Blessed Beyond Measure

About 250,000 people were in St. Peter's square for the last audience of His Holiness Benedict XVI.

I was one of those people.

Some people got to watch the helicopter take off from the Vatican on TV.

And I was less than a mile away.

Lots of people read about saints in books and online.

We saw incorrupt saints and had Mass at their tombs.

Only the Pope and appointed Cardinals can say Mass at the high altar in St. John Lateran.

But when there's no Pope, our own Franciscan friars can say Mass there for us.

The area around St. Francis' tomb is somewhat small.

But our awesome travel agent got all 200 of us permission to have Mass there anyway.

(Can you tell that Mass was kinda one of the highlights of the trip?!)

And then there are "everyday" blessings- Old Bridge gelato, 'Habemus Pizza', praise and worship at the seminary in Rome, having a dear friend for dinner with the school, and walking through the streets of Assisi with a wise Friar.

I can't comprehend how many times we all looked at each other after one experience or another and thought "That shouldn't have just happened.  We shouldn't have been able to experience that".  And yet it did, and we were.

As I think through these last 2 weeks, I will be posting my thoughts about Rome, Siena, and Assisi.  

Sts. Francis and Clare, Pray for us! 

Life, it just gets crazy

Sometimes, I look at my schedule, and I laugh.
Other times, I look at my schedule, and I cry (figuratively).
Most of the time, those two occurrences (^) are on the same day.

I'm now 3 weeks (and one day) into my sophomore year, and I can honestly say I'm busier than I ever have been before.  It's just that, when you add up 6 classes, Students for Life, Liturgy Committee, Austria meetings, homework, a holy hour, Mass, and oh-by-the-way eating and sleeping, there's only so much time left.  I'm actually quite sure that I'm forgetting something in that list.  Oh well... it'll come to me when I have to go do it.  Occasionally, it's nice to talk to friends, or just sit in the chapel, or read a book other than "Psychology of Human Development" or "A Survey of the Old Testament".

Speaking of classes, they are all going quite well.  (Did I ever give a rundown of classes?  Again, I can't remember...) I'm taking:

• Psychology- its interesting material... I'm hoping it gets a little more exciting as we get more into it, though.  First test on Friday!
• Theology of Christ- GAH I could sit in this class for hours on end.  Dr. Martin is a genius, and his insights are mind-blowing.  He's the one I've quoted on Saturdays, so he also has a great sense of humor :)
• Principles of Biblical Study (PBS)- I'm one of the few people in this class who's actually enjoying it.  I find anything and everything Biblical to be fascinating, especially since it's the Bible that convinced me to major in Theology in the first place.  OK, studying the Bible convinced me.  Nuance.  
• Youth Ministry- another one of those GAH classes.  We've been talking a lot about youth culture, and even though I'm still in/just out of "youth culture" myself, its great to learn about it from a more academic POV.  We're going over how to reach the youth, based on the environments that they're growing up in nowadays.  I feel so old saying that.  You get the gist.
• Environmental Science- it's just a filler course... Not my favorite, but definitely bearable!  and somewhat interesting.
• Graphic Design- difficult, but really, really good.  We're learning Photoshop, which I've never used before... our first project rough draft is due next week, so I'm scrambling a little to get that going.  I'm really excited about this class, too!

In other news...

• Our room now smells really nice, thanks to a care package from my amazing sister :D
• We can clean our floor now!!!! because the swiffer came in the mail.  Call me nutso, but I was uber excited about this silly swiffer.  Evelyn has never seen a swiffer before.  I don't know how she lived.
• My Crossroads family (aka Josh) decided that today was "post pictures of bacon on Allison's facebook wall" day.  (I can't stand bacon).  Some of my other friends have joined in.  It's painful/really amusing. :P
• iOS 6 is out today!  Yes, I'm a media major, can you tell?  Guess what I'm doing after classes today?  Yeah, upgrading my iPhone software.  It makes me happy!

Well, I've gotta run to youth ministry and learn more about how much our culture has gone downhill... as depressing as that sounds, it means that we can do something to change it!

Hope you're all enjoying this beautiful weather!
xoxo,