For Jamie, Carol, and Jack
Mother-Wounded AllStanding gold amid the drossBright chests of wonder
Don’t let your sins turn into bad habits. — St. Teresa of Ávila
—
Don’t let your bad habits turn into sins. — Elizabeth Scalia
Contents
“Treat Yo’self!”: When Small Indulgences Take Over
Deliberate Spite or Passive Aggression
Clinging to Our Narratives Beyond Their Usefulness
Half-Assing It, aka “Phoning It In”
Acknowledgments
Scripture quotations are from the following versions:
• Revised Standard Version of the Bible — Second Catholic Edition (Ignatius Edition) (RSV), copyright © 2006 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
• New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition (NRSV), copyright © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
• New American Bible, revised edition (NAB), copyright © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
• Psalm texts (except Psalms 117 and 119) are from The Psalms: A New Translation, copyright © 1963 The Grail (England).
• Psalm 119 is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal, copyright © 2010 International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation (ICEL). Excerpts from the English translation of Liturgy of the Hours, copyright © 1973, 1974, 1975, ICEL. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, quotations from papal and other Vatican-generated documents available on vatican.va are copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for use in the United States of America, copyright © 1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. — Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica, copyright © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. — Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Introduction
When Bert Ghezzi approached me about writing this book, I gave him a bemused look and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I am a walking, breathing billboard for bad habits, and a cautionary tale against little sins, unattended and left to run rampant.”
“Perhaps
