33. Bibles and Birkins: A Busy Mother's Guide to Lent, Practical tips for time-starved mothers and for beginners

What could a multi-million dollar Hermès Birkin bag possibly teach us about our Catholic faith? As it turns out, quite a lot. The way collectors prize, protect, and see these luxury handbags appreciate in value mirrors how we should view our familly, our spiritual life, and our vocation as wives and mothers —especially during the sacred season of Lent.

For busy women, finding time for prayer often feels impossible. Yet carving out just 15 minutes at the beginning and end of each day can transform our relationship with God. Prayer doesn't require perfect silence or uninterrupted solitude; it can happen while washing dishes, commuting on the subway, or feeding a baby. Just as a Birkin bag retains its value and can appreciate in value over time with loving care and protection of this prized asset, our daily tasks become pathways to sanctification when offered to God with love. It will also contribute to the development and enrichment of our relationship with God, and to our families.

The podcast invites listeners to consider a media fast this Lent—perhaps the most countercultural sacrifice in our digital age. By setting app limits or deleting social platforms altogether, we break free from comparison, perfectionism, and the dopamine hits of so-called "vanity metrics" of the number of likes and followers we get on our social media pages and accounts. 

This digital detoxification creates space for gratitude, genuine human connection, and deeper spiritual focus. Complemented by practical suggestions for almsgiving through decluttering, preparing extra food for those in need, and giving up unhealthy habits, this episode offers realistic guidance for mothers seeking to journey meaningfully toward Calvary, and towards Easter. Whether you're balancing career demands or managing a household full-time, these Lenten practices will help you invest in what truly matters—your eternal soul and those entrusted to your care. 

Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube Channel to help us spread the word about our podcast apostolate. Please share with a mother or friend who would benefit from the messages in this episode, and please join us in being brave, bold, and blessed this Lenten season.

Books mentioned: 

1) "The Way of the Cross" by St. Josemaria Escriva

https://escriva.org/en/via-crucis/1/

https://opusdei.org/en-ng/article/the-way-of-the-cross/

(with audio, and links to purchase the book)

2) "Media Fasting: Six Weeks to Recharge in Christ" by Sister Nancy Usselmann, FSP

https://paulinestore.ca/media-fasting.html

Have a Blessed Lent!

If you would like to help us and find our podcast useful for your spiritual life, please consider subscribing to our podcast and YouTube channel, and writing a five-star review, if it warrants it. This would help us spread the word. Thank you and God bless!

Would you like to help us reach 1,000 subscribers on YouTube? We are almost halfway there! We would be most grateful! Thank you! This would help us make the podcast financially sustainable, and to enable us to continue to bring you content that enriches your spiritual life. Thank you and God bless!

Online references: 

To see what the $2 mill

Chapters

• 1:29 Prayer for the Lenten Journey
• 1:48 What does the Birkin bag teach us about investment in our spiritual life?
• 3:14 Marriage and Motherhood: A Noble Vocation
• 6:05 Prayer, Media Fasting, and Gratitude
• 10:22 Practical Steps for a Meaningful Lent
• 12:58 Fasting and Personal Growth
• 13:33 Concluding Thoughts and Blessings

Transcript

Sheila Nonato: 0:00

Birkins are a girl's best friend. The luxe bag by the iconic French fashion house Hermes has been a fan favourite of the uber-rich and influencer fashionistas, both as a fashion accessory and an investment piece. The most expensive Birkin sold, for $2 million (US), a miniature bag adorned with nearly 3,000 diamonds. It was intended to be worn as a bracelet, not a handbag. Depending on the condition of the bag, hermes Birkins usually retain their value or can cost double or more over time. What does the popularity and long-term value of the Birkin bag teach us about our faith as Christians? What do we need to invest in in order to be better disciples of Christ? Let's have a short conversation about a busy mom's beginner guide for Lent.

Sheila Nonato: 1:01

Hello and welcome to the Veil and Armour podcast. This is your host, sheila Nonato. I'm a stay-at-home mom and a freelance Catholic journalist Seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Our Lady. I strive to tell stories that inspire, illuminate and enrich the lives of Catholic women, to help them in living out our vocation of raising the next generation of leaders and saints.

Co-Host: 1:24

Please join us every week on the Veil and Armour podcast, where stories come alive through a journalist's lens and mother's heart.

Sheila Nonato: 1:31

Hello sisters in Christ, welcome to our next episode of the Veil and Armour podcast. It's going to be a mini-sode which I'm going to be borrowing from Christy Walker, the Catholic Sobriety Coach, because the next episode is not yet quite ready, and I thought I would just offer this short reflection for Lent. And let's start off with a prayer I'm going to be reading from "The Way of the Cross by St Josemaria Escriva, and it's by Scepter Press. This is the opening prayer In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen, my Lord and my God, under the loving eyes of our mother, we are making ready to accompany you along this path of sorrow, which was the price for our redemption. We wish to suffer all that you suffered, to offer you our poor, contrite hearts, because you're innocent and yet you're going to die for us, who are the only really guilty ones. My mother, virgin of sorrows, help me to relive those bitter hours which your son wished to spend on earth, so that we, who were made from a handful of clay, may finally live in libertatum gloriae filiorum Dei, in the freedom and the glory of the children of God. Amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Sheila Nonato: 2:54

And in this episode I'm sort of going to be combining something in the news trendy, but try to apply it to the practical. The practical of the everyday busy life of a mom, a working mom, a stay-at-home mom. And so let's go into it. And so let's talk about the Birkin bag. Have you ever heard of the Birkin bag? Neither had I until I started seeing videos of second-hand Birkins popping up on my social media feed. It's a luxury bag worth the price of a car, a house or a college education, and you just can't buy a bag from the Hermes store. You have to be on a list for several years before you can have the privilege of buying one, and there's no choice of the colour or the style or design. You get what you get, which is why there's a booming secondhand Birkin bag business around, and there's now a Walmart or a copycat version of the Birkin bag taking social media by storm For less than $100, they're calling it the " bag for the work-in class. That's clever.

Sheila Nonato: 4:09

Now, what does that have to do with us Catholic moms? Our children, our family, our home, our vocation as mothers? These are our pride and joy, our blessings. Society may not value children, but our family, our children, are our legacy. The way that people prize and invest in the Birkin, we mothers also must see how our vocation within the family is so important.

Sheila Nonato: 4:37

We shouldn't look down upon ourselves and what we do in the home. The dishes, the dirty diapers, reheating meals they are all a path to sanctification, our path to heaven. Of course, our children are not our possessions. They are on loan to us from God, if you will. We are their caretakers and role models until they leave our home to pursue their own vocation and careers and, if called by God, to have their own families. We invest our time, our hard work, prayers, our efforts into our families, into raising our children to aim for heaven. We invest our time into becoming a good partner to our husbands, to making a beautiful and comfortable home and to make wise financial decisions about the family budget. And if someone at a dinner party asks what we do, we shouldn't be embarrassed to say we are a stay-at-home mom or a working mom. We can proudly say that we perform the duties of a CEO and a COO. It's not a fair comparison, but this is our Birkin and actually worth even more. There is no price for women's work inside or outside the home. Think of your mother when you left home. How much did you miss her home cooking. Uber Eats certainly doesn't compare. While there are gourmet ingredients, the mother's love is sorely lacking.

Sheila Nonato: 6:07

What does this all have to do with Lent? Lent is also an investment, an investment in our spiritual life. There are three key parts to Lent prayer, almsgiving and fasting and I'm going to delve a little deeper in an upcoming interview with my daughter. But for starters, let's try to lay the foundation for a good Lent. How do we, as busy women, have time for prayer? This might sound difficult, but let's try to aim to set time for God in the morning 15 minutes if possible or more, and another 15 at the end of the day. We can do our prayer in the subway. We can do it while we're doing dishes chores, while we're feeding the baby. We can do it while we're doing dishes chores, while we're feeding the baby. And another way to buy back time is I invite you and this is also very difficult for me to do to do a phone fast or a media fast, social media fast. It doesn't have to be a total break. We can also break it up or we could wean off of it slowly so we can break these chains of addiction. We know that dopamine hits. This is what gets us. When we see the likes, we see the number of followers, these what they call our vanity metrics end.

Sheila Nonato: 7:35

We really should be focusing on. How are we contributing to promoting good, to spreading the good news on social media, and also are we using it to communicate with family members who are not living near us? But are we communicating with them so that they are connected to our family, to the grandchildren, to nieces and nephews? We can also use social media in that way to create more bonds of family and connection and communication. We rely less on AI and we become more human.

Sheila Nonato: 8:07

We can let go of comparison and perfectionism. We can let go of comparison and perfectionism and I used to go on instagram and look at all these beautiful pictures and how you know, I don't look like that. I wish I looked like a supermodel. Or, um, I wish I could cook. Uh, this five-star gourmet meal or my house is not as immaculate as that. But why do we have to compare when we should? Maybe we should have adopt a spirit of gratitude.

Sheila Nonato: 8:32

So in the episode with Mrs. Tammy Peterson and Queenie Yu. Father Eric Nicolai, a priest of Opus Dei, had counseled Mrs Peterson, had invited her to pray on gratitude when she was going through the cross of her illness, and maybe we should adapt that, too. We should try to see how can being grateful, how can having a grateful heart, help us to develop a stronger, stronger spiritual life, a stronger prayer life. And so, practically speaking, how do we buy back this time on the phone? Is we put app limits? So this is what I have done in the past? Is I don't know your settings, it depends on the phone. Is we put app limits? So this is what I have done in the past? Is I don't know your settings? It depends on the phone, but you can put limits on certain apps. Or I actually have totally just deleted some apps so that I the temptation is not there. I mean, of course I can still go to the computer, but right away on the phone it's not available.

Sheila Nonato: 9:30

You can also, during this time of prayer, you can, if you have a hard time focusing, you can read a passage of scripture and you can pray on that, or you can just sit in silence. It's very difficult nowadays, with all the noise and distractions to do that. You can also read about the lives of the saints, a spiritual book. Like I read "he Way of the Cross by St. Josemaria Escriva Earlier, there's also actually this great book by the Pauline sisters. It's called Media Fasting Six Weeks to Recharge in Christ and the foreword is by Jonathan Rumi. It is written by Sister Nancy Usselman. I'm sorry, sister, if I pronounced your last name incorrectly, but this is from Pauline Media and it goes through a beautiful. It beautifully lays out how to do this. Firstly, having a media fast plan. And I encourage you, if you would like to sort of have a step-by-step guide on how to detach from social media during this Lent to recharge your spiritual life, please do Get your hands on this book.

Sheila Nonato: 10:38

And so the second part of Lent almsgiving. So that's giving a donation. Or you can also, if money tight, because you know we are living in some uncertain economic times right now and you know people are penny pinching and coupons I don't know if that's still a thing right now, gathering coupons, um, but decluttering, actually decluttering your home will help you to sort of declutter your mind as well. And the items that you don't eat anymore, that can still be, that are still of good use, you can donate to someone else in need, and that's another form of almsgiving. Almsgiving can also be in the form of you know, perhaps you can prepare an extra sandwich when you're going out and sometimes you see a homeless person on the side of the street or at the traffic light even. Perhaps you could do that. You can get your kids involved and you can see, you can explain to them why we're doing this and you can also say a prayer for them whenever you pass by the hospital.

Sheila Nonato: 11:49

Pray for for those who are sick or in need of healing and in need of a miracle, and so these are sort of some ideas to set the groundwork for Lent, so that you know what are your goals, how do you make them realistic, and it's just really important to have an idea of what you'd like to accomplish. And if you fall, if you somehow you know I did this I was going to try to give up sugar, but it's very difficult, so I've cut out all the things that I used to eat for snacks, like cookies. You know, cakes and things like this. I'm trying to inject more healthier items. You know cakes and things like this. Trying to inject more healthier items fruits, having more vegetables, things like this that will help you to not only become healthier in body, but also will help you clear your mind, have a clearer mind and really lengthen your life, and so that for myself, so that I can be there for my kids, I can keep up with them.

Sheila Nonato: 12:58

So what other things we can do Giving up so fasting, giving up something like food, like giving up sugar or some kind of food item dessert and we can also give up an unhealthy habit, for instance, if we stay up too late, we watch too many shows on YouTube, we don't get the proper sleep, or if we complain a lot. Perhaps we could limit that and maybe we should turn inwards, because for myself, you know, when I say, oh, this and this and this, and I realized that's actually something that I should be working on and I should not worry about this other person, I should be working on that myself, and so maybe we should look at how do we better ourselves so that we can serve our others and also help ourselves in becoming the person that God created us to be. So less complaining, less social media this is all to help us in our journey towards Calvary, as we accompany Jesus while he carries his cross. If you have any other ideas, please feel free to comment. You can comment on the YouTube video or you can go on our website and email us, or in the various podcasting platforms. I think there's a comment section. We'd love to hear your ideas and I look forward to hearing from you and journeying with you during this Lent.

Sheila Nonato: 14:28

And may God bless you all. Have a blessed week and until next time. And let's just end the podcast with a Hail Mary, In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you listening to the.

Co-Host: 15:14

Veil and Armour podcast. I invite you to share this with another Catholic mom today. Please subscribe to our podcast and YouTube channel and please spread the word. Let's Be Brave, let's Be Bold, let's Be Bold and Be Blessed together.