Extra! Extra! Rooted at Home has a new weekly newsletter — and I am so excited to finally offer it.
Welcome to The Rooted Roundup — a weekly gathering of the small, rich moments that make up our family’s life. And while I will always write long-form essays (you’ll find a link to one in every issue!), those require extended quiet windows of time — of which I have very little. Three boys home for the summer, a multigenerational household with its own specific demands, and a full and happy daily rhythm leave me with something better than quiet: more material.
Because here is the thing: the interruptions ARE the story. Just this week, we found a monstrance in a field. I’ve been reading with my boys about the courage of a medieval mouse. And late one evening I stumbled into Matt Maher’s music — ancient liturgy wrapped in something completely new. These are the moments I want to share — the books, the music, the conversations that stop you cold, the things that reminded me that an ordinary life, faithfully lived, is full of glory.
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ONE · ON THE LITURGICAL CALENDAR
Peter, Paul, and the Bible on Our Table
One of the best ways of understanding our Christian heritage is by following the Church calendar. As a newer Catholic, I have found that writing about these feast days — right here in this newsletter — has become one of the most meaningful ways I learn. And an unexpected gift: my husband and my boys are learning right alongside me.
Today is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time — but look at what’s coming tomorrow. I’m talking about the two gentlemen in the painting above.
Monday, June 29th is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul — the highest rank of feast day in the Catholic liturgical calendar, above feasts and memorials. The Church is saying: stop and pay attention, this one matters.
Peter was the fisherman Jesus renamed the Rock, entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom and the leadership of the whole Church. Paul was a Pharisee and persecutor of Christians — until Christ stopped him cold on the road to Damascus and chose him to carry his name to the Gentiles. In the painting you can see it — Peter’s keys, Paul’s sword.
“You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.” — Matthew 16:18
Peter and Paul — the shepherd and the missionary. Christ gave Peter the keys and the charge to feed his sheep. Paul carried the Gospel to the Gentiles. Different roles, same mission, same Lord. Both ended up in Rome. Both gave their lives for it. Which is why the Church has honored them together on this date since at least the third century.
In our house, we recently moved the Bible over to the living room coffee table. Side note — our coffee table has wheels, so it gets moved when there is a game of tag! But when that table is rolled back to the middle, I love to browse the day’s readings as I pass by. It has become one of my favorite small habits.
Open your Bible tomorrow to: Matthew 16:13–19 · Acts 9:1–9 · Acts 12:1–11
(Sometimes I put a sticky note on a page of scripture to help my boys find the verses. They each really enjoyed being chosen to “scroll” down the page and then read outloud a few verses.)
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TWO · WHAT WE’RE READING
Redwall, by Brian Jacques
My boys and I are exploring the summer reading list from the Catholic school they will attend in the fall. A whole world of books that were never on our radar before! We cracked this one open this week and I did not expect to feel so personally invested in a medieval mouse.
“It was the start of the Summer of the Late Rose.”
A brave young mouse named Matthias, an ancient abbey, a villainous rat, and the kind of adventure story that makes everyone want to stay up past bedtime. Jamie especially loves how courageous is Matthias!
Brian Jacques wrote 22 books in the Redwall world, each one set in or around the abbey with different heroes across different eras — mostly standalone, so there’s no pressure to read them in order. Jacques wrote the first book to read aloud to children at a school for the blind in Liverpool, which is why every page is so especially sensory. While he passed away in 2011, he left a fully created world filled with abbey feasts, brave mice, and villains you will love to hate.
The animated series is also available on BRAVE+, the family streaming app curated by parents and built to be ad-free and worry-free. A lovely double — read the book, then watch the show.
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THREE · WHAT I’M LEARNING
Matt Maher and Liturgical Music
Matt Maher’s music has been my bridge into the world of liturgical music. Even carrying twenty-plus years of choral and opera training, I was still overwhelmed by the long tradition of Catholic liturgical singing. Matt Maher’s contemporary settings gave me a way in — a way to experience these ancient songs both prayerfully and on my own terms.
His setting of the Lord’s Prayer was the moment I took a second look — and that was back in my non-denominational days. His music has traveled into every corner of both Catholic and Protestant churches, and for good reason. Many a late evening I found myself going deeper into his library of meditations and sung prayers. His praise and worship style draws you in easily, and his settings of liturgy and ancient text are, for a newcomer like me, both accessible and genuinely moving.
He also wrote The In Between for Season 3 of The Chosen — a song born from a single line spoken by Mary Magdalene in the very first episode: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between … was him.” Maher filmed the music video on the actual set of The Chosen in Capernaum. If you haven’t heard it, find it. It is the kind of song that stops you mid-scroll.
Much of his music lives on Hallow — the Catholic prayer and meditation app that many describe as the Calm or Headspace for Catholics. It offers audio-guided prayer, the Rosary, daily Gospel reflections, music, sleep stories, and so much more. A free version is available, and it is genuinely one of the most useful tools I’ve found as a new Catholic trying to build a daily prayer life.
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FOUR · FROM THE ARCHIVE
Did you know that June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus? It’s one of those long-standing traditions in the Catholic faith that I have loved discovering as a newer Catholic — a whole month to refocus our hearts, and our children’s hearts, on the love of Christ.
A Sacred Heart prayer card had been sitting on my shelf for nearly a year before I finally stopped and picked it up — during one of the harder seasons our family has walked through. My essay “His Heart on My Shelf” is about what happened when I did. Because there is something about this month, and this devotion, that reminds us that Jesus does not stand at a distance from our sorrow. He walks straight into it by our side, through all the trauma and heartache.
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FIVE · A MOMENT WITH MY BOYS
The Monstrance Flower
This week I took my boys to a nearby park with a beautiful field of wildflowers. There are so many this year, we’ve had so much rain!
“Oh look,” I said, “a little monstrance!”
As I prepared to explain, he added: “and there’s the wine and the bread.”
Yes, sweetheart. That’s close enough. ❤️
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SIX · A PRAYER
Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, I consecrate myself — my person, my life, my actions, joys, and sorrows — to you. Grant that all the desires of my heart and senses be ever in conformity with your divine will. May I never cease to love you.
— Act of Consecration to the Sacred Heart
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FROM OUR HOME
A Note on Gjyshi
Some of you have been with Gjyshi since his first dialysis session — the one I wrote about in And That Was Enough. He has continued going faithfully, three times a week. This week he reached a significant milestone: his body was finally strong enough to undergo the cardiac tests needed to plan his heart surgery, which is coming soon. Erjon and I will hear the results this week. We are taking it one day at a time. Please keep him in your prayers.
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It means more than you know that you’re here. See you next Sunday.
“Do small things with great love.” — St. Teresa of Calcutta