Happy Birthday G.K. Chesterton!

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” 

G.K. Chesterton

a new challege from Eleanor Roosevelt

The Beauty of Literature

great quote.

Fulteen Sheen quotes never cease to ease my mind

"You are not tempted because you are evil; you are tempted because you are human." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen

A call to the laity

“Who is going to save our Church? Not our bishops, not our priests and religious. It is up to you, the people. You have the minds, the eyes, the ears to save the Church. Your mission is to see that your priests act like priests, your bishops, like bishops, and your religious act like religious.” Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Graduated!

DONE.

I am officially done with everything required for my undergraduate degree in Classics!

Goodbye Greeks! 

Goodbye Romans!

For now.....   

 

Little Joys

Talking to Hank first thing in the morning.
Sunshine.
Breakfast with sisters.
New shampoo.
Knowing that today is my last day of classes for the foreseeable future.

3

I am Third.

1.God
2.Others
3.Me

“Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.
Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”
-William Faulkner  

 

Daily Dose of Truth

I saw this status on Facebook today:

"i will hold myself to a standard of grace and not perfection"

Truth.

Divine Mercy Sunday

Divine Mercy Sunday

Afraid to show You my wounds
I cower,
Hiding faults and failures,
Unable to meet your gaze.
Afraid of being too much and too little
all at once,
I build my wall,
Brick after brick—excuses, pious prayers and what I think I’m supposed to say to You,
All the while hiding how I really feel, what I really think, who I really am—
my heart.

But You too were broken once.
You show me Yourself—Your Body, broken, for me.
“Here is My side, the wound cuts deep.
Behold My heart,
beating for you,
pouring out blood and water—
mercy, for you.
Take and drink, be washed clean.
Here are my hands,
pierced,
nailed down so that you may be set free.
Place you hands in My wounds,
My hands and My side.
See My love, My mercy,
Doubt no more.”

I see Your wounds, Your hands, Your side.
I reach out my hand
Slowly, cautiously,
Afraid You might change Your mind.
I touch Your wounds
Your hands, Your side.

Mercy,
Love,
Beyond compare flow from Your wounds
over my heart.
Your wounds heal mine.
Jesus I trust in You.

You became small and vulnerable to teach me to do the same.

Celebrate Being Alive

Happy Birthday to me!

I thought that by now I would be over excitedly awaiting my birthday, but this year was like the 21 years before it, I got more and more excited as April 13th came closer and closer and I even counted down the minutes until midnight so I could watch my birthday roll in. On the one hand, this all seems childish and maybe even a little self-centered....but I think there's a better way of looking at it. I think it's more childlike than childish. I think birthdays are a great chance to reflect on the past year of one's life and to think about things to look forward to in the coming year and ways to grow more and more into the person God created you to be, kind of like a personal New Year. For me this birthday is about hope and trust-- hopefully looking forward to the blessings and joys to come and trusting in God's plan for me this year.

Henri Nouwen writes:

"Birthdays are so important. On our birthdays we celebrate being alive. On our birthdays people can say to us, “Thank you for being!” Birthday presents are signs of our families’ and friends’ joy that we are part of their lives. Little children often look forward to their birthdays for months. Their birthdays are their big days, when they are the center of attention and all their friends come to celebrate.

We should never forget our birthdays or the birthdays of those who are close to us. Birthdays keep us childlike. They remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now. On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life."

I'm eagerly looking forward to this next year of my life...bring it on!

“Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing--sickness, failure, emotional distress, oppression, war, or even death--can take that love away.”

Henri Nouwen

Easter Monday and e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

-e.e. cummings

everyday sanctity

"The Christian vocation consists of making heroic verse out of the prose of each day. Heaven and earth seem to merge, my sons and daughters, on the horizon. But where they really meet is in your hearts, when you sanctify your everyday lives"
--St. Josemaria Escriva

5th Sunday of Lent

"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life." John 12:24

I love finding incredible pieces of Truth in the most unexpected places. Here's a real gem from the lovely actress, Zooey Deschanel:

"Being tender and open is beautiful. As a woman, I feel continually shhh’ed. Too sensitive. Too mushy. Too wishy washy. Blah blah. Don’t let someone steal your tenderness. Don’t allow the coldness and fear of others to tarnish your perfectly vulnerable beating heart. Nothing is more powerful than allowing yourself to truly be affected by things. Whether it’s a song, a stranger, a mountain, a rain drop, a tea kettle, an article, a sentence, a footstep, feel it all – look around you. All of this is for you. Take it and have gratitude. Give it and feel love."