The Beauty of Faith

Being a Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EM) is truly a blessing.  It never gets "old", and there isn't a single Mass that I minister where I'm not blown away by what I am doing and Who I am holding.  Sometimes, though, there are Masses that make me three times as excited to minister in this way.

Yesterday, I distributed the Precious Body at Saturday morning Mass.  It brings me so much joy to see people receive the God of the universe.  I am always especially struck by the people who are obviously excited to receive Jesus.  I'll be honest, usually these people are women.  But yesterday, a guy approached; he was really tall and I had to reach up as I went to place the Host on his tongue.  And as I did so, his face lit up.  He smiled and said what was possibly the most reverent "Amen" I've ever heard.  He received Our Lord with such a simple joy that it made me tremendously joyful.  I don't know who he was, but he made me think about the Eucharist a lot after Mass.

How often does receiving Jesus become just "part of the Mass"?  Do we always understand Who is coming into our very beings?  He's not just a Man who was raised from the dead; He's our God!  This guy's beautiful faith reminded me how incredible Mass truly is!

xoxo,

Anchor my Heart to Your Cross

Faith, Hope, and Love.  Three little words that we flippantly say so often, but how often do we truly think about them?  

Lately, I've been absolutely loving the symbol of the anchor.  We all need to be anchored to something.  SomeONE, actually.  Our Lord is the only One who never moves, is always constant, and it is He who we can always trust in.  An anchor indicates strength, and I think it's appropriate that it's the traditional Christian symbol for hope.  When a ship is anchored to the shore, it can bob up and down, it rocks from side to side, and it can even drift a little bit, but it really can't go too far.  What a comforting thought!  If we are anchored to Christ as our rock, we aren't guaranteed that we're never going to go through troubling times.  Actually, we're pretty much assured that life is going to be difficult.  But as long as we keep our anchor of faith tied to our Rock, we can have hope that we can make it back to His side.  His strength can pull us through, so long as we keep our eyes on Him.

I'm going to be honest with you all: in the last couple weeks, I've really been struggling with these three virtues.  They all go together, and I think that when one suffers, the others do as well.  I have come to the understanding that I don't receive God's love as well as I should, that shakes my faith in Him, and then I find myself drifting further and further away from His perfect life-giving Presence.

Sometimes, I need visual reminders of what I'm working on in my spiritual life.  I guess this is one reason that I have so many inspirational quotes around my room, because I forget those fundamental things too often.  When I realized how much I really need to push myself to work on these three areas, I knew I needed something concrete.  I started with a sticky note, but that didn't stay with me all the time.  Then I started looking for a bracelet, but they were all too clunky.  I also realized that it doesn't necessarily need to be visual to everyone.  OK, I thought, I will go a different route.  So later that afternoon, I bought an anklet, and three charms (on amazon, of course...)- a cross, an anchor, and a heart.  The chain is really thin, and the charms are super tiny, just as I wanted.

I was actually afraid that I was going to regret this purchase (I am going to Austria, after all, and journeying in Europe costs a wee bit o' money), but the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized that this will help me a lot.  Visual, tangible reminders like this one will hopefully keep me on course and help me grow in my faith!

Have you come across anything in your own life that you find you need a visual to remind you of?  Share in the comments!
xoxo,

ps- last week, I celebrated 10,000 views, and today I'm celebrating 100 posts!  Let's make a deal- you help me reach 20,000, and I'll give you another 100, ok? ;)

and at last, we come to it

My friends, I'm starting my sophomore year tomorrow. Like, officially.  I mean, I've been here "as a sophomore" since last Sunday, but I legit start tomorrow.  Ok, by now it's today.  You can ignore that fact.  I haven't been to bed yet, so it's tomorrow.

Tonight, I went to the Ministry Fair here on campus.  But this time, I didn't go as a participant.  I went as a member of the Liturgy Committee (LC), and laughed with my fellow committee-members, and I handed out applications for people to be Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, and told them about the training meeting.

I have to run the training meeting.
That means I have responsibilities.

Yeah, yeah, any college student has responsibilities.  But when you're in charge of making sure the EMHCs know what they're doing and are comfortable serving as ministers at Mass?  It's ever-so-slightly (read:extremely) terrifying.

I have an official-looking committee shirt, and an official-looking sweatshirt, and an official-looking binder, and an official-looking name tag.
Oh.  You're claiming I'm official?  If you say so....

So tomorrow I will skip off to my first class as a sophomore (Enviro Sci.  Uhm.) and then have a gigantic meeting with my co-lead of the EMHCs and decipher the handwriting of 70+ students who signed up to be trained next week.  And we WILL be leaders here on campus.  We will train those people and we will train them well!

People have asked for pictures, so I shall give you pictures.  Even if it's just a couple this time. ;) The theme of the day is "Churches".

 (no special effects were used on any of these!)
And if you have a moment (or if you don't, if you could make a moment), say a quick prayer for my brother-in-law who had back surgery today!
xoxo,

The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God

And all Creation is Shouting for Joy.

I've never particularly liked that song, but lately, I've been realizing how absolutely true it is.  How often do we spend time looking at the world that God gave us and really, truly appreciate it?  I'm so grateful that I've had the chance to do just that while on Crossroads.

I am now (temporarily) on night shift.

In all honesty, I was really excited to take part in the whole "walking at night" thing.  I was one of only two people on the walk that hadn't been on night shift yet.  It's such a different experience.

Sunday night.

my team warns me that night shift isn't really all that great: it's hard, it's tiring, and by mid-week, I'll be cranky and exhausted.  nevertheless, I'm excited to begin.

we drive two hours to our starting point.

Kirstin and Josh are starting out, so Zechariah, Stephanie, and I wait in the car.  While waiting, Zechariah and I record some ridiculous dances to (maybe possibly) make a fun music video.

sunsets are gorgeous.

Have you ever watched the sun set while standing on a hill overlooking a valley, with mountains in the distance?

I got to do that on Sunday night, and it was magnificent.  Even the swarms of mosquitoes couldn't keep my happiness level low.

josh and I set out.

We pray our rosary, and as the moon rises in front of us, we talk.  funny stories from growing up and from high school.

the moon was so bright that we could see our shadows behind us.

we make jokes about alien attacks, and listen to birds that sound like hyenas.  the moon is above us, shining and brilliant in the sky.

pure beauty.

when I get back in the car, I sleep for a couple hours, then it's time to walk again.

Zechariah and I begin walking and pray another rosary.

It's early in the morning and the sun has started to rise.  conversation comes surprisingly easy at 4:30 am.  there's a hint of glow in the sky, and as time goes on, the sky lights up into a dozen different colors: reds, oranges, yellows.  we watch deer scamper across a field and stop right by the car, about a mile up the road.  cows wandered out to pasture and began their gentle mooing.

monday night.

If there was a night that I could remember for the rest of my life, it would absolutely and definitely be monday night.

wow.

josh and I set out around 9.  the moon was bright; not as bright as the night before, but more full.  after praying our rosary, we talked about faith.  every once in a while, a train would pass on the tracks next to us, its light piercing the darkness up ahead.  the gentle chugging was a reassuring sound that I normally wouldn't have been aware of.  Semi trucks passed and i could feel the whoosh of air that they pulled behind them.  the air was cool but as we walked further, we were able to take our sweatshirts off and just wear the reflective vests over our PRO-LIFE shirts.  As we heard a car or truck approach, we'd turn on our flashlights, the soft light showing where we were and lighting our way.

again, I slept.

sleep comes surprisingly easy when you're walking at night.  we're awakened at 4 am to begin the last 5-mile shift of the night.

we were both tired, so after the rosary, we fell into silence.  with 4.2 miles to go, we could already see the van up ahead, hazard lights flashing bright in the dark.

its amazing how your senses are heightened at that hour.

the moonlight reflected off a white barn, a mailbox, and three simple crosses at the side of the road.

in unison, our footsteps were loud on the pavement.  every so often, one or the other of us would kick a stone, and it would bounce to the side.

I could hear the wind blow gently through the grass.

horses whinnied and beat their hooves in a nearby stable.

a small stream trickled into a ditch nearby.

just before the sun began to rise, the birds started singing.  First, just a single song, then the whole area was filled with melodies and harmonies of all different birds.  some loud, some soft; they combined to form a symphony for us as we walked.

I could see a wooden pole rising against the lightening sky, a nest perched on top.  as a large bird, probably an eagle, rose from the nest, Josh broke the silence.

"Nice"

-Wow.

Silence again.

Not the awkward i'm-trying-to-think-of-something-to-say-and-can't silence, but beautiful silence.  A Full Silence that can only come from listening to God and all of His creation.

the sky started to be illuminated.  directly to my right was the full moon, still shining with all its glory, and to my left was a hazy sky.  

deep gray-ish purple mountains rose against a lighter purple sky, set off by medium blue clouds.  

words cannot begin to describe the depth of beauty that filled that space.

we were surrounded by mountains on all sides, by whispy clouds up above and the gently rising sun as the cherry on top.

It was such a different sunrise than the morning before, but just as, if not more, phenomenal.  God is a magnificent painter.

What can I say; I'm in love.

I'm in love with the beauty that I have the ability to see on this journey.

I'm in love with the Creator of that beauty; the One who made it all, with my God, the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth.

In Him,

If you stand for nothing....

....you'll fall for anything, or so the saying goes.

So, I'm going to concretely stand for something this summer.  Actually, to be more specific, I'm going to walk for something.

This summer, I am going to walk on Crossroads.

Some of you are probably wondering what this is, or what exactly it entails.  Well, let me tell you!
walking from Seattle --> DC
Daily mass

Weekly talks at parishes

Weekend prayers at local abortion clinics

12 weeks
3200 miles per group
1000 miles per person
1 RV
8-15 team members
2 tired feet
Thousands of lives touched

That's my summer!  It'll be quite the hiking trip.  :P  I'm taking part in the Northern route, but there also 3 other walks throughout the country.  It is such a blessing to be able to take part in this!
~~~~~~~~~~
I've been thinking a lot lately about journeys.  You know, we always say that life is a journey, but our relationship with God is a journey as well.  And part of the journey of life is living in the present moment.  As I was telling someone just today, if you were on a car trip, you'd want to look out the window at the passing scenery, and not just close your eyes and think about the destination.  Part of your trip is the traveling experience.  I think that's the way our spiritual journey is, as well.  In light of the physical and spiritual journeys that I will be taking this summer, and looking forward to other journeys that I may take in the future, I am going to be changing the name of my blog.  (The web address, however, will stay the same.)  But I don't know what it will be changing to, as yet. :)  I have to think it out, bounce ideas off people.... actually, if any of you have ideas, please comment below!  I'd love some thoughts!

Well, anyways, that's my exciting news.  Please pray for me as I begin my preparations (physical conditioning included!).  And if anyone has questions about Crossroads, or anything else, let me know- I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

xoxo,


ps- If you're interested, here is the Crossroads website: http://www.crossroadswalk.org/

Answered Question #2

This will most likely be my last post of any length until after exams.... so here you go!

I wanted to answer Super Frugalette's question: "I want to know more about how you feel as a college student.  Is it living up to your expectations?  Do you feel anything is lacking in your experience?"

Hmmm..... well, all in all, I am thoroughly enjoying college.  I am learning sooo much, both in classes and by talking to other people, I am meeting lots of new friends, and, most importantly, I'm growing in my faith!  


I should probably expand on those areas.  Firstly, learning.  Even though I'm not necessarily taking classes that I love, they have been good for me in the long run, and I've ended up liking aspects of them all.  For instance, my poetry class has really helped me appreciate Christian poetry more.  This past semester, my favorite class, by far, was Foundations of Catholicism.  It was a "required" class, but I loved it.  We learned a lot about doctrines of the faith, historical aspects of the Councils, and current-day issues.  Under the same "learning" category- even though I attend a Catholic University, there are people who are either not Catholic or who come from a different background than I.  I enjoy talking to them and learning their points of view.  In a totally less significant area, it's been interesting to learn more about different ways that people grew up.  There have been countless discussions about Christmas traditions, favorite family foods, and summer vacations, among other things.


Secondly, I've met so many wonderful friends.  You know, it's funny.... in high school, it took me a while to make strong friendships.  Since August 26th, I've formed 1 extremely strong friendship, 3 or so really good friendships, and about 15 good friendships.  It's so much faster and easier to get to know someone when you're living within walking distance of them!!  I love it.  


Finally, and definitely most importantly, my faith has become so much more prevalent in my life.  For goodness sakes, how could I NOT grow in my faith when there are 3 masses a day, perpetual Eucharistic adoration 6 minutes (walking) away, Jesus is one floor away, the main chapel is always open.... there are rosaries, worship nights, and night prayer meetings in "the bell tower".  Oh yeah, and there's confession 4 days a week and spiritual direction in my dorm 16.5 hours a week.  Seriously, I'm going to miss my early morning and late night journeys down to the chapel while I'm on Christmas break.  (Before I leave the dorm in the morning, I stop in to say "good morning" to Jesus, then I try to say night prayer each night, as well).


As far as anything that's been lacking.... I guess the only thing is that I still feel like I'm in a "bubble".  In high school I was in a very small bubble, so the bubble's gotten bigger.  But let's face it- we live on "the hill".  Everyone here acknowledges that we're in a Catholic bubble.   I can't think of anything else significant!  I wish there were more hours in the day, but doesn't everyone?!?


Hope that answers your question, super frugalette!!


To all my Christian followers- Happy Advent!  I hope you're having a wonderful season of preparation for Christmas!  I will be changing my blog theme to reflect the advent season, so hopefully I'll get that up soon!


As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm going into finals, so I'd appreciate prayers, but I also won't be posting anything significant for a week.  'Til next Wednesday!!


xoxo,