Living in the Noise (Over at Ignitum Today)

This post was originally published at Ignitum Today

Recently, I went to a Sunday night baseball game to cheer on my beloved Washington Nationals. When the Nats play on Sundays, the local parish offers an extra Mass for baseball fans coming to the game, affectionately called #NatsMass. Not only is it the perfect way to attend Mass right before the game – still making it to the park in time for opening pitch – but the Nats also have a pretty stellar winning record on #NatsMass Sundays, which I think we can all agree is clearly not a coincidence.

@dcsportsbog #nats now 14-1 after #natsmass, perfect in over a year and 8-0 since you wrote us up http://t.co/cno7bH5NrR

— Fr. Drew Royals (@DrewRoyals) July 6, 2015

This particular Sunday, it just so happened that the Gospel reading and homily were very appropriate for attending Mass in a small parish in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a major city with major game day traffic.

In the Gospel, Mark tells of Jesus coming to His hometown to teach in the synagogue, and the not-so-warm welcome He receives. Jesus was in the world where He grew up, but the people refused to listen to and believe Him.

The priest talked about how Jesus was not afraid to go out into the world to spread the good news, even to His hometown. Christ did not water down the truth for anyone, even His own people. His kingdom was not of this world, but yet He still walked and lived in this world, even if that world did not accept Him.

Throughout the entire Mass, the noise of the world heading to the baseball game permeated through the church doors. Cars honking, sirens blaring, whistles blowing, people yelling. The world outside this quiet little parish delivered a constant stream of noise; a world that was completely oblivious to the miracle of the Mass that was happening right in its midst.

I couldn’t help but take the reading and homily to heart as the noise continued to stream into the church. We live in a world that refuses to listen to Christ, and refuses to believe in Him – even when He is right in their midst.

The parish sitting in the middle of the busy-ness of the city is a metaphor for Jesus teaching in His own hometown. How many people notice this stone church as they walk or drive past on their way to the game; how many stop to think about the presence of Christ in the tabernacle within their reach? I’m sure that the answer is “very few”, and of those few that do notice the church on the corner, even fewer actually soak up what it means to live in this world as followers of Christ. It is so easy to get lost in the noise of this world, and so easy to miss the presence of Christ right in front of us.

There is a lot of noise that surrounds us as Christians. We are not called to live in a Christian bubble; we are called to live in this world, as noisy as it may be. Even more, like Christ, we are called to preach the Gospel and speak the Truth, even if we are ignored or shunned.

As the Host was raised during the Consecration, the noise outside continued to pour in and I thought to myself, “All of those people outside don’t realize what they are missing out on in here.” And so, this is our mission as Catholics – to help bring Christ to all those who live in that noisy world outside.

St. Joe, My Beau

Besties!

Today is my new favorite feast day, the Solemnity of St. Joseph.

Is it because St. Joseph was probably the holiest person to walk this earth after Jesus and Mary? Not really.

It's actually because St. Joseph is my new BFF.

Why, you ask, has St. Joe, my beau, become my latest new friend?

Because he is one of the greatest intercessors EVER. He's the bestest friend a gal could ask to have!

I'll have to back track a bit, but let me tell you our philia love story...

Once upon a time, not too long ago, in a land not too far from here, there was a young, 20-something Catholic trying to live life to the fullest...

I prayed my first novena ever a little over a year ago to the Holy Spirit. I was discerning a call to ministry, and prayed earnestly for some concrete answers. It became clear to me that I was not heading where God was calling me. Unfortunately, praying that novena was the last time I remember sensing God's presence and peace in my prayer life, and this is where I entered the dark desert of my spiritual dry spell.

My last post detailed that this last year has been rough, to say the least. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out "What's next?!" and have been down the "Nope, that's not it..." road more often than not. Pile months of unemployment and a major back injury on top of my massive spiritual dry spell and it's probably not difficult to understand why I've felt like a lost and wandering soul in the desert, without an oasis in sight, wondering where God was in all of this.

Source

Thankfully, I have a great prayer army that have kept showing me where the path is when I haven't been able to find it on my own.

One of these ways of trying to keep me on the path was my spiritual director urging me to keep praying novenas. I was willing to try anything, and the side effect of forcing me to pray for 9 days straight wasn't too bad for me either.

I started out by praying a Lenten novena for an end to the darkness. It just got darker.

Then I tried praying one to the Holy Spirit again for guidance. Imagine crickets chirping. I gave up for a few months.

Then when I hurt my back, I prayed one to St. Gemma Galgani. I still felt pretty alone in my suffering, even though I knew that Christ was carrying the Cross for me.

After 4-5 months of unemployment, I was getting desperate to find a job. I decided to pray a novena to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, my confirmation saint. She's always got my back when I need to find a parking spot downtown,* so I hoped that she would be able to persuade God to send a job my way. But, again it just felt like I was reciting meaningless words to an empty void.

*Cabrini, Cabrini, don't be a meanie, find me a place to park my machinie!

I was ready to give up on the whole novena thing. Oh yeah... and I was ready to give up on the whole spiritual dry spell thing, too. My mental yelling at God: You want to keep me in the dark, God? Fine. I'll just do the bare minimum to get by! No, I wasn't angry/frustrated/fed up at all!

Sensing my desperation, my spiritual director urged me to give another novena a shot. He suggested a novena to St. Joseph as our last ditch effort for me to get a job. I'm not kidding when I say "last ditch" either. I was ready to pack up and move home. I begged my way through that novena, yet it still felt pretty empty and bleak. Was someone actually listening in Heaven? I finished that novena, not expecting much to happen.

A few days later, I had a job offer.

Granted, it was for an administrative assistant position for a property management company (i.e. not related to my field at all), but it was a JOB.

Thanks to my oh-so-great spiritual mood (see my mental yelling above), I half-heartedly thanked St. Joseph. I had a friend in Heaven, but I had a roadblock up to acknowledging that. Somehow, what he had done wasn't really enough to prove to me that he prayed on my behalf and God answered.

I thought that getting a job would solve all my problems, especially spiritually. I thought that once I didn't have the worry of being job-less looming over me, my spiritual dry spell would dry up and all would be right with my world again. Except it wasn't. I was thankful to have a paycheck every two weeks, but I also knew that my search was not over. It was clear to me that my job was not my calling in life, and I struggled to figure out how to continue discerning the next step. The spiritual dryness still persisted, and while I was starting to accept it, that didn't make the silence and unrest I felt in prayer any better.

Fast forward. After months of whining about venting calmly and coherently sharing my continued spiritual frustrations with my spiritual director, can you guess what he suggested?

If you guessed praying another novena to St. Joseph, you win the prize!

At this suggestion, our conversation went something like this: (the following may contain slight exaggeration for dramatic effect)

Me: ANOTHER ONE?!?!!? C'mon, can't I be done with this whole prayer thing? It doesn't seem to be working.
SD: No.
Me: But I feel so lost in my prayer! I don't even know where to begin! I don't even know what I should be asking!
SD: Keep it simple. Pray: "Show me my vocation. Show me what's next."
Me: (grumble grumble exasperated sigh) Fiiiiiiiine...

So I did.

It just so happened that the timing of all of this worked out that I would be finishing up my novena on Ash Wednesday, the unofficial anniversary of my spiritual dry spell. Coincidence? I'll leave that for you, dear reader, to decide.

A dim flicker of hope?

Knowing that it was probably because of St. Joseph that I got a job before, I tried to pour my heart and soul into my broad novena intention. Throughout the nine days, however, my simple intention evolved into more and more petitions, desires that had been lying on my heart that I had been ignoring. I started to glimpse little flickers of light and feel tiny waves of peace rushing over me when I prayed, but they didn't last very long.

Day nine arrived, and I spent part of my lunch break praying my novena in front of the Blessed Sacrament, begging dear St. Joseph to show me something... anything! Part of me hoped that I would be rewarded with a spectacular vision of my life all laid out, but I left adoration without any new revelations. By this time, I wasn't too surprised. I had become fully accustomed to my dry spell.

It was that night when things started to get weird. One of the intentions that had shoved its way into my nine days of prayer popped up, and I dared to think, "Could this be a result of my novena?"** Not wanting to set myself up for disappointment though, I tried not to read anything into it, and I went to sleep that night still waiting for answers.

**This became the very specific intention of my next St. Joe novena, which I finished today!


The next day was any other day, just a normal Thursday. I'd missed a call while at work, and I finally got a chance to check my voicemail while driving home.

This is [insert name of HR person here] at the US [insert government agency name here] calling to make you a job offer as a [insert job title here]. The salary is [insert number that is way more than I've ever made in my life here]. If you could please give me a call back, I would be happy to give you more details. Congratulations, we're excited to have you join us!

Can you imagine my shock?

But wait, it gets better.

I got home and not only did I have an email from this person with more details, but I had another job offer in my inbox from a company in Ohio.

This is when I started freaking out! After almost a year of job craziness, I suddenly had two job options staring me in the face?!


St. Joseph, I asked you to show me what's next! How are TWO JOB OFFERS showing me what's next? That's making me make a decision! You were just supposed to show me everything... Oh wait.... I get it.

I then realized that I have a best friend looking out for me in Heaven. St. Joe wanted to help me so much that he asked God to throw it all at me. He has such a powerful position with God that God did just as he asked! Yes, I was faced with a difficult choice, but I somehow knew that with the guidance of St. Joseph, I would make the right decision for my life right now.

Through a bit more prayer, I felt at peace with accepting the job that would keep me in the DC area. I felt like something was keeping me tethered here, and even though I haven't figured out what it is, I decided to trust that sense of calm and stay. I accepted the job with the government agency less than a week later, and started my new position a week ago.

The past few weeks have been crazy, to say the least. I don't know if I've ever felt so overwhelmed from everything in my life, but despite this, I feel more at peace than I have in the past year.

Is this new job the one I will have for the rest of my life? I have absolutely no idea, but I am pretty sure it's where I am meant to be right now. I've already seen fruits from my decision, and it's only been a week!

Even more, while I don't think I have both feet entirely out of the desert yet, I think I might relief on the horizon. Even tonight, as I finished my latest novena to St. Joseph, I couldn't help but let a smile cross my face. I'm not alone anymore when I close my eyes to pray. In my mind's eye, I can see St. Joseph taking my prayer intentions to the Heavenly feast, offering them up for me to God.

St. Joseph was a father and husband, chosen by God to lead the holiest of families. He lived his life as a faithful servant to Christ, working hard to provide whatever his family needed. He did all of this with humility, despite the suffering he had to have endured throughout his life, and was graced with the privilege of dying in the arms of Jesus and Mary. This same St. Joe has become my Heavenly beau, my cheerleader, my guide. He wants me out of that desert so that I too can live my life as a faithful servant to Christ.

So, don't be surprised if I start hanging out with St. Joe all the time. We do practically everything together now. You might even say we're attached at the spiritual hip. I want to keep my friend with me in my daily life, so that hopefully I will someday get to meet him in Heaven so I can say, "Thank you, St. Joe, my beau!"

St. Joe even helps me blog!

Remember, most pure spouse of Mary, ever Virgin, my loving protector, Saint Joseph, that no one ever had recourse to your protection or asked for your aid without obtaining relief. Confiding, therefore, in your goodness, I come before you and humbly implore you. Despise not my petitions, foster-father of the Redeemer, but graciously receive them. Amen.

What happens when...

... you put three #cathsorority ladies in the same city?

I'm not sure, but I bet we'll have the answer after this weekend!

Elizabeth, Trista, and I are meeting up for the first time, attending an NFP seminar together, and enjoying some well-mannered frivolity. People will speak of this epic meeting of the minds for years to come.

Not drawn to scale. We are not really that large compared to the DC/VA area.

I am also sure that some slight craziness will ensue. (If you hear reports of earthquake-like tremors in the DC/VA area, it's probably not due to the shifting of tectonic plates, but from the epic mash-up of the three of us.)

I even had the opportunity to meet and spend the evening with Elizabeth last night, where I introduced her to Cincinnati chili:

Fine cuisine, imported from exotic Ohio.

Word on the street is that she loved it! It was fun to spend the evening talking and hanging out - we get along in real life, and not just in blog world! Huzzah!

I am sure we will have many interesting and/or exciting stories, as well as new things we learn at our seminar, to share with you all after this weekend. Hopefully we will have some great pictures of the three of us together to post as well, to prove that this epic meet up really did happen.

I hope you have a great weekend, as I am sure we will have a blast hanging out together!

7 Quick Takes Friday (#27)

Thanks Jen for hosting!

1. I got a new design for my blog! I've been wanting to change it for awhile, but I was having trouble getting everything the way I wanted it. I still don't like how the header isn't centered, but maybe blogspot will fix that soon... maybe?! Anyway, credit of the photo goes to Jen at Conversion Diary... she posted the photo in her blog months ago and I fell in love with it - it's been my desktop background pretty much ever since! What do you think of the new look? - be honest!
2. Last week, Leila sent me Abby Johnson's book Unplanned, and I finished it a couple of days ago. It really is a powerful story, and it provided a lot of insight into the pro-choice mindset and how Planned Parenthood works. I think we can use information like this to find common ground with many pro-choice supporters - like the fact that we all want to help women - and discuss how to further that - by caring for the whole person, not just by providing immediate but temporary and sometimes harmful solutions to the "problems" of women. I think Abby also has a powerful point, that we are going to win more converts by fighting them with love, prayers, and kindness - if the Coalition for Life hadn't been so kind and friendly to Abby for the 8 years she was at Planned Parenthood, would she have run to them when she realized she needed to leave? Probably not. Anyway, if you haven't read the book, go pick up a copy. Try your local library if you can't afford to buy a copy right now (like me!) or share it with friends! Thanks Leila for lending me your copy for the week!
3. I finally posted about my silent retreat. It's a long post, so ye be warned!
4. One of my favorite things about DC is July 4th! Despite all the politicians and politics that tear this city apart, or so it seems, July 4th really is very patriotic here. There's something about seeing the fireworks over the monuments that really gets me. I also hope to catch the concert this year too! If you were with me last year, you will also be glad to know that I have made a request of my friends that we NOT take the metro this year!
5. In my ample free time this past week, I finished off the BBC series Robin Hood, which I mentioned last week that I was watching. For those of you who like good TV shows, I would definitely pick up this one... except just skip the last season. It started out fine, but then just got weird and awful. Just pretend that the series ended after Season 2. Now, I have to find a new show to watch to help fill some time. Any suggestions?
6. I have a couple more interviews on my plate for "real" jobs, but it you know anyone who works in the chemical industry, would you mind hooking me up? I really just want to get my name out there to see what I can find! So far I haven't had that post-interview "I really want this job" feeling.
7. I've been debating whether or not to join the Bright Maidens for their post this Tuesday on tattoos... I don't really have a polarizing opinion either way, although I look forward on reading other people's insights. However, while watching The Voice earlier this week, I realized that my post would probably just have a bunch of pictures of Adam Levine, who has tattoos all over his arms. I have been a huge fan of Maroon 5 since before they were superstars, and I just think Adam Levine is really pretty, tattoos and all! So I will probably not post on this topic just because I don't think you all are really that interested in looking at a post of pictures... but hopefully I can join up again soon!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

7 Quick Takes Friday (#23)

Thanks to Jen for hosting!

1. I love how my Feedjit is always going crazy with people coming to my blog from all over the world! I would love to get to know more about you! Check out my Getting to Know YOU post.
2. Are you praying for the Pope? Join us as we pray a novena for the Pope for his 84th birthday present! It starts today and continues up until his birthday... so it's not too late! Check it out here.
3. Last week, I had a friend from college visit me for a week, and this weekend, two of my cousins are here to visit! It has been fun playing tourist with them, because sometimes I forget that I live in this amazing city where there is so much to do! Today, we are heading to a couple of the Smithsonian museums, Chinatown, Ford's Theater, and then maybe we'll make it until dinner time. I hope to take them out to the Basilica as well!
4. Last week, I had a tourist ask, "If you only had 2 days in DC, what would have to be on your list of things to do or see?" That's an easy answer for me... see the memorials and monuments at night. Gorgeous! My drive to and from campus some evenings gives me a front seat view to the Lincoln Memorial at night, and it is beautiful to behold. Crazy that humans are able to construct such beauty out of rocks, and yet some people still don't believe that we have a Divine Architect in charge of it all...
5. I am in the process of searching for a new roommate for (at least) the summer months. If you know any young women looking for a place in the DC area, let me know!
6. On the topic of "searching", I am looking for a job. I will be graduating with a Master's in Chemistry in May, so I am ready to entire the career world! Unfortunately, I still really am not sure what I want to do. I am looking at jobs with Catholic organizations and teaching high school chemistry in Catholic schools in addition to chemistry positions. If you know anyone who is hiring or looking to fill a position, please let me know! I would also appreciate any hints on where to search, as I am feeling a little lost in the job searching world right now.
7. God rested on the seventh day, and I'm going to take a rest on my 7th quick take so I can get ready to play tourist today!

Have a great weekend!

The Largest Genocide our World has Ever Seen

I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recently with a friend who was visiting from home. This is the second time I've been there, and for those of you who have been to the museum know that it is a profound experience no matter how many times you see the exhibits.

A sign outside the museum that we really need to take to heart.

The museum is very well done, as it highlights not only the Hitler and Nazi regime, but also the factors that led to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust. There is also currently a special exhibit on Genocide, and how it is still happening today.

This happened to be the first exhibit that I walked through while I waited for my turn to go through the main permanent exhibition. While I was there, I just had the greatest sense of unease. It is awful that the genocides such as those in Rwanda and Darfur have happened and are continuing to happen. Why can't our world learn that this is not right? But the greatest sense of unease hit me when I sat down to watch a film detailing Hitler's rise to power. In this film, they defined genocide as the systematic murdering of large groups of people deemed inferior.

Systematic... done or acting according to a fixed plan or methodical system.
Murdering... the wrongful premeditated killing of one human being by another.
Inferior... a person lower than another in rank, status, or ability.


This definition of genocide is when it hit me, when I realized why I was feeling such unease in my heart. It was because we are committing the greatest act of genocide today in our world, and the worse part is that it is a legal and systematic act that ends the lives of millions of unborn children each year. 

Pictures of actual victims line 3 stories of the building.

In the pro-life circles, it is not anything new to compare abortion to genocide and the Holocaust. However, I think my sense of unease came from the fact that the museum kept portraying all the defining qualities of genocide - all of which can blatantly be applied to abortion - but yet there wasn't even a mention of abortion whatsoever. Not even in the exhibit highlighting the atrocities in the genocides of our generation. There was an area where you could make a pledge to take action against the atrocities of genocide around the world, and I wrote that I will "continue praying for the respect, dignity, and protection of all human persons." This, ultimately, is what it comes down to. A lack of recognition and respect for the dignity of human life - even human lives that are different from ours, those lives that seem to be "inferior" to our "superior" intellectual and physical abilities.

As I spent hours walking through the exhibits, I was continuously struck by the similarities between the atrocities committed against the oppressed, mostly the Jews, during the Holocaust and the unborn children of the world today.

There was a section that highlighted the Nazi's T-4 euthanasia program, which shed light on the atrocities committed against men, women, and children with disabilities. They were used as experiments, and then exterminated because they were deemed inferior. I don't think there are many people that could see these atrocities and not see how wrong these acts were. 


Yet, we are doing this today. It has been estimated that 90% of babies with down syndrome are aborted. This statistic doesn't even include the number of aborted children who test positive for other disabilities in the womb. I really would like to know how this is different from what the Nazis did during the Holocaust. How is almost completely wiping out children with different intellectual and physical abilities than the average person any different from the Nazi plan for euthanasia and extermination of those deemed inferior?


Of course, it doesn't end there. We all know from our history textbooks that Hitler and the Nazis set out to make the "inferior" races obsolete. 6 million Jews were exterminated because they were inferior, but that's not all. I think the numbers speak for themselves:

(The sources that Wikipedia used are listed on the main article thread.)

This toll doesn't really account for those that publicly and politically opposed the Nazis, although many of those can be accounted for in some of the above numbers. I am especially thinking about the many Catholic priests and laypeople who were martyred for standing up for the dignity of the Jews and others who were murdered.

Of course, the numbers differ depending on what source you use, but it must be recognized that none of these values are entirely accurate. How can one possibly track that many deaths? However, all in all, estimates for the total death toll from the Nazi genocide come to around 17-26 million individual lives lost from 1933-1945, or an average of 1.3-2 million deaths per year.

In comparison, there have been multiple statistical analyses tracking the number of abortions since 1973. An analysis in 2010 showed that 52 million abortions have been performed since Roe v. Wade legalized abortions in the United States, an average of 1.8 million abortions per year. How on earth can some humans be so blind as to not see that abortion has become our modern day Holocaust?

When we expand this to include the concept of inferiority, all you have to do is look at the numbers to see that abortion targets minorities. If looking at a map to see where Planned Parenthood builds most of their clinics isn't enough to notice this trend, you can also look at the statistics. Abortions are performed on more than 3 times as many minority children as it is on white children. From the census data in 2000, African-American women comprised 12.3% of the female population but accounted for 36.4% of the abortions in America in 2006. Hispanic women accounted for 25% of abortions in 2008, while they only made up about 12.5% of the female population in 2000. Meanwhile, 69% of America's female population check the "non-Hispanic, white" box on the census, but only account for 36% of all U.S. abortions. From 1973-2001, abortion alone has claimed more than 2.5 times as many African-American lives as the next five leading causes of death combined. Between Roe v. Wade and now, about 30% of the African-American population has been lost to abortion.

It is time for America to WAKE UP! We claim to be the heroes of defending freedom and protecting those who can't protect themselves, yet we are the leader in the largest genocide our world has ever seen. Yes, the latest action to try to defund Planned Parenthood is a start, but we have to go deeper than that. We have to appeal to the hearts of Americans. We can't do that with facts and numbers and percentages, but only by showing the reality of recognizing abortion as genocide. It can start with looking at the aftermath of the Holocaust that people still deal with today, but it ultimately has to come from a conversion of the American mindset and heart.

Where can we find the steadfast leaders we need to undertake this challenge?

The Catholic Church. Today. Yesterday. Every day.

From the Hall of Remembrance, from Deuteronomy 4:9

One of the things that gave me the most hope as I walked through the Holocaust exhibit was that the Catholic Church was recognized as being the only one who consistently opposed Nazi programs of sterilization, experimentation, and extermination of the "inferior" races (despite the fact that many claim the leaders of the Church either ignored the Holocaust or were Nazi supporters). It gave me hope - especially as a Catholic - to see that we continue to publicly oppose these horrors still present in the more modern forms of contraception and surgical sterilization, embryonic stem cell research, and abortion. We will not change our tune - even when we are publicly criticized for it - because this steadfast spirit in opposition is the right thing to do. People can now recognize the horrors of the Holocaust, and so they recognize that opposing the Nazis would have been the right thing to do. I hope and pray that the time comes soon when people will see this opposition against the atrocities in our modern culture as the right thing to do now as well.

As I walked through the exhibit and saw a wall that honored many priests and laypeople, who devoted their lives to hiding the Jews, and as I saw pictures of priests being executed for publicly opposing the Nazi regime, I started to keep true to my pledge. I asked those priests that were in the photos, by name, to pray for us and an end to genocide. We can't do this alone, and who better to turn to in our time of need today than the army who opposed these atrocities during the Holocaust.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#13)

Check out conversiondiary.com for more!

Well, I haven't updated in a few weeks (I know, you're really upset by this...) because I've been at home on winter break! I am back in DC now, so my Quick Takes this week focus on my homes!

1. It was good to be home again, and it's good to be back in DC! I enjoyed seeing friends and family and now I'm enjoying catching up with friends now that I'm back. For some mixing of Ohio and DC, I had a few friends over last night to watch Miami kick some Tennessee rear end in the GoDaddy.com Bowl Game! Great to see the boys go from a double digit losing record last year to a double digit winning record this year! This pre-game speech was epic.
2. My family enjoys playing board games, and we played almost every night when I was home. I have officially declared myself the Scrabble champ of the household with a winning record of a billion wins to one loss. Alright, a billion is extreme, but believe me when I say we played A LOT of Scrabble.
3. My next youngest sister turned 21 over the break and so my parents and I took her for her first wine tasting to Wyandotte Winery, a local winery near where I grew up! It was a lot of fun, and I walked away with some delicious wines to bring back with me!
4. CHRISTMAS! That is the whole reason for the season, right? I played flute with the choir at Christmas Eve Mass, which is always fun. We celebrated Christmas at home and then also celebrated with my dad's extended family on the 25th and my mom's extended family on the 1st. Great times with all the family! I can say that I got everything I've ever wanted for Christmas... except for a monkey carrying a backpack with a million dollars. Maybe next year.
5. I spent New Year's Eve with my friend Claire and her hubby. I rang 2010 in with them and another friend that was in their wedding with me, and so it was like a reunion one year later! It was a fun night. I also spent a few days with her crafting and playing board games! She got this game for her husband called Carcassonne, and it is so much fun. Really. She is also a master crafter and I hope to make millions of dollars someday so I can finance a craft store for her to run.
6. Since I've moved out of the house with all of my bedroom furniture, I no longer have a room or bed to call my own when I travel home. This means I usually end up playing "musical beds". I often sleep on the spare twin in my youngest sister's room... which is also the bed/mattress I slept on when I was 3... so sometimes I switch it up and sleep in whatever bed happens to be open... even if it means waking up at 7 AM when the kids have gone to school to take over their bed. Needless to say, I am glad to be back to my own bed.
7. I don't really attend daily Mass when I'm home... I'm not sure I could tell you why. I think it's mostly to do with it's much earlier in the morning and therefore much less convenient than our wonderful noon Mass at the Newman Center. I miss going to Mass every day so much, though! It really has opened my eyes though to the need to start getting myself there even when it's not convenient... especially since I won't be in grad school on this campus forever (I should probably do a post about that...). So it's good to be back, and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things so I went to Mass today and stuck around for Adoration before grabbing lunch with a couple of friends.

Happy New Year!

7 Quick Takes Friday (#12)

1. I know that deep down inside, you think, "Man, I wish Liesl updated more... I just love her quirky thoughts and insights into everything she writes... she must be super cool." Well, worry no longer - at least for this week. I published not one, not two, but THREE whole posts this past week! I know, it was an accomplishment. Check out my post on My Christmas Pet Peeves; Believe, and Be Satisfied; and UN-Planned Parenthood.
2. It's finals week here in GW-land, but it was a pretty relaxed one for me. I had my one and only final on Tuesday and it went much better than expected and then I proctored an exam this morning. So let's be honest... if I'd had a normal finals week, I probably would've updated twice as much as I already did this week. Sorry to disappoint.
3. I went ice skating at the Sculpture Garden on the National Mall last night with a few friends! It was a blast being able to skate in the chilly outdoors. Definitely something I would recommend checking out if you are ever in DC in the winter time!
4. It snowed here in DC this week, which is always fun, but this one was especially fun since it was the first real snowfall of the season. Even more so because people here haven't seen snow before, and it is highly entertaining (if not slightly wet from being pelted by so many snowballs).
5. I'm heading home to Ohio in a few days for the holidays! So excited!
6. Tonight I planned the second graduate student and young professional event at the Newman Center. We are having Adoration for an hour and then heading out to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks! Hopefully it will be fun; I've enjoyed being able to take a planning role to get some events for us "old" folks that hang around.
7. I pulled out the gimp for making lanyards again today... watch out. I tend to go into a lanyard making frenzy whenever this happens! Pictures might follow...

Home

When my family moved the summer before my senior year of high school, I was really upset about it. I was born and raised in the same house my entire life up to that point, and the thought of leaving the home I knew was incredibly scary and sad for me. My parents told me though that they wanted to move before I graduated so that the new house would come to feel like home to me before I left for college. They would say, "Welcome home!" every time I walked in the door for a while until the new and much more spacious house became home.

So I often am a little thrown aback when I hear my friends say, "I'm going to my parents' house for the holidays." or "I'm going to spend the weekend in fill-in-the-city-name." Yes, some of them are married, have steady jobs, and lives of their own, or not many (or any) siblings are still living at home, and while I am a full-time student, I live full-time in DC and pay rent and bills and struggle with the transition to "real" adulthood every day. Yet, when I talk about my holiday or weekend plans, I say, "I'm going home for Thanksgiving."

Home is not about the building, which I discovered my senior year of high school. It is about familiarity - sights, smells, sounds, feelings. And even though I don't live in that house anymore - and as much as I love my family, hope to never move back into that house again - I still feel when I come home as if I haven't lost my place in that space. Yes, life there has continued on without me while I'm away, but my appearance doesn't disrupt the order of things and I still have my usual place to sit at the table and an old creaky bed to sleep in. It's a place where there will always be a place for you, because there will always be people there who love you no matter what. So using this idea of home, it is literally shocking to me to hear people my age no longer refer to home as home.

I sometimes wonder if I will ever get to the point where I no longer refer to home as home. Maybe when I get married and start a family of my own, or when I get settled more permanently in a house instead of renting an apartment. Only time will tell, but I just can't imagine it. Because that house is my home still, even though I don't reside there (unless government and tax officials are reading this - I am totally still living there!).

I think this concept can also be related to God as well. When we all say that we want to go to Heaven someday, we don't hope to visit our Father's house or that obscure but beautiful city on the hill - we hope to go home. It is precisely because of Jesus Christ and his ultimate and awesome sacrifice for each and every one of us that we can even have the hope of someday referring to Heaven as home. We hope to be welcomed home with open arms, not only as adopted children of God through His son and our brother, but also as sons and daughters of God through flesh and blood - through the Eucharist. Home is that place where we will be loved, despite our shortcomings and many downfalls, as long as we come knocking on the door, asking to be forgiven.


So for now, I will continue to say that I am going home (to Westerville) for Thanksgiving, but I will also continue to pray every day that when my day comes, I will be ready and able to be welcomed into the ultimate home.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#8)

Check out www.conversiondiary.com for today's Quick Takes!

1. It's been awhile due to a busy last few weeks, but I am back!
2. Check out this video (courtesy of Creative Minority Report), and then be sure to VOTE this November!
   
   
   
   
   
   The strength of our nation, it's not only in its military or economic power, but in our commitment to moral values.
3. While my family was here in DC, we did a lot of really interesting things that are not necessarily on the list of "Top Ten Things to Do in DC." I plan on writing up a post about some "Must Sees in DC", but if you ever find yourself in the DC area during the summer months, be sure to check out the Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial. The Marine Drum and Bugle Corps performs two full shows (complete with drill! on an unmarked field!), the silent drill team performs, and they also honor all fallen and current Marines with a gun salute and the playing of taps. It really is quite an humbling experience and a fun way to spend time with people. Bring a blanket and a snack and get there early if the weather is nice!
4. I have now officially be in DC for a year. It seems so weird - sometimes it feels like the time has passed very quickly and sometimes it seems to just drudge on by (usually when I am anticipating going back home to see friends and family!). I have to say that one of the biggest accomplishments I've made in the past year though - surviving DC traffic while managing to not get lost 95% of the time. It's been quite a feat - lots of studying maps and road signs as I drive!
5. My new roommate moved in this past weekend! The former roommate had to move closer to work, but I was able to find someone new to take her place through a mutual friend at the Newman Center. It has been making me anxious with all the boxes and things in the apartment the past two weeks, but we are finally getting everything organized. I also think we get along really well, and I think it will be nice to have a roommate who is not only a respectful person to live with but also a friend. Here's hoping it works out!
6. It is so good to be back at daily Mass! Due to visits and traveling and priests being out of town, it had been a few weeks since I had been to regular daily Mass, but I am back again.
7. Unfortunately, I failed at completing the Consecration to Jesus through Mary. I made it a little over half way, but with traveling all over, it just stopped happening. I'm a little disappointed, but am glad that I made it that far - and hopefully I will give it a shot again next year! Check out a great homily from the Feast of the Assumption here.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#7)

Click the picture!

1. MY FAMILY IS COMING TO VISIT TOMORROW! We have lots of fun things planned for an epic adventure in DC and NoVA. I am sure there will be lots of fun things to tell next week! We are planning on spending a day in Mount Vernon, taking a cruise along the Potomac, going to see the memorials at night, touring the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Smithsonians, playing a "friendly" game of softball with some of my DC friends, and probably lots of other fun things! There will definitely be some activities crossed off the DC Bucket List. I can't wait - I haven't seen my family since March and it will be nice to have them for a visit.
2. This video is hilarious. Why have I spent all these years playing flute when I could have been one of the only two people in the world to be a professional typewriter musician?
See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.
Well, so far, I haven't found that $100, but I did find some wall tacky I spent 20 minutes looking for yesterday. So thanks St. Anthony for the prayers... now how about that $100?
I have been injury prone lately. Usually, it's softball that causes my bumps and bruises, but this time it was all me. I tripped over the coffee table. My pinky toe is very large and bruised, but I think it's just jammed, which is good since I have softball next week and tournaments the week after that! 
This past week, I started re-reading Harry Potter for the 5 millionth time. I am almost finished with Prisoner of Azkaban. I LOVE THESE BOOKS! No matter how many times I've read them, I still read something I never noticed before. 
I am getting a new dishwasher today! I am so excited... all I did was ask my landlords if I was up for new kitchen appliances anytime soon and they came to check them out and decided I needed a new dishwasher! It will be nice to have dishes that get clean the first time instead of needed washed after I take them out of the dishwasher.
Is anyone doing the prayers for the Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary? How's it working out as a spiritual workout?

A DC 4th of July

I love the 4th of July. Parades, good food, good music, fireworks - many of my favorite things. So I was excited to be spending the 4th in DC for the first time, to see if our nation's capital could celebrate in style. While I failed to do enough research in advance and missed out on a lot of the celebration, it was still a night to remember.

The Good:

Like I mentioned before, I didn't do enough research in advance, so my 4th of July plans were a lot less than normal. However, I did spend a fun evening with some friends from the Newman Center! We met up around dinner time at a friend's apartment and snacked on some tasty treats - I provided pasta salad and delicious watermelon, two essential summer foods. Then we packed up the cars, drove to the metro station and hopped over a couple of stops to Rosslyn (more on the metro adventure later!). We decided to watch the fireworks from the Iwo Jima Memorial, as it supposedly had good views and was less crowded than going across the river. Well, it was crowded, but it was a wonderful place to sit. We arrived about an hour before the fireworks started and found the most PERFECT seats on the lawn. From where we were, we could see the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and Capitol Building lit up in the evening sky, and when the fireworks started, it quieted down and it was a spectacular view. While it was shorter than what I was used to and we didn't have a radio, the fireworks were excellent! There were tons of people taking very professional photographs, but we all preferred to just enjoy the show! It was quite an experience to see our nation celebrating over iconic images for our country.

The Bad:


The Metro... what can I say? Leading up to the celebration, everyone and everything was recommending that people take public transportation to get to the fireworks. Many of the roads to get across the river were closed which would make traffic awful. However, we were not across the river, but still thought that the metro was best. What an adventure. They had cops and metro police everywhere trying to streamline the process, but it was still a fiasco. I can't imagine how awful it would have been without them there, though. After the fireworks, we waited in line just to get to the escalators about 20 minutes. When we finally reached the platform, the guys managed to run and make their train heading back into the city - they were the lucky ones. We headed down to the platform heading west and began our wait for an orange line train. The platform was packed and sweaty, and each time a train pulled up, people herded each other towards the doors. Unfortunately, there were so many people on the cars already from the district that we were often only able to squeeze a few people onto each car at a time. So we waited... and waited... and waited... finally a train arrived that had room, but we realized as it pulled up that the glass was fogged up on the car. When the doors opened, we saw sweat pouring down people's faces and their looks of horror at the prospect of more people getting onto the un-air conditioned car. One girl wrote on the window in the steam "CAN'T BREATHE!". We decided to skip that car. So we waited... and waited... and waited... finally, after about an hour of waiting, Danielle and I managed to squeeze onto a car. And I mean squeeze. Her ponytail was in my nose and mouth and I think she was standing at a 30° angle to fit inside the door. But we made it! This left the last 4 from our group waiting on the platform, which we found out later that they had made it onto a train and got home.

While it was an epic, sweaty adventure on Metro, we learned a very important lesson - DO NOT TAKE METRO ON THE 4TH!!! Ha! We decided that all the notices to take Metro was a conspiracy - Metro just increased fares, people were everywhere, and it was a way to cash in and try to make up for that budget deficit. Well, maybe it wasn't a conspiracy, but it's a possibility...

The Things I Shouldn't Miss Next Year:

I missed watching a nice orchestra concert. A couple of my friends went to the rehearsal for the Capitol 4th Concert on Saturday night, but I already had plans and wasn't able to make it. That is something I do not want to miss in the future. It is a great way to catch some good music - musical artists and the National Symphony Orchestra - without having to deal with really intense security and major crowds.

Also, growing up in my nice little suburb, I enjoyed the community aspect of the 4th celebration - seeing people you know in the parade, cheering on or marching with the band, grabbing Graeter's Ice Cream from down the street, beating up little kids to get all the Cheryl's cookies (OK, maybe not beating them up...), listening to the community orchestra play patriotic tunes out on the lawn, and watching the fireworks celebration along with the music on the radio. Not surprisingly, DC is not a nice little suburb, and it just can't really do these things like a smaller community can. Next year, I will have to see if any of the communities in NoVA have town parades, concerts, and fireworks so I can still get that community 4th of July celebration.

7 Quick Takes Friday (#5)

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1. I missed Quick Takes last Friday... whoops! It was just a busy week!
2. The trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiered this week. This is just too much excitement for me!
3. This week, we had a good-bye barbecue for our campus minister at the Newman Center. It is sad to see her leave as she is such a fun person to be around and great person to talk with about almost anything, but hopefully she will still be in the area! Pray that she will have a safe trip wherever she heads next in life!
4. I scored my first run of the season this past week in softball... and it was stealing home, which let's just say doesn't happen too often with me!
5. Check out two great posts on the Eucharist this week here and here.
6. This was another busy week for me, but I am enjoying being busy! This week, I got to work in the lab, read lots of articles, go to a fun Bible Study session, bake and decorate a cake, have Jocelyn over for a slumber party, hang out with some good friends, win 2 softball games, play putt-putt (and not come in last place!), go to the batting cages, get in some more softball practice with a couple of friends, watch some baseball games on TV, cook dinner for more people than just myself, take 2 bubble baths, and enjoy this gorgeous weather. I would say that was a successful week.
7. Happy 4th of July! Hope you are celebrating with family, friends, good food, good memories, fireworks, parades, and good music!
I thank God for my life And for the stars and stripes May freedom forever fly Let it ring Salute the ones who died And the ones that gave their lives So we don't have to sacrifice All the things we love...

7 Quick Takes Friday (#3)

1. Since I installed the Feedjit on my blog, I’ve noticed some people other than myself are appearing on my blog! Welcome, hope you’re enjoying what you’re reading! If you have a few minutes and want to introduce yourself, I would love to get to know you!
2. This is my science geek-out moment for the week… I just finished reading Solar by Ian McEwan, his latest work of fiction - he is one of my favorite authors if you are looking for a good read this summer. The novel follows the life of a Nobel prize physicist who is past his prime... but it talks about a research project he "discovered" later in his career that has the concept of using solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which can be used as a fuel source. His novel is so well researched - the science is pretty sound - but I was just so fascinated because I spent a semester researching these "solar fuel cells" for my senior capstone for my bachelor's degree. It was completely amazing to be a reading a novel that detailed a subject area with which I was familiar. I sort of wish he cited his sources, as I would love to see if he read literature from Dr. Harry Gray or Dr. Dan Nocera - two of the big researchers at Caltech and MIT, respectively, that have been great pioneers in this work. I can only imagine that he had to have stumbled upon their work, but I am intrigued. And if you geek out about stuff this kind of stuff like I do, be sure to check out this video and this video. 
3. I had my first softball game this week - it is so good to be back on the field after 5 years of not playing! My batting game was, well, non-existent, but I rocked in the field - 8 outs! That’s pretty cool. My hand now has a nice, swollen purple bruise on it though - the girls on my team don’t mess around with throwing the ball. Wham. Ouch.
4. I have had something going on EVERY NIGHT this week… but I am not complaining. Something that I struggled with moving here was finding things to do and people to talk to - I can be a pretty shy person at first - so it is very nice to have so much going on and feel like I have people I can call up just to hang out or get some food.
5. One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh fruit! I am pretty convinced that I have an addiction to sugar - I just HAVE to have it - but I love getting my sugar fix through strawberries or grapes or cherries or mangoes or… you get the idea. I’m eating cherries as I am writing this. Delicious.
6. I am going out tonight with some friends from the Newman Center - we are going to a place that has country line dancing and karaoke. Should be really interesting. I tend to go weak in the knees for country boys... there's just something about those cowboy hats and boots combined with that cute southern drawl!
7. I went to Eucharistic Adoration THREE times since last Friday. I feel pretty spiritually rejuvenated! I especially enjoy all-night adoration - there is something about sitting with Jesus at 1 AM that I just find so peaceful. What’s something that brings peace into your everyday life?

Bucket List - DC Edition

The following is my bucket list for the time I am living in DC, however long that may be. Things will be added and taken away, and I appreciate any suggestions for things to do in the DC area.

1. Seeing the Sites
1. Go on a White House tour
2. Visit all the Smithsonian Museums
3. Tour the Capitol Building
4. Tour the Library of Congress
5. Take my picture in front of the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building (or even better... get a picture inside!)
2. Doing the DC Thing
1. See the lighting of the National Christmas Tree
2. Ride each Metro line in its entirety
3. Take the ferry boat from Old Town Alexandria to DC
4. Learn how to drive like I'm a native/manage to not get lost while driving through the city
3. Out and About
1. Take a campus tour of GWU
2. Take a campus tour of Georgetown's historic campus
3. Bike ride along the Potomac
4. Spend a day in Mount Vernon Get a season pass!
5. Go on the ghost tour in Old Town Alexandria
6. Kayak on the Potomac River
4. Entertainment
1. Attend a show at the Kennedy Center
2. See all the Shakespeare plays I have not yet seen
3. Go to a Capitals hockey game
4. Catch a fly ball at a Nationals baseball game
5. Food
1. Find a place that serves REAL Cincinnati chili (other than my own kitchen)
2. Find a Mexican place with the food of Fiesta Charra and the margarita night of El Burrito Loco Found it!
3. Figure out what the hype is with Ben's Chili Bowl
4. Go on a brewery tour
5. Tour some of the vineyards and wineries in Northern VA
6. Being Me in the Big City
1. Run around to all the filming locations for National Treasure and pretend that I am looking for the lost Templar treasure with the assistance of the adorable Riley Poole
2. Go on a National Treasure 2 tour of Mount Vernon
7. Spiritual Workout in DC
1. Attend Mass at all of the Catholic Churches in DC
2. Visit the Monastery of Mount St. Sepulchre