Our Hearts Are Restless

Over the last few years, I have developed an interesting relationship with St. Joseph.  In all honesty, I pester him about everything from guys to freelancing to "help me get everything done that I need to get done today."  He's the patron saint of pretty much everything that's relevant for single young adult Catholics.  And having a spiritual father in addition to my earthly father equals the best masculine support system I could ask for. Our friendship started during senior-year chaos, grew through a summer of panicked job hunting, and solidified during my transition to independence.  I figure he could handle it, but I still feel a bit guilty about throwing all the difficult bits of my life at him. Recently, I realized just how well St. Joseph understands me.  Before Christmas, God threw the inspiration for a major writing project at me.  We're talking the kind of God-curve-ball that feels like a ton of bricks dropping on your head.  My respo...

Ideally, this post would be chock-full of inspirational quotes. ... At any rate, I bid my native land a temporary farewell!  Tomorrow morning, I and my travelling buddies depart for Chicago, whence we shall wing our way to the Eternal City. I've had mixed feelings all week - stress, fear, sadness, excitement, et cetera.  Truly, this trip is a wonderful gift.  It's a blessing to be able to travel to such a wonderful place in these circumstances.  While the semester will be tough, just being so far away from family, friends and boyfriend, it will also be a chance to spread my wings and explore.  Not too far, because I will come back.  Just far enough. This blog will turn into a travel journal for the next three months - I promise to post as much as is humanly possible.  For pictures, however, my travelling buddies and I have set up a Shutterfly site for everybody.  Look at  operationeternity.shutterfly.com ! In the mean time, please pray for me and my friends as we depart for bel...

I mentioned in my Epiphany post for O Night Divine  that my family, following the customs of a number of religious orders, chooses at random a particular saint and virtue for the New Year.  Both are opportunities to learn, to imitate, and to grow.  This year, I have St. Bonaventure to take as my model and invoke, and I was given the virtue of continence to foster. St. Bonaventure, Doctor of th e Church, feast day July 15 - Known as the “Seraphic Doctor”. - Born A.D 1231, at Bagnorea in Tuscany, he entered, at the age of twenty, the Order of Saint Francis. He studied and afterwards taught at Paris, in company of Saint Thomas Aquinas. After being General of his Order, he was created by Pope Gregory X Cardinal Bishop of Albano. He died during the General Council of Lyons (A.D. 1274), and was canonised two hundred years later, becoming a Doctor of the Church a century later. - Besides noble Commentaries on Holy Scripture and on the work of the Master of Sentences (the theological and philo...

I've got a post on Epiphany and traditions over at O Night Divine !

The twenty-fifth day of December. In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth; the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood; the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham; the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt; the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome; the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace, in the sixth age of the world, Jesus Christ the eternal God and Son of the eternal Father, desiring to sanctify the world by his most merciful coming, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and nine months hav...

My family always celebrated the feast of St. Nicholas by following the old custom of putting one's shoes outside the door before one went to bed.  We children would write out our Christmas wish list as a letter to St. Nicholas, fold it up and put it in our shoes.  In the morning, there was always an ornament for the Christmas tree, a bag of chocolate coins, and a candy cane!  St. Nicholas had come again to take our list and give us a few goodies to prepare for Christmas! Here is a poem I found that tells a few of the miraculous stories of St. Nicholas. Ballad of Santa Clause ~ Henry van Dyke Among the earliest saints of old, before the first Hegira, I find the one whose name we hold, St. Nicholas of Myra: The best-beloved name, I guess, in sacred nomenclature,— The patron-saint of helpfulness, and friendship, and good-nature. A bishop and a preacher too, a famous theologian, He stood against the Arian crew and fought them like a Trojan: But when a poor man told his need and begged ...