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Where chasing sainthood and real life come together in little words on a page.

Every night, in my head, I write the next chapter of my non-existent book…

Every night, in my head, I write the next chapter of my non-existent book. Sometimes the chapter is about the day, sometimes about an experience during prayer, sometimes it’s about marriage or kids or life or death. Always, however, there is a chorus of thoughts. Little and sometimes big musing that come together to form a shape of something I long to give. These musing make up the basis of my life…a life filled with providence played out in widowhood, in breast cancer, in being a Traditional Catholic mom to 7, in being a wife again and daughter of God…but they also make up the basis of yours, for we all live the human experience. We walk through joys and sufferings, trials and elations. And through this experience God longs to draw us deeper into the castle, into the matrix that is Christianity.

Reading between the lines…

Hi, I’m Kristine Nicole Mauss. I’m a Traditional Catholic, a widow to Michael, a wife to Alex, a mom to our 7 kids, and in my spare time, a writer. You may be new here or you may have journeyed with me through life these past few years where I walked with Michael and our four children through his diagnosis and ultimate passing from brain cancer in August 2020. It was in that journey I found the intimate love of Jesus in the cross and it was in the journey following, one of finding and marrying Alex (also a widower with three children of his own), that I have discovered the intimate love of the Father in the glory of the resurrection. Of course, there’s more…lots more. I once traveled and taught Theology of the Body, I’ve been studying Catholicism since my high-school days, I’ve been writing for years, and I long to bring hope to anyone who needs a good dose of it.

A year ago I had the overwhelming nudge to write, which was kind of odd in a sense because I had been writing…sort of. But the Holy Ghost whispered, “it’s time!” and I responded, “ok, but how??!” and weeks and months later the vision was born. With the help of a mentor and a spiritual director, the characters typed simply through social media have become the words you find here…words that I hope to bring often, words that can carry us beyond Instagram and into deeper reflections. It is through these reflections I hope to take you into this matrix that I spoke of, to use words to help us read between the lines to see God. In everything. Through everything. Pointing towards the Everything that is Him. I also hope to help you understand the Catholic faith in an intimate way, and to be obedient to God and His church even in these crazy times. And I intend these words to become even more, with the plan that they will, and maybe that non-existent book will become real one day.

This is where you come in…

I’m not simply starting this Substack page to write. I’m starting it because I want to begin building a community where we can meet and discuss and learn about life through a Catholic lens, through a lens that is a lens of Love, through a lens that takes the day-to-day moments and sees God’s providence in it all. If you’ve been with me any amount of time you know I’ve been through a lot. And I’m still standing. And smiling and dancing (most days at least). It’s not because I’m superhuman. It’s because I’ve learned from others, people like you and people like the Saints, how to take prayer and the Sacraments, how to take the situations of life, and let God make something quite beautiful out of it. I want to keep learning from you and I want to keep taking what God has given me and pour it back out. And maybe we can become friends in the process!

What you can expect…

On this platform you have two choices as a subscriber, free or paid. More in a moment on what those entail.

I debated for many months whether I should create content that costs money. On one hand, the Christian life is free. And I don’t want cost to be a hinderance to sharing the graces I’ve been given. On the other hand, if I’ve learned anything through the loss of my late husband, it’s that time is the most valuable thing we have. And as a wife again, as a homeschooling mom to 7 (6 of them teenagers), as someone undergoing treatment for breast cancer, my time is quite squeezed already. In fact, my lack of time was the biggest hinderance I had to writing anywhere other than social media. But now that I will have accountability to anyone who trades a hard-earned dollar for my words, I believe I can offer something of value in exchange. That value being a means to live the sacrament of the present moment, to find joy and abandonment, despite of and perhaps because of any situation we’re faced with in life.

Either way, I hope you stick around!

Free subscribers can expect my Weekly Snapshot and of couple other pieces per month. Simply sign up with your email and you’re good to go!

Paid subscribers can expect more. There will be weekly letters sent to you, longer in length and detail, and even the occasional book study thrown in like the good ol’ days! You will also be able to comment and have access to the full community here.

Content will cover many things such as faith and hope, marriage, motherhood, embracing femininity, understanding Catholicism in an easy-to-understand way, prayer, how to incorporate faith practices and margin in daily life, and more. I can’t wait!

What are you waiting for!

Click subscribe now as we keep chasing sainthood together and keeping it real.

Here we go!! Much love, Kristine.

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