Do not be satisfied with anything less than Truth and Love. Do not be content with anything less than Christ. - Pope Benedict XVI

Fortitude: My virtue for the month

"Fortitude is a necessary ingredient in all virtues, for no virtue "happens;" but must be fought for." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Encouragement for the Catholic Student

"Do you desire to study to your advantage? Let devotion accompany all your studies, and study less to make yourself learned than to become a saint. Consult God more than your books, and ask him, with humility, to make you understand what you read. Study fatigues and drains the mind and heart. Go from time to time to refresh them at the feet of Jesus Christ under his cross. Some moments of repose in his sacred wounds give fresh vigor and new lights. Interrupt your application by short, but fervent and ejaculatory prayers: never begin or end your study but by prayer. Science is a gift of the Father of lights; do not therefore consider it as barely the work of your own mind or industry."
-Saint Vincent Ferrer

"A Woman's Heart is authentically feminine, powerful, tender, fierce, glorious, and alluring. She is a reflection of God's own heart" -Captivating

Do you ever just have a day when there is absolutely no doubt in your mind that God loves you and everything around you seems to be attesting to that fact? Today is one of those days for me. First of all, it is a GORGEOUS Fall day-- the sky is blue, the sun is shining, trees are all beautiful, vivid colors and the wind is strong enough to be blustery but not so strong that it's scary. All in all a perfect Fall day. Second, my afternoon class was canceled. There's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you find out have an extra free hour in the middle of the afternoon. I also got to write and send off some letters today, which is something I don't usually have the time to do.

I know these things all sound kind of random, but they are all little reminders of God's love for me.

What are your little reminders?

God has created my heart only for Himself. He asks me to give it to Him that He may make it happy.

-Cure D'ars

Summer-Fall

This is one of my brother's pictures. He has such an amazing eye, every time he posts pictures I am just in awe of his talent.

I think this one perfectly represents the changing of the seasons. So beautiful.

(Photo Credit: Sean Dougherty)

Give to God what is God's: A reflection on today's Gospel

“’Bring me a coin, and let me look at it.’ And they brought one. And he said to them, ‘Whose likeness and inscription is this?’ They said to him, ‘Caesar’s.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were amazed at him.”

Mark 12:15-17

“Give to God the things that are God’s.” How are we to determine what these things are that belong to God? The same way Jesus determined that the coin belonged to Caesar, by looking at whose image and inscription is on it. I believe it is no coincidence that the word for image, imago, used here in Mark is the same word that is used in Genesis when God decided to make man in his own image and likeness, imaginem. God’s image can be seen in every human person.

In this passage from Mark, Christ is once again reminding us that His New Covenant involves the offering up of one’s very self, one’s heart to God. God no longer asks for brunt offerings or treasures, as the pagan gods demanded. “Give to God the things that are God’s.” Give to God your heart, your whole self, which is marked with His image.

"You are a man, O Christian. So you are the money in the divine treasure-chest, a coin bearing the image and inscription of the divine emperor. From now on if I ask with Christ: “Whose image and inscription are these? You reply: “God's. And I answer: “So why do you not give back to God what is his?"
- St. Laurence of Brindisi

Happy Feast Day, St. Teresa of Avila!

"It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found - not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater." -St. Teresa of Avila

Yes, Amen.

"We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us."
- Saint Teresa of Avila

Happy Friday

“My whole strength lies in prayer and sacrifice, these are my invincible arms; they can move hearts far better than words, I know it by experience.” ♥ St. Thérèse de Lisieux

Christi simus, non nostri.
Let us be of Christ, not of ourselves.
-St Columban

Tea.

Some days tea is what gets me through the day.

When I wake up, knowing I have a mile-long list of things I have to do, I know that at least I can start the day off sitting in my quiet kitchen with a warm mug of tea.

When I'm sick and want my mom, I have my mug of tea, like a little piece of home, reminding me of all the time she and I spend drinking tea together.

When it's 3pm on a rainy day and the last thing in the world I want to do is sit through a 2 hour class, I grasp my trusty travel mug full of perfectly made tea (lots of sugar--but not too much) and feel like I can face anything (well, this class at least).

"The giving of love is an education in itself." - Eleanor Roosevelt

LOVE.

“God has created us to love and to be loved, and this is the beginning of prayer-to know that He loves me and that I have been created for greater things.” - Mother Teresa

ONE.

"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something."

- Edward Everett Hale