catholic.

With online degrees taught by full-time professors in theology, catechists, business, education, and other disciplines, you can earn your master's degree online without changing your lifestyle.

Find out more today at franciscan.edu, where your faith and career can connect online.

Welcome back to Franciscan University Presents.

We've come to our final segment.

So Regis, if you could start us off with some final thoughts.

Yeah.

Uh, Kimberly, thank you so much for, for this book and for your life, the witness of your, your life, your marriage, your family.

Um, some people, I, I think, might regard you as impossibly perfect.

Um, and, and, you know, how can I-

Tell my husband.

Or your confessor.

We'll have the kids come in next.

Or my confessor or my children.

You know, "How can I begin to approach this paradigm of, uh-"

Yeah.

"...

of the ideal wife and mother?

So I'll just give it up." But in fact, what struck me throughout the book were the times that you fell to your knees.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, one endearing example is, i- it may have been, uh, Gabriel.

I, I, I could be mistaken, but you, you have to discipline all of those boys much of the time.

And this particular occasion- ...

you sent him out of his room, and when he comes back, he says, "I don't want to go to heaven."

Yeah.

And you say, "What does that have to do with anything?" And he says, "Because if I go, I would have to spend eternity with you." ...

I mean, it, it dropped you to your knees.

It was so humbling.

That wa- that was a moving moment.

Um, let me, let me end with, with this, uh, uh, little, uh, vignette, because my wife isn't here.

She's sort of like the fifth wheel, but she's here in spirit, and, uh, she and I had dinner the other night, and, uh, she turned to me and said, "What is your favorite virtue?" And, uh, instantly, I said, "The virtue of hope." And I, I, I described the image of the little girl that, uh, Peggy exclaims about who walks down the boulevard between her two big sisters, and everybody thinks this frail child, uh, is, is helpless, and Faith and Charity have to sustain her, when in fact it's Hope who shoulders the burden of these other two virtues.

So, I gave her a little disquisition on hope, and then I said, "Well, darling, what's your favorite virtue?" And she said, "Compassion."

Mm-hmm.

And she said, "What I really think about Jesus is God came all the way into this world so that He might weep, so that He might cry, uh, for the children that, that He created." I mean, that, that just blew me away.

That is astounding.

He comes so close to us that he, that he has tears.

I mean, what, what, you know, th- the episode with Lazarus, here is Jesus, the Word, the eternal Son of God, weeping because his friend has died.

That's compassion and suffering with.

And I think that's what mothers and fathers are expected to do, to be this extension of, of the tears of God.

Mm-hmm.

Thank you.

Thank you, Regis.

Scott?

I feel like Tevye, you know, on the one hand, on the other hand.

On, on the one hand, you know, people come up to me and say, "What's it like to be married to her," you know?

"Uh, I've read her books, I've heard her talks," you know?

And what I say is, "You have no idea.

You think she, she's, she's lived it out, you know, more than she's written it up and she's spoken," and so it really is an honor.

She's not perfect, but I tell ya, I am perfectly blessed to have you.

And yet at the, on the other hand, it, it took me years.

Mm-hmm.

A- a- and I'm still learning this, but I remember it took me really 10 years before I finally blurted out one day after a stupid fight, "I've never gone wrong trusting you, and I've never done right distrusting you." Even when I could prove through a syllogism that you're wrong and I'm right, I ended up being more wrong, you know?

And to suddenly discover and then to rediscover it, you know?

And I'm ashamed to say hundreds of times I've had to relearn this, that we're not competition, you know?

We are, you know...

We're on the same team.

And, uh, you know, that rediscovery is, for me, so exciting.

But at the same time, I, I have to admit that talking to husbands, men who are fathers and all of that, they're easily threatened by strong women.

It's like, "Threatened?

You're completed," you know?

"Get over yourself." And, you know, I'm not threatened by your restraints, I'm completed.

You know, we're not threatened by our five sons and our one daughter, you know?

The fact that Michael's not only more intelligent, more disciplined, and more virtuous than me.

I couldn't be more grateful and proud of all of that.

And, and so I, I think that once we recognize that, as Dr. Thielman said, we deserve each other.

You know we didn't.

I never could deserve you.

But we need each other, and we complement each other, and we complete each other.

But it's never easy, but it's always fruitful.

And so, not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.

Amen.

Amen.

Thanks, Scott.

Yeah.

Kimberly, your final thoughts.

Yeah, just a couple of thoughts.

One, I've always taken great, uh, consolation in the fact that at the end of Proverbs 31, her children rise up and call her blessed, and that means that's years down the road.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so there's a lot of time.

There's a lot of time to, to get things better on track, to better time management, home management, everything.

Um, so give yourself the time and the grace that God gives you.

Be patient with yourself.

And secondly, a call to older women to come alongside the younger women to find those ways to support, encourage, um, maybe take over a meal, maybe offer to have the children come over to the house.

And, uh, I'm so looking forward to more on-site grandparenting soon-

Mm-hmm.

...

um, with Hannah's family moving back to our area and seeing what small things I can do to help with just the, the pressures of normal family life.

Sure.

You know?

Good.

And, and then increase the joy, decrease some of the challenge.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much.

Yeah.

Uh, if you'd like to learn more about today's topic, we have an article that Kimberly's done for us on, uh, priorities and how you settle priorities.

It was written by Kimberly.

It's yours free if you simply go online to faithandreason.com or call the number you're gonna see at the screen below.

Uh, as in, in much of this conversation and discussion, I've been thinking obviously about my mom, and it would seem reasonable, right?

Yeah.

That I think about my mom, and-

Sure.

...

and I have, I think...

Perhaps my father's my best friend, and he's just been just such a rock in my life, um, and I am because of him, but I'm also very much because of my mother, and-

Mm-hmm.

...

and just being able to see my mom, my mom struggles with MS.

Wow.

And in some ways she's the toughest lady I know.

But, uh, I just reflect on, on who I am as a priest.

Mm-hmm.

And, and, and oftentimes I think we focus on perhaps the manliness of a priest, but it was, it was the feminine......

caring and love, and concern that my mother had for me that was, it was transformative.

My parents made the decision, uh, to not have my mom work outside of the house.

And there were five boys and one girl in my family, and-

Oh.

...

and, uh, she was amazing, and, and being able to come home and rest with that.

And, and I'm just so grateful for the ways that she taught me, uh, what it is to be a man, and, and it's, we can learn what it is to be a man by our moms.

Hmm.

And, and what it is to love, and, and how it is to forgive.

And I think, I, I always share, uh, one of the greatest stories that I have is, uh, we were having a family night, a family prayer time, and my mom and dad were sharing, uh, that the Lord was the center of their life, and that their relationship with one another was next, and we come in third place.

And as a kid, it's like, "Who wants to be third," right?

And I now understand that the greatest gift my mom and dad gave me-

Yeah.

...

was that.

Yes.

Was that.

Third place.

They, they, they modeled for me that Christ has to be in the center of my life.

And, and he was the center of my family's life, and, and I saw that lived out.

The other thing that was beautiful was, um, my mother and father living out weakness.

And, and I remember mom and dad apologizing to the kids, and there was something beautiful about that, that they didn't always have to have it right.

I remember going as a family, and mom and dad in line for confession.

Hmm.

That, that we were doing this.

There was a sense that we were doing this family thing together, and it was with the Lord in the manner.

And it just, a great grace.

So for your invitation, and, and your inviting us to pray and reflect about that today, we're very, very grateful.

So we want everyone to know that you are in our prayers.

Uh, family life is wonderful and blessed, and difficult, and a struggle, so we just offer a prayer now for all of the families out there.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love for us, and we thank you that you have called us by name, and that by your grace, and by your anointing, uh, you have brought us into relationship with you.

We thank you for your Son, Jesus, who has saved us and redeemed us.

Father, I ask your blessing upon all women, uh, all mothers, all spouses, all children, grandchildren, that they know your love and your peace, your care and your protection, and that you continue to breathe life in them.

I ask Almighty God to bless them, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thank you.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Download a free handout on today's topic at faithandreason.com, where you can also watch past episodes of Franciscan University Presents.

Or request a handout by emailing us at [email protected], or reach us by phone for today's handout by calling 800-783-6447.

That's 800-783-6447.