PRAISE FOR BELOVED AND BLESSED
A beautiful book packed with practical ideas and moving insights. Beloved and Blessed covers everything from the most intimate aspects of the marital relationship, to the basics of kids' budgeting, to coping with trials and tragic loss. A welcome addition to the Life-Nurturing Love series which keeps getting better and better.
Karen Edmisten, author, The Rosary: Keeping Company With Jesus and Mary
When you read Kimberly Hahn you cant help but feel you are receiving the best advice from a wise and cherished friend. With good humor and joy, Kimberly offers Christ-centered teaching from the heart of the Church in her unique maternal-nurturing way. Beloved and Blessed is one of the most important witnesses in recent times on how to truly live out Gods design for marriage.
Kris McGregor, Spirit Catholic Radio, Morning Show cohost and producer
I heartily recommend Beloved and Blessed to women (men too!) who are trying to confront, in a fruitful and faithful way, the many challenges to Christian family life today. At once biblical and highly personal, it is filled with lively anecdotes and combines a firm knowledge of Christian tradition with sound common sense and lots of loving, hard-won experience.
Evelyn Birge Vitz, author, A Continual Feast: A Cookbook to Celebrate the Joys of Family and Faith Throughout the Christian Year
Kimberly Hahn opens the door to her own home and invites us in. She draws from Proverbs 31 and her wisdom from the trenches to tenderly and honestly discuss intimacy, nurturing affection with our spouse, finances, education, sharing family faith, and disciplining our children in the heart of the Catholic home. Beloved and Blessed will enrich your understanding of married and family life and youll be very glad you stopped in for the visit.
Donna-Marie Cooper OBoyle, author, The Domestic Church: Room by Room
This comprehensive guide for marital relations, homemaking, family life, and parenting is written in a winsome, fresh, understandable, and practical style. Kimberly Hahn keeps the book personal as she shares her own struggles and successes. The discussion on fertility in light of eternity is worth the price of the book several times over. In a world where confusion abounds regarding marriage, family life, sexuality, and the goodness of children, Beloved and Blessed is a reliable and faithful witness to the truth. I urge every family to obtain a copy.
Steve Wood, president, Family Life Center International
In our book, Raising Money-Smart Kids, my wife and I outlined a system of teaching money management that we used with our five children. Kimberly Hahn has taken it to a new level. As I read her chapter about how she and her husband trained their children to manage money, I was so encouraged to see a great refinement on the process that my wife and I taught in our original book. I would recommend Beloved and Blessed for that chapter alone, but as I reviewed the manuscript I saw such a wealth of marriage and parenting principles that I can recommend it whole-heartedly to all who are seeking a godly marriage and family.
Ronald W. Blue, president, Kingdom Advisors
ALSO BY KIMBERLY HAHN
Catholic Education: Homeward Bound: A Useful Guide to Catholic Home Schooling (with Mary Hasson)
Graced and Gifted: Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage
Chosen and Cherished: Biblical Wisdom for the Homemakers Heart
Genesis to Jesus: Studying Scripture from the Heart of the Church (with Michael Barber)
Life-Giving Love: Embracing Gods Beautiful Design for Marriage
Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (with Scott Hahn)
RESCRIPT
In accord with the Code of Canon Law , I hereby grant my permission to publish Beloved and Blessed: Biblical Wisdom for Family Life .
Most Reverend R. Daniel Conlon
Bishop
Diocese of Steubenville
Steubenville, Ohio
October 19, 2009
The permission to publish is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the permission to publish agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture passages have been taken from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic edition. Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture passages marked NAB are from the New American Bible With Revised New Testament and Psalms. Copyright 1991, 1986, 1970 by the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, D.C. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Note: The editors of this volume have made minor changes in capitalization to some of the Scripture quotations herein. Please consult the original source for proper capitalization.
Quotes are taken from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America (indicated as CCC), 2nd ed. Copyright 1997 by United States Catholic ConferenceLibreria Editrice Vaticana.
Cover and book production by Mark Sullivan
Cover image: Agnolo Bronzino, The Holy Family
Photo credit: Alinari / Art Resource, NY
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hahn, Kimberly.
Beloved and blessed : Biblical wisdom for family life / Kimberly Hahn.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 978-0-86716-945-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. FamiliesReligious life. 2. FamiliesBiblical teaching. 3. Catholic ChurchDoctrines. I. Title.
BX2351.H33 2010
248.845dc22
2009047162
ISBN 978-0-86716-945-4
E-BOOK ISBN 978-1-61636-315-4
Copyright 2010, Kimberly Hahn. All rights reserved.
Published by Servant Books, an imprint of St. Anthony Messenger Press.
28 W. Liberty St.
Cincinnati, OH 45202
www.ServantBooks.org
To Hannah, my daughterfor the joy of sharing life with another girl all of these years, and for your love for eachmember of our family
To Sarah, my first daughter-by-covenantfor the gift you are to each of us, and especially for the ways you love my son, Gabriel, my first granddaughter, Veronica Margaret, and the little one on the way
To Ana, my second daughter-by-covenantfor the gift you are to each of us, and especially for the ways you love my son, Michael, and my second granddaughter, Naomi Therese
Special thanks to Kathy McQuaig for her editorial help, to Julieta Robbins for her words of encouragement and delicious meals so I could write, and to Pat Decker for her help with the manuscript, along with other dear friends who have prayed for me throughout this project.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
W elcome to the third installment of the Life-Nurturing Love series! Before we begin, allow me to offer a quick overview.
Proverbs 31 records the instructions of a queen mother to her son, King Lemuel, so that she can guide him as he selects a wife. She wants him to understand the characteristics of a godly woman, who can make the difference not only in his life but also in the well-being of the kingdom. Her instructions help other men consider carefully who they will marry, and they help women discern attributes to cultivate in their lives.
We are treating Proverbs 31 in a way similar to a table of contents, so that we can look at a variety of Scriptures that address these characteristics and how they can be developed. In the first series of six studies, Chosen and Cherished: Biblical Wisdom for Your Marriage , we studied Proverbs 31:10-12:
Who can find a good wife?