Transformed

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2
We live and we learn. We grow in our understanding of things and of people. I have to say that in this past in the past month in a half or so, I have grown in my own understanding. Honestly, starting this blog, I didn't think I'd keep up with it. I've tried to keep diaries and journals before, but usually after a few days I give it up. So when I made this commitment, to blog everyday, it looked a little doubtful. 53 blog posts later, here I am with having missed only one day. (P.S. Lent isn't really 40 days, that's why I have more posts).  In doing this, God really did help me to keep up with this commitment. I sort of proved to myself that I could keep up with a dairy/blog. It felt really good to come before the computer at night and looking back at my day, reflecting upon and actually thinking about how God had influenced it or finding bible verses that defined my day. Most of the time, we go through our daily motions without even thinking. We're just little robots going through our routinely life. What we do less then is take the time to meditate over what it was we really did. Setting apart this time every night, even if it was just 5 minutes to search for a quick bible verse, gave me a consistency, a new routine to add to my day. A routine that would allow to look back at what wonderful or life changing thing God lead me to do that day. He leads each one of us in different directions and in different ways. Lets see how this looks a year from now. I want to come back to this, implement it into my yearly routine, and do it again for lent next year. Maybe even make a new blog? Might be pushing it though. I'll just go to wherever it is God guides me. 
Amen.

Alright day

Do you know what one of the worst feelings in the world is? Smelling someone grilling really good steak half way through a run in the neighborhood while being a Catholic on Good Friday. An other really bad feeling: trying really, really hard not to laugh when it's quite and hundreds of people are looking at you. I had both feelings today. The latter was for a second during the Stations of the Cross at church today. Every year, the high schoolers put on a reenactment of the Stations on Good Friday. This year was my third and final year. Despite the moments of uncomfortable laughter bubbling in your chest, being a part of such a powerful production is one of the greatest feelings (though I did lose feeling in my legs by sitting on them for so long during the procession). In practicing for the Stations, yea we goof off, snack on food and such. Its not until you are at the front of the church, with hundreds of people watching you, that you realize how amazing and how important what you're doing is. After we finished the performance, old ladies came out crying, little kids wanted pictures with us. (P.S. I played Mary and we're all dress in old fashioned "robes" and such) It's always amazing to know that simple little acts, productions if you will, can be so influential and moving. Tomorrow, go through with a little random act of kindness toward someone. Bet it will mean the world to that person, even if it's just a little tiny world in the them. We owe it to Jesus. His final act of kindness was anything but simple or random, but he set forth an example for us to follow.

Stations of the Cross 1950
Henri Mattise

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus is given his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets His Mother
5. Simon of Cyrene carries the cross
6. Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8. Jesus meets the daughters of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus is stripped of His garments
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12. Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus' body is removed from the cross
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb and covered in incense.

Golden rule

He said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you?

You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet.

I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”

John 13:12b-15

Jesus set a precedent for us quite a few years ago. He gave us our oh so cliche "golden rule:" Treat others the way you want to be treated. Just like every kindergarten teacher who bestows that little phrase upon us, Jesus presented us with the most simple way of life: to treat others (friends, strangers, enemies) in the same way he would treat us and us him. He even gave us a visual, the washing of the feet, that is still reenacted at Holy Thursday mass every year, all over the world. As you pass by someone tomorrow, look at them. Look at them in the same way you would look at Jesus. Treat them. Treat them with the same gestures you would if he or she were Jesus. Try to do that once a day, then work it up to all the time. Think about it, how often do you really look at someone and really treat them in the same exact way you would want to be treated? Room for improvement, right?

Holy Wednesday

The Lord GOD has given me
a well-trained tongue,
That I might know how to speak to the weary
a word that will rouse them.
Morning after morning
he opens my ear that I may hear;
And I have not rebelled,
have not turned back.
I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
My face I did not shield
from buffets and spitting.
The Lord GOD is my help,
therefore I am not disgraced;
I have set my face like flint,
knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
He is near who upholds my right;
if anyone wishes to oppose me,
let us appear together.
Who disputes my right?
Let him confront me.
See, the Lord GOD is my help;
who will prove me wrong?

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Singsongy

R. (see 15ab) I will sing of your salvation.
In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your justice rescue me, and deliver me;
incline your ear to me, and save me.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
Be my rock of refuge,
a stronghold to give me safety,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
O my God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
For you are my hope, O Lord;
my trust, O God, from my youth.
On you I depend from birth;
from my mother’s womb you are my strength.
R. I will sing of your salvation.
My mouth shall declare your justice,
day by day your salvation.
O God, you have taught me from my youth,
and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.
R. I will sing of your salvation.

Ps 71:1-2, 3-4a, 5ab-6ab, 15 and 17

(To listen to it, click here.) 

It's really soft yet uplifting. I really feel that when singing it, you get a whole different feel for what is being said. We are doing as the bible says, singing of His salvation, showing of the wonderful voices he granted us with.

Roses are red...

"Without the burden of afflictions it is impossible to reach the height of grace. The gift of grace increases as the struggles increase."

St. Rose of Lima


An amazing woman, St. Rose of Lima has a story that in my eyes cannot compare to many others. In choosing her as my confirmation saint last year, I really look up to her. She willfully choose struggle to be present throughout her whole life, in order to be able to see the beauty in it one day. Without struggle, we cannot be satisfied. Thus, we learn from the obstacles that come before us and become stronger.

Sunday nights

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter;he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy...

Sirach 6:14-16


Friends are people who guide you and grow alongside with you. I have made some of the most incredible friends these past few years, who have guided me and grown with me in my faith. Today was our last Lifenight (HS youth group) of the year; my last official Lifenight at St. Helen as a student and a teacher (for now at least). Honestly, I almost started crying about 4 times. Lame maybe, but I was realizing just how much I'm going to miss these Sunday nights come September. Being a student in Lifeteen, freshman through junior year, I absorbed a lot of info and got close to some of the greatest people. As a small group leader this last year, I still felt like a student a lot of the time. I got the chance to sort through what I'd absorbed and really learn what it was I believed. I grew in my faith at the same time I was sharing it with some of the greatest kids I could have to call a small group. We had some kids come and go, but tonight I saw how we became a little Sunday night family. To begin the year, I was afraid. Still kind of figuring out the direction of my faith and leading a class of freshmen on my own at the same time was really daunting. Today, in mingling with each other near the end of the night, I heard the bits and pieces that we all took away from this year. In talking about the weekend, learning how to pray, discussing marriage and eating a few sugar cookies, my only hope is that these kids, my kids, learned a little something and want to keep coming back to learn even more. It was because of some of my own teachers that I kept coming back. I am so grateful to have had teachers and these kids this year who gave me the chance to share with them what I had to begin with and gave me so much more to know along the way.