Our Hearts Are Restless

December 31, 2012 - the conclusion of another Year of Our Lord.  Too often we - I - tend to focus on what's going wrong day-by-day, what do I need to fix, what has to be dealt with, etc.  For a while I tried to start the habit of every evening, before I went to bed, thinking of at least a few things that could be categorized as positives for the day.  Frequently my roommate and I would get loaded down with stress and our conversation before bed was filled with complaining or venting or worrying.  It really helped the few times that we remembered to talk about something cheerful before we went to sleep.  I need to start that habit again!  At any rate, at this end of the year, before I have to start worrying about everything in the next year, I'll try and list the good things that happened to me this year, and why they were good!  Deo gratias! These are in no particular order. 1. Got my first real jobs - McAlister's Deli as a waitress and MISO in IT Compliance.  I had good co...

THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR ~ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON Full knee-deep lies the winter snow, And the winter winds are wearily sighing: Toll ye the church-bell sad and slow, And tread softly, and speak low, For the Old Year lies a-dying.     Old Year, you must not die;     You came to us so readily,     You lived with us so steadily,     Old Year, you shall not die. He lieth still: he doth not move: He will not see the dawn of day. He hath no other life above. He gave me a friend, and a true, true love, And the New Year will take'em away.     Old Year, you must not go;     So long as you have been with us,     Such joy as you have seen with us,     Old Year, you shall not go. He frothed his bumpers to the brim; A jollier year we shall not see. But though his eyes are waxing dim, And though his foes speak ill of him, He was a friend to me.     Old year, you shall not die;     We did so laugh and cry with you.     I've half a mind to die with you,     Old Year, if you must die. He was fu...

"O gentle pilgrim of love, You stand at the door and wait!  How many doors in Bethlehem were closed to You: there was no room for You except in a wretched stable.  And is not my heart still more wretched, more squalid, more unworthy of you than that poor stable?  And yet, if I open it to You, You will not disdain to make it Your dwelling and the place of Your repose, as You did the stable where You were born.  O my Jesus, give me the grace to open my heart wide to You, to adhere with all the strength of my will to Your grace, to give You all my liberty, because henceforth I desire but one liberty: the liberty to love You with all my strength, to give myself wholly to You.  O Lord, how much You have loved us, and how few are those that love You!  Grant that at least these few may be truly faithful to You, and that I also may be of their number."

I know I promised to post something for each of the twelve days of Christmas.  Unfortunately, I'm too tired and drained tonight to write anything coherent or remotely inspirational.  I ask you, though, for prayers for two of my relatives. One, an uncle, fought an infection earlier in the year and lost part of his foot - he's now battling a second infection and was taken to the hospital again this afternoon.  Pray that he recovers quickly with no serious consequences. The second, my great-grandmother/great-aunt (yeah, my family tree resembles spaghetti sometimes) who is very elderly and seems to be nearing the end.  Prayers for her salvation (she's not Catholic) and for a peaceful death. God's will be done.  Deus lo vult! And just because I feel like it - VIVA CHRISTO REY!!!!  VIVA!!!

I was having way too much fun poking around on wikipaintings.org .  So here are some more paintings of the Nativity!  [caption id="attachment_707" align="aligncenter" width="488"] Birth of Christ, Tondo - Pietro Perugino[/caption] [caption id="attachment_708" align="aligncenter" width="338"] Birth of Christ - Albrecht Durer[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_709" align="aligncenter" width="365"] The Birth of Jesus - Cornelis de Vos[/caption] [caption id="attachment_710" align="aligncenter" width="478"] The Adoration of the Shepherds - Hugo van der Goes[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="199"] Adoration of the Shepherds - El Greco[/caption] [caption id="attachment_712" align="aligncenter" width="407"] Adoration of the Shepherds - Rembrandt[/caption]   [caption id="a...

There are so many lovely paintings of the Nativity out there that it was very, very hard to choose just a few.  So, I picked some that I was familiar with, and some new ones that I just discovered.  Enjoy! As a side note, wikipaintings.org is a wonderful resource for art.  Click on the pictures here and (hopefully, if I've done the hyperlinks right!) you'll get to larger pictures of the artwork and information about the artist.     [caption id="attachment_693" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Nativity with the Torch - Le Nain brothers[/caption] [caption id="attachment_694" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The Nativity of Christ - Vladimir Borovikovsky[/caption] [caption id="attachment_695" align="aligncenter" width="329"] The Nativity - Giorgio Vasari[/caption] [caption id="attachment_696" align="aligncenter" width="287"] The Nativity - Arthur Hughes[/cap...

My favorite Christmas gift of 2012 - although closely rivaled by the shiny new Leatherman tool - was a book I've been coveting for many a year.  My sisters each received a copy for graduation and both of my parents own it, so it's been on my Christmas and birthday wishlists for a long time.  Actually, my Sister's convent uses it for their daily meditation.  It is Divine Intimacy: Meditations on the Interior Life for every day of the Liturgical Year by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen, O.C.D. Divine Intimacy is set up on the old liturgical calendar (which means I'll have to pay attention to the moveable days!) which has so much richness in its feasts and Scripture.  For each day, there are three parts.  First, a few sentences to help one put one's mind and heart in the presence of God.  This always fits with the theme or season.  Then, a "meditation" in two parts (in case you're one of those people who are better than I and do spiritual reading twi...