Quick Takes... Take 2

These are going to be REALLY quick takes, because it's late and been a long week... [Hosted by Conversion Diary.com]

1. This is my new favorite "God song" (as my best friend calls it): Brooke Fraser's Arithmetic   Check it out!

2.  Today, the person who has holy hour after me failed to show up.  So I got to do 2 holy hours.  It was great (after I got over myself for being impatient because I wanted to study)

3.  6 days till I fly to NY for my best friend's graduation. SQUIEEEEEEEEEE!!!

4.  4 months til entrance!  Double SQUIEEEEEEEEEE!!!  I told both my parents this week that I'm entering in the fall.  Dad took it well.  Mom's refusing to talk to me. :/

5. I really want Indian and/or Chinese food.  Anything that's not pasta (unless it's Pad Thai or Lo Mein...)

6.  I haven't done a darn bit of homework this week.  I'm beginning to wonder when/how I'm actually going to finish it all.... St. Joseph of Cupertino, pray for my lazy self!

7.  I'm starting to pack/give away/throw away stuff before entering the convent.  Man, it's hard!  Pray for me!

7 Quick Takes... Take 1

So I really love the 7 Quick Takes at ConversionDiary.com, and I've been wanting to start blogging anyway, so... I figured something easy like this would be great.  So... here goes! 

Uno:

I love the weather.  I hate the mosquitos. They're called "Tiger Mosquitos" and they suck... (pun totally intended).  What's weirder is that they don't use screens in Italy.  

Due: 

My friends tell me I'm weird.  I don't see it, personally.  Does it qualify me as weird if one of the highlights of my week was going to Mass with 25 priests... and me?  That's right.  Didn't think so.

Tre:

The other highlight was FINALLY finishing my application to join the nunnery (as my father calls it) and meeting the Sister who is the superior general of the order.  Completely normal for a 23-year-old.  Right?

Quattro:

 I realized this week how much I'm going to miss studying at the Ang.  I'm actually (*gasp*) starting to like philosophy.  At least sometimes.  As long as it's not something ridiculous like "to be is to eat" (no joke... this was the culmination of Ludwig Feuerbach's philosophy).

Cinque:

Speaking of eating, I made this really good Cherry tomato-garlic-basil-olive oil sauce and put it on whole wheat pasta with some fresh mozzarella buffala.  Awesome.

I also just realized that I haven't had gelato in almost a week.  Which is unacceptable :) 

Sei:

Usually I love Italians. They're a rather govial people who are entertaining to watch and nice to encounter.  This week, however, they've been driving me crazy!  Especially the women who just can't get over the fact that I'm wearing sandals!   My dear Italian Ladies: Just because you are still wearing your bubbled ski jacket and it's 70 degrees out, does not mean that I too am required to dress for the next blizzard.  So please, wipe the judgemental looks off your face and stop making comments because I CAN UNDERSTAND YOU! SI!  POSSO PARLARE ITALIANO (as proved by the numbers)!  So don't you forget it!

Sette:

I'm going to New York in a few weeks.  Between now and then I have about 600 pages of reading to do and a paper to write.  Upon reflection, this probably wasn't the best week to start blogging...  :D

PS- This was SOOO not as easy as I expected!  Better luck next week!

Something beautiful for God

I was a bit surprised when I stumbled back on this blog tonight. I had created it months ago, and it more or less fell from the back of my mind.
What surprised me most was the title I had given it: "Something beautiful for God." I've recently been struggling, more than usual I believe, to really live the Christian life, to be a light that radiates not anything of myself, but only the goodness and the grace of God. In some ways, I fear that I have begun to create something beautiful for myself- spending my time and efforts creating moments of self gratification rather than generosity. I have become the center, not God. Lord, help me to be selfless in giving myself, my life, totally and unreservedly to You.

So. What is this beautiful thing that I am to create for God? Well.... me. God, in His infinite goodness asks nothing great of me: no heroic deeds done in His name nor powers won give Him glory. These are nothing. In His eyes, we are everything. I am everything to Him. And the beauty I will give him is myself.

It still amazes me, every time I think about it, that God's love is so great for us, for me, that his thirst is so profound for me, that he became incarnate. He came chasing after me! He made himself known in humility, in gentleness, in wisdom, in sacrifice, and in unconditional love. I am called to make myself over in the same way: to be humble, to be wise, to be sacrificing, and to be charitable.

My greatest battle in this self-improvement project is my inability to focus on God as the giver and center of all meaning. Often times, my attention turns to the surface, becoming increasingly shallow as I heed the world's advice to become prettier, thinner, more powerful, etc. In doing so, I not only regress on any improvements I had made, but I even refuse God's call to be drawn closer to Him by allowing myself to more profoundly resemble Him.

***
I'm reading Mother Teresa's book, "Come be my Light," and I am struck most by her ability to trust God and to lay her entire life at his disposal. This was her prayer to Jesus (altered slightly by myself)

My Lord,
Grant me the grace to do your will.
Use my hands to work
Use my eyes to see
Use my feet to walk
Use my mind to study with
Use my heart to love your children.
Give me the grace to hold nothing back!
I love you Lord Jesus!