Our Hearts Are Restless

"Desiring to seek his God with all his heart, he did and prospered."  ~ 2 Chronicles 31, 21 I've been worrying this summer about all the stress that comes with college.  Don't get me wrong - I truly love my college and I love the experience I am having there!  However, if you put 450 young people in a close environment, things happen.  Having been through four semesters, I've given up on hoping that this semester will be somehow easier and less stressful than the last.  I know that my junior year will bring the same challenges I've had in the past years, and its own new challenges, drama and stress.  I'm worrying about accomplishing all the tasks that are set before me - from being a good friend and girlfriend, to leading the Legion of Mary as the president of the praesidium, to writing papers and facing a tough theology class.  I finally realized this summer that there is only one way I'll be able to make it through next semester.  The Scripture verse...

Found an interesting article at the Washington Post today.  I took the opportunity to go on a little rant.  Please, weigh in with comments if you have anything to add! Churches grapple with clothing and what’s appropriate as summer heats up As Ann Cabiness stood in the Communion line at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Sunday morning, two things were on her mind: connecting with God and getting out of the humid sanctuary before someone mentioned her skimpy tank top and tight, knee-length running pants.  {Problem right there: if your clothes are distracting you from "connecting with God", from the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, then you are not dressed appropriately.} “I know I’m inappropriate, but I’m trying to save time. I know I’m in the wrong. My mother would not approve,” the 30-year-old said sheepishly as she made a beeline from Mass at the Bethesda church to the gym. “But would it be better that I not come?”  {Seriously, how long does it take to bring a bag and chan...

From  Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene. O.C.D. 9th Sunday after Pentecost "Do you know how to recognize the moments in which Our Lord visits your soul?  A word read or heard, perhaps even by chance, an edifying example, an interior inspiration, a new light which makes you see your faults more clearly and opens new horizons of virtue and of good - all are visits from Jesus.  And you, how do you correspond?  Is your soul sensitive to these lights, to these admonitions?  Do you not sometimes turn your gaze away, fearing that the light you have glimpsed may ask you for sacrifices which are too painful for your self-love?"

Whenever I tell people I'm majoring in history and literature, a natural question follows.  "So are you going to be a teacher?"  Actually, no!  With a good liberal arts education the possibilities are endless - teaching is not the only option.  What I want to do with my life is be an editor. I realized suddenly that when I tell people what I want to do with my life, sooner or later I'll have to answer  the question "Why?  Why do you want to be an editor?"  I suppose it is an odd thing to have as a goal.  It's not as far-fetched as, say, popcorn salesman, but it is a career that not everyone even realize exists.  And really, I shouldn't be pursuing this course unless I can answer the question to myself. One reason for choosing editing, and specifically freelance editing, as a career is because I can pursue it simultaneous to my vocation, which is to be a wife and mother.  There's no way I am going to try and get a job that would take me away from ...

At long last, the sixth volume of Dr. Warren Carroll's History of Christendom series is published!  This volume, entitled The Crisis of Christendom, is available here (or click on the cover below) from Christendom Press through AmP Publishers Group.  Dr. Warren Carroll, who died two years ago July 17, was the founder of Christendom College and a well-respected historian. The front cover is an image of Pope Pius XII at the bombing of Rome.  The story of the picture may be found here . Yours truly was the student assistant for Christendom Press - it's public information now (in the acknowlegements page), but I tried to keep it somewhat quiet at first.  I was blessed to be entrusted with the job of taking the manuscript from its intial editing phase through the entire publishing process.  Since I want to be an editor, this was an amazing experience for me!  I line-edited all 900+ pages, did a ton of publishing tasks, found out how to get an ISBN number, had the privilege of workin...

From the Vatican comes the following decree !  Note especially the paragraphs I have emphasized in red and bold . D E C R E E OF THE APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY according to which Special Indulgences are granted to the faithful on the occasion of the 28th World Youth Day [Rio de Janeiro, 22-29 July 2013] RIO DE JANEIRO DECREE   The Plenary Indulgence is granted on the occasion of the 28th World Youth Day to be celebrated in Rio de Janeiro during the Year of Faith. The Holy Father Francis, desiring that young people, in union with the spiritual aims of the Year of Faith proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, might obtain the hoped-for fruits of holiness from the 28th World Youth Day to be celebrated from 22 to 29 of the coming month of July in Rio de Janeiro, whose theme is: “ Go and make disciples of all nations (cf. Mt 28:19)”, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Major Penitentiary on 3 June, expressing the maternal heart of the Church, from the Treasury of the rewards of Our Lo...

I modified my post on chick flicks (to be slightly more coherent) and sent it over to The Catholic Young Woman .  I feel a great sense of accomplishment! Update: Apparently it works to know people.  That article is also over at the Ink and Fairydust blog !

A dearly beloved literature professor, Dr. Robert Rice, retired last year from Christendom College.  There is a beautiful booklet in his honor here , full of tributes from his students and colleagues.  I'm so sad that he's not teaching any more, but I am immensely grateful for the classes I had with him.  Also I'm extremely glad he's still living right across the street - so I know I'll see him at Mass very frequently!

And now, for a completely frivolous blog post, which is entirely unconnected to the deep matter I planned to discuss today.  Thanks to Gloria, over at Purely Stylish  (and a couple of other blogs) I discovered more fuel for my one and only fashion obsession.  Scarves.  Ask my roommates - I have many scarves.  Many, many scarves, which I really need to STOP buying.  Actually, my last scarf purchase was back in May...ha.  Take that, addiction.  At any rate, scarves are my one concession to the world of fashion and color.  I would actually be completely satisfied to wear all-black, all the time (it goes with everything and therefore negates any necessity of planning outfits) with a different scarf every day.  Unfortunately that look is not approved of by most of the people who ever comment on my outfits. Needless to say, there are a limited number of ways to tie scarves.  I'm always looking to pick up new techniques.  Imagine my delight, then, at discovering scarves.net !  The bestest...

One should not watch more than one chick flick at a time unless separated by a good Indiana Jones or perhaps an episode of MacGyver.  I made the mistake of watching  Stardust and  27 Dresses two nights in a row.  I then made the nearly fatal attempt to watch  The Devil Wears Prada  immediately after  27 Dresses .  I only made it through about 10 minutes of that last one.  I warn you, for the sake of your own mental safety, never repeat my mistake.  If these kinds of movies, and worse, are what teenage girls are watching nowadays...I understand why society is so messed up. Okay, all or most of you, my readers (I assume you exist because I apparently do get people visiting my blog at least once) probably know exactly what I'm going to tell you.  However, I will also remind you that you, my female readers, will also pop a chick flick in the computer or tv every now and then...just when you want something "brainless" or something "romantic" or something "just...

One of the blogs I occasionally read is Catholic Young Woman, written by and for girls trying to be feminine and faithful.  A couple of the authors are Christendom people, which is fun!  I hadn't caught up with it for a while, but when I did go over yesterday I found an awesome article by Clare Asper that not only rang true for me, but I thought might be useful for some of y'all who (I think) read my blog.  The full article is here  but I thought I'd add a few things that particularly struck me.  Now, obviously, I'm at the beginning of a courtship, and this is written by a newly-married woman.  But still, there are a few things that make me happy, because it makes me feel like Kevin and I are doing something right!  Okay, I basically put in the whole article.  But I highlighted in purple the especially relevant parts.  :)  Not that they exactly line up, but just that it is good to know how other people do things too. 1. Why you did court rather than date? Right up front...

I memorized this poem years ago for a homeschool recital at a nursing home.  This last weekend with Kevin's family, I had so much fun with the little girls that I wanted to find a poem for this month about children.  This came to mind, and I've always liked the imagery!  The last two stanzas are especially beautiful. The Children's Hour, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Between the dark and the daylight, When the night is beginning to lower, Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the Children's Hour. I hear in the chamber above me The patter of little feet, The sound of a door that is opened, And voices soft and sweet. From my study I see in the lamplight, Descending the broad hall stair, Grave Alice, and laughing Allegra, And Edith with golden hair. A whisper, and then a silence: Yet I know by their merry eyes They are plotting and planning together To take me by surprise. A sudden rush from the stairway, A sudden raid from the hall! By three doors l...

After an absolutely wonderful weekend with Kevin's family, I had to come back to work and the realization that the summer is only half-over.  I have little to no motivation at my job at the moment, and I am sick and tired of trying to balance two different lives, two different schedules, and many different struggles in the two separate worlds I live in between home and school.  I'm so ready for my life to be "whole and entire" - to be honest, I feel like Sam Gamgee.  Essentially my emotions are like Frodo in The Return of the King right now, telling me "My dear Sam. You cannot always be torn in two. You will have to be one and whole for many years. You have so much to enjoy and to be and to do. Your part in the story will go on."  Unfortunately, I'm stuck with a "torn in two" life for another two years.  SO...what am I going to do about it? The answer plays into some things I've been thinking about as I plan for the next semester.  My spli...