St. Narcissus

1. I just have to say I love the wording of the saint bio on Catholic.org: "...was almost fourscore years old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem, being the thirtieth bishop of that see [Jerusalem]."

2. He helped preside over a council which decided to keep the celebration of Easter on Sunday and not with Jewish Passover (This is is 195, mind you.  Talk about some Apostolic Tradition going on there.)

3. St. Narcissus served the Church till he was well over 100. 

Glorious??

I'm trying something new with prayer.  Usually I've been blocking out a specific time to say the Rosary, Chaplet, any spiritual reading...making one set time of 30-60 minutes of my day prayer and the rest, well, not.  So now I'm trying to take advantage of the times I walk to campus...it's 5-8 minutes to get anywhere, which is the perfect amount of time to fit in a decade.

As I started walking this morning, I thought, "First Glorious Mystery...ha."  At that moment in my life, I was leaving my house a bit later than I really wanted to, had a list of to-do items of the day running through my mind, had on a light jacket that, in this warm-ish weather, was making me feel less than pleasant, and here I was supposed to be praying on a Glorious Mystery.  I was definitely feeling less than Glorious.

In fact, what part of my life is even glorious right now?  The life of the typical college student...less than glamorous on a day-to-day basis.  Yet glory is exactly that to which God is calling me.  In the midst of my plain Jane life, if I am to imitate the life of Jesus Christ, I am called to His Glorious state.

Woah, yikes.

I guess that's part of the mission and purpose of the Rosary.   If it transcends our repetition of the words, it is to be a call, a walk of life.  My life is supposed to be Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful, and Glorious.  In the fullest sense of the words.  Exuding Joy at the presence of God, Illuminating the presence of God, sharing in the Sorrow of Christ Crucified, and living to experience the Glory of beatitude.  Just adds to a bit more of the Mystery part of the Rosary...how in the world to incorporate those patterns into my everyday life.  It sure isn't easy to be Glorious when you have 8am class...or Joyful for that matter...and I'm sure not Illuminating Jesus when I complain (so maybe I was more suited to the Sorrowful mysteries at that instance).  Definitely something to work on.

Quote of the Day XXX

“God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful -- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts' desire except to give us something better.”--Elisabeth Elliot

Catching Up

You'll have to forgive me my extended break from blogging the past week...being immersed in work and school with three tests in a day and then switching to being at home and attempting to milk the time here for all its worth leaves little time for sitting and contemplating which parts of my life are really exciting or relevant enough to put in a post to update my little corner of the blogging world about.  So here's my bullet-style attempt to update on my life.

• Yes, that's right, you read three tests in one day.  Actually, this past Monday I had three tests (Organic, New Testament Greek, and Philosophy of Death and Dying), the Thursday before I had my Organic Lab test, and the Monday before I had my Philosophy of Aristotle test.  Midterms were cruel to me this year, falling all RIGHT before fall break...
• But then there IS fall break!
• Tuesday:  came home, got to hang out with the fam.
• Wednesday:  did some stuff in town, Matt came over to hang out and play some board games.
• Thursday:  I had dentist and doctor appointments.  Then Matt and I drove out to visit a sister at her family's home and then to a brother and sister-in-law's place to visit with them.
• Friday: bummed around the house with my mom, went to see Restless Heart at Newman (loved it!), some friends from KC came into town to see it so I treated them to Freddy's since they've never been (one missionary is from North Dakota, one from South Dakota, and my friend from Rockhurst is from STL and Wichita was the farthest west she'd ever been), and then I went to Matt's to finish my yummy cheese fries and watched the end of the STL vs Washington Nats game with him and his dad.
• Today:  hanging out with the fam, getting ready to head into town for a 4pm Mass and then eating out with the grandparents!

Daily Gospel XVII: Luke 10: 13-16

Happy Feast of St. Faustina (Thank you to Marian Ninja for your wonderful text this morning about it ;-D)!!!!  You can read a tad bit about her here.

Today's Gospel seems kinda random till you read it in context and/or with the first reading.  In the chapter in Luke, Jesus is sending out the 72 disciples to preach in the different cities, giving them instructions as to what to do if they are welcomed and what to do if the city rejects them.  He basically gives them forewarning that what they are setting out to do will not be easy; it is not a question of if, but when, the Good News will be spurned.  But the hope that Jesus gives is that He is with them and on their side.  Anyone who rejects their message is rejecting the Lord.  Their concern is not to rest in how they are perceived, but in giving glory to God through their work in the towns leaving the results to Him.

Easier said than done, right?

Even when one is doing the works of the Lord, it is an easy trap to fall into to think, "Wow, I am doing this!"  Oops.

Pause.

Rewind about a bajillion steps.

Pause.

You are the instrument.  God is guiding you.  God is with you in your failures.  God is working through your successes.  In the first reading, Job has been asking God to prove to him that he deserves any of the numerous struggles he's been handed, and God is responding that He is still in control; does Job think he can do a better job than the Almighty is doing right now?  God is at work.  Your handiwork is God's.  We are the clay, He is the Potter.

Now go.

To Nebraska and back

This past week has been filled with some beautiful times, as well as some difficult.  Lots of late nights studying.  Lots of early mornings trying to wake up and conquer the world, every once in a while with a warm cup of coffee from the cafeteria to keep up the initiative.  A nice wonderful chat with the housemate here and there, catching up with other friends, attempting to keep the head on straight and get through school...the "usual".  This past weekend was a little out of the ordinary for me though.  After a full evening of studying on Friday night a group of 7 of our Students for Life group traveled to Independence to help with a Run/Walk 5K for Life put on by the Women's Clinic from 7am-10am.  Considering that it was an earlier morning than most of us are used to at school, I was so grateful that we had the turn-out we had.  Our duty was to set up barricades along the path, redirect cars, and cheer on the runners/walkers/moms with baby strollers/Sisters (for real, jogging in full habit with pro-life tees on over...precious).

Then, that evening, after playing flute for the Family Weekend Mass (got to see my housemate's wonderful family!!  They're great!), Matt picked me up and we traveled up to Nebraska so that I could meet his grandma!  Apparently everybody cool comes from the same town, because the few other people I know well from Nebraska are from the same town his family is from.  Anywho, so we got to her house and Matt's mom stopped by to say hi as well.  She and Matt's dad and brother were in town for the big game (something tells me I'm going to have to get used to this whole cheering-for-Nebraska thing.  Praise the Lord Nebraska and K-State aren't in the same division/league/whatever [I'm obviously deficient in my football terminology at the moment] anymore).  In the morning Matt and I walked to the church, which was very pretty and quaint and reminded me of home a lot.  We spent most of the morning visiting with Matt's grandma and were surprised when Matt's family came and visited for a bit, since their plan had been to head to Omaha earlier that day.  After a wonderful lunch...er, dinner!...made by Matt's grandma and uncle we headed back to KC so I could study for my test today.

So, yes!  Big full wonderful weekend, and to top it off, today is St. Therese's feast day and October 5th is a SUPER special feast day that I'm SUPER looking forward to (St. Faustina!!!!!!!).  Have a blessed week!