Our Hearts Are Restless

If you are currently in college, just flipped your tassel, or - like me - are still struggling with calling a new apartment "home", p lease enjoy this guest post from one of my good friends, Amy Marter.  Amy just graduated as Valedictorian from Christendom College, with a BA in Literature and a minor in Classics.  She is working for Our Sunday Visitor for a second summer, volunteers at the Catholic Writers' Conference, and will attend Catholic University of America this fall for a MA in Literature. CC0 Public Domain via Pixabay A Patron Saint for College Nomads If there is one practical skill that I have gained from my college education, it has been that of packing. After four years of moving into dorms and returning home for breaks, I like to think that I have mastered the art. There is an exhilarating liberation that comes from the decision that all of one’s necessary earthly possessions can fit into the back of the station wagon. It gives rise to freedom to ro...

Once upon a time , I was dead set on being a professional musician.  A degree in arts administration with a minor in trombone performance awaited me, and I would hear of no other possibility, no matter how hard my parents tried. Then, the summer of 2010 happened.  My parents dragged me, kicking and screaming, to the same week-long program my two older sisters had previously attended at a little liberal arts college in Virginia.  "It's just a week," they said.  "Think of it as a vacation."  Some vacation!  Classes began and ended with prayer.  We had daily Mass, daily adoration, and an introduction to the depths of the liberal arts and Western civilization. Midway through that week, I sat in the back of the chapel, looking at the monstrance.   I can't leave this behind , I realized.  I knew, with overwhelming certainty, that this place was where I belonged.  The next few days were one long existential crisis, as I fought with myself t...

My lifestyle these last few months has been quite different from my gregarious, frenetic college career.  I'm no longer surrounded by a group of like-minded individuals, I don't have a few girlfriends in my room every evening, and distraught post-breakup souls don't knock on my door for a hug.  (Although they still do call for advice sometimes.)  I don't bounce from class, to running a club meeting, to counselling a friend, to editing someone's paper. The status quo of my life is solitude, enforced by distance from family and old friends.  A normal evening is spent between cleaning the apartment, cooking, and working on freelance projects at my desk.  My weekends usually involve grocery shopping, singing in the parish choir, testing new recipes in the kitchen, and curling up on the sofa with a book or movie.  Every now and then, I'll volunteer at my parish or be invited to a get-together at a new friend's house. While I'm still a choleric-sanguine , ...

Working on a movie review for y'all, but I wanted to share this quickly. Several times as I was telling people about my job, they asked where I found it, and I was surprised to discover that a lot of people don't know about CatholicJobs.com.  I spend two months trolling it this summer, but unfortunately, they don't give frequent-applier points.  This site was a lifesaver for me in my fresh-out-of-college career search! CatholicJobs is super easy to use - here's the homescreen: I usually searched for jobs by category, because I was trying to keep my options open as far as location and specific job type.  Below is a screenshot of the category "Publishing/Journalism" which is where I spent a lot of my time!  Because of my interests, I also regularly checked the Clerical/Administrative page.  There are a lot of options, and it's a great resource if you're really interested in putting your talents at the service of the Church.  I recommend re...

It's time to get back into the swing of things!  Writing prompts help me a lot, so here goes for this week's edition of Small Success Thursdsay, hosted by CatholicMom. After a year's worth of planning and preparing, my friends' wedding was successfully pulled off.  The end result was remarkably smooth, thanks to a large crew of friends and family who put so much time and effort into the day!  There were so very many little pieces that all had to "click" in order for the big pieces to happen...and they did, thanks be to God.  But there were always the problems that come up, large or small, which led to some very grateful praises of Divine Providence when they were all solved in time.  So here's to the workings of God for which I was not responsible! Disclaimer: the wedding was held in Virginia; I am from Indiana, the groom is from Texas, and the bride was from Ohio.  Which means that this entire event was long distance and engineered from hotel rooms...

It seems like forever and yesterday that I started as a bright-eyed, naive little freshman at Christendom College.  After four years and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature, the world seems just about as scary as it did then, but I'm so much better prepared to deal with it.  I could go back and give a post-mortem of all the things I wish I'd done better, but likewise I can give you an even longer list of why I'm glad I went.  I even managed to graduate  summa cum laude , thanks be to God!  My thesis was successfully concluded, I've made a myriad of "life-giving friends" (thanks, Dr. O'Donnell, for that perfect phrase!), I've grown spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, I've learned my strengths and my weaknesses, and I've received an amazingly intense and grace-filled education. Many thanks are due to my parents.  They are responsible for getting me to Christendom in the first place (that's a story in itself) and have sac...

It is done!  I have officially turned in the final draft of my senior thesis: "A Wise and Understanding Heart: A Study of the Female Bildungsroman in Twentieth-Century American Children's Literature".  It's a grand total of 80 pages, including table of contents, bibliography, etc. - 74 pages of actual writing.  It's a strange feeling, finishing such a big project!  In retrospect, it really wasn't that bad.  Most of the time, I managed to balance out the thesis with the rest of my life, or at least I'm forgetting the panic in the glow of not caring any more. Rejoice and be glad, alleluia, because I am SO thankful it is over.  It's not perfect, but I think it's a decent piece of work. Now it's on to the last few projects, and the final three weeks of my last semester of college.  Scary.  Between interviews and papers and finals, I'm thankful for Christ's words today in my daily meditation: "Be of good heart.  It is I.  Do not be afr...

Lots going on over here!  It's a little crazy, but only my normal brand of crazy - nothing earth-shattering yet.  This will have to be a quick scrapbook post; until I get through the first chapter of the thesis, I don't have much time to write. 1) I've been working with our chaplain and the Legion of Mary to begin campus ministry at Shenandoah University, a big secular school up the road.  We've begun Masses there every two weeks, and I'm leading a Bible study on the off-weeks with the help of a former FOCUS missionary.  Many opportunities for humility, but it is a beautiful work (despite the rather ugly cube-shaped chapel)! 2) The thesis is...well...a thesis.  At least it's getting there.  I know I've put a decent amount of work into it so far, but it feels like no matter what I do, there is a mountain of research to handle.  I definitely underestimated the research that has to go into just a few paragraphs!  It should be pretty good by the time I'm don...

I haven't done a "Poem of the Month" post for such a long time!  I thought I would share, just for fun, a poem that I'm working on memorizing and analyzing in the course of my Poetry and Poetics class this semester.  The poet, John Donne, is one of my favorites; if you don't know it, look up his sonnet "Batter My Heart".  Here's an unnamed poem; it's a rather bitter piece, but stunningly well-written. Go and catch a falling star, Get with child a mandrake root, Tell me where all past years are, And who cleft the Devil's foot. Teach me to hear mermaids singing, Or to keep off envy's stinging, And find What wind Serves to advance an honest mind. If thou be'st born to strange sights, Things invisible to see, Ride ten thousand days and nights, Till age snow white hairs on thee. Thou, when thou return'st, wilt tell me All strange wonders that befell thee, And swear Nowhere Lives a woman true, and fair. If thou find'st one, let me k...

[caption id="attachment_1910" align="aligncenter" width="645"] Yesterday I had a meeting with my thesis adviser for next semester. Not sure I'm ready for this...but at any rate, I pulled out a bunch of books from the library to begin researching over Christmas break. My topic is the bildungsroman (coming of age story) in American children's literature, as seen in Newbery Medal winners. Wish me luck![/caption]    

So I thought about celebrating Thanksgiving by reading "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - because the holiday is all about the Puritan pilgrims, right?  So what better way to remember their legacy?  Okay, fine, I've decided I should celebrate like a good Catholic. Ergo,  Deo gratias!   Thanks be to God!  Thanksgiving doesn't make much sense in this secularized culture; we have to realize Who we are saying thanks to.   Deo gratias , then, for all of the gifts and talents that we have been blessed with. This semester has hammered home to me the many things for which I need to be grateful.  I've been blessed with a slap of reality in so many ways! Deo gratias for my faith, and the hope that it gives me. Deo gratias  for my deeply supportive friends, and for the graces to accept their help in my weakness. Deo gratias  for my family, always around for a text or a call when I need a few words of honest wisdom. Deo gratias for a few true gentlemen who have proven...

I woke up in the middle of the night with this Scripture quote floating around in my head. One thing I ask of Thee, O Lord; this I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I assume this is God calling me to do a little exegesis and meditation.  Therefore, here I sit with my hot cider-and-honey concoction, leafing through the concordance and my little Bible.  I realized as soon as I looked at the rest of the psalm, why exactly that verse had come to my soul.  The entire psalm is all about trust in God, something I tend to struggle with as a choleric who likes to be in control!  It's especially a challenge at the moment, as I'm in the middle of an emotionally traumatic semester and a monster of a school-and-employment work load.  Nothing I can't handle...IF I keep the right priorities in place, and right now that top priority is leaning on God for the strength I know he'll give me. 1) The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fea...

I feel the need to post this poem.  Probably should have been consistently re-reading it these past few weeks, but I did finally rediscover it.  Kipling basically describes where I am right now - at least the way I'm attempting to face life! If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream – and not make dreams your master; If you can think –and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;...

Dear long-suffering readers, Please forgive my silence for a few more days.  It's been a rough and very busy semester, but I do plan to post over Fall Break next week.  In the meantime, here are a few links for your amusement! One of my dear friends from freshman year just received her clothing as a Poor Clare!  See pictures of Sister Veronica Mary of the Sacred Wounds of Christ here . When I was in Rome, I met the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother.  One of their charisms is media work, so you can see 8 minutes of yours truly talking about her faith here .  More about the Sisters and their work here . Homecoming was this past weekend - official pictures here , although I don't know if I'm in any of them! More soon!  Pray for me and my last two tests! Love, Rebecca

I've had difficulty putting any blog posts together, after I left Europe and returned to face...normality.  That state of existence is actually fairly tolerable, but not always the best fuel for keeping a functional blog.  My apologies to you delightful people who clearly still check this page despite my long silence! At the moment, my summer is full of work and...more work!  With a few fun things in between.  My job at a local bakery-cafe is keeping me busy, as well as newly appreciative of the people who work behind the scenes at restaurants. This summer, I'm beginning work on my senior thesis for Christendom!  Facing senior year is a scary and exciting challenge, but I will admit I'm looking forward to this thesis.  My topic, broadly, is children's literature.  I spent most of my childhood in the world of books, and I credit my mother for having shaped my love of the written word.  All those summer reading lists, the trips to the library, the huge amount of books she...

In Rome - Fr. Abram Joseph Ryan At last the dream of youth Stands fair and bright before me, The sunshine of the home of truth Falls tremulously o'er me. And tower, and spire, and lofty dome In brightest skies are gleaming; Walk I, to-day, the ways of Rome, Or am I only dreaming? No, 'tis no dream; my very eyes Gaze on the hill-tops seven; Where crosses rise and kiss the skies, And grandly point to Heaven. Gray ruins loom on ev'ry side, Each stone an age's story; They seem the very ghosts of pride That watch the grave of glory. There senates sat, whose sceptre sought An empire without limit; There grandeur dreamed its dream and thought That death would never dim it. There rulers reigned; yon heap of stones Was once their gorgeous palace; Beside them now, on altar-thrones, The priests lift up the chalice. There legions marched with bucklers bright, And lances lifted o'er them; While flags, like eagles plumed for flight, Unfurled their wings before them. There poets s...

Today is the feast day of my confirmation patroness, St. Agnes, to whom I have had a devotion since I was little. There is a beautiful article on St. Agnes here (thanks to Fr. Z for the reference). I took St. Agnes as my patroness because I saw in her another Catholic girl, about my age.  Her heroic purity was a model, and I still ask her intercession to protect my purity; but mostly she seemed very human and accessible to me.  Maybe I read her story so much that she just seemed real, or maybe God was giving me the grace to draw close to this virgin martyr in a way that I particularly needed and still need.  St. Agnes is a model not just of purity, but also of humility, a virtue which I sorely need!  She showed immense strength in a time that, in most girls' lives (or at least in mine) was a time of weakness, an in-between childhood and maturing.  I know that at the age of twelve I wanted to be an adult but knew I wasn't.  St. Agnes, however, had the courage and fortitude of an...

This is a little dorky, but I am really really looking forward to tomorrow being the Feast of St. Nicholas.  I'll have two major papers done, and I have St. Nicholas Day gifts from my family and Kevin's mom waiting for when they're done.  I feel like a little kid right now! Christmas caroling in the rotunda of the Library last night!  There are little evidences of Advent and Christmas all over campus, from the tree in the dorm to the Secret Santa presents, to the beautiful Nativity scene at the Library.   [caption id="attachment_1255" align="aligncenter" width="652"] The guys sang "Misty Mountains" after the caroling. It sounded quite epic with the acoustics in the library rotunda.[/caption]

I suppose that every blogger and his brother are posting on the exact same topic today, so I may as well jump on the bandwagon.  I must give thanks for so many things today. 1. My family.  Granny is off of dialysis!  The whole family was home for Thanksgiving this year - it hasn't been like that for four years.  We had an hour's rousing battle of Nerts (don't ask - an extremely fast-paced card game, which can get a little vicious), lots of good food, much laughter, and our annual tradition of watching Holiday Inn .  It's the closest you can get to a Thanksgiving movie besides  Miracle on 34th Street .  Despite my father forgetting to turn the oven on for the turkey, dinner was amazing.  I got to make the cranberry salad myself, not that that means I get a special claim on the leftovers of my favorite food!  At any rate, it is good to have the family safe and healthy.  I'm still praying hard for both of my sisters, but today was a pretty good day.  Deo gratias! [capt...