Le Tour de Paris

No, not particularly...

I've never really had a desire to go to Paris. I know numerous people who would love to be here. But me? No, not particularly. After hopping from one country to another during spring break, I really wanted to go back to Rome. A sense of security and stability sounded really nice at the beginning of last week. Also, I had this preconceived notion of Paris being too over-the-top for me, too materialistic.

Of course, life (or God, in this case) always has a surprise just around the corner. In other words:

"We know that in everything God works for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose." 

-Romans 8:36

I started off the activities of the week just going through the motions. I always regret this kind of thing in retrospect. My spring break crew of two an I had arrived late to the Rome group dinner, so I was tired and hungry but also worn out from the anxiety of running late...after all, we didn't want to miss out on a free dinner in Paris! I admit that I wasn't very lively at the mini-reunion. I went straight to our director and asked him if we could still eat with everyone and he pointed me to our table. As I passed the large tables and joyful faces, it took all I had in me to avoid the temptation to run straight for the food. I'm not the type who likes hugs, so I was subtle in my reunion embraces. The best example I can offer is that a friend reached out her hand to me, exclaiming my name, and I just gave her a hand hug because I had exceeded my hug limit for that day.*

Notre Dame

But before I get too carried away with just this kick-start of the trip, keep that image in mind as I uncover the truth that was hanging over me all week.

Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Eiffel Tower.

Sainte-Chapelle.

Manufacture Gobelins (aka: a real  tapestry/weaving factory...like the "olden days").

Louvre Museum (aka: home of the world-famous Mona Lisa...among so many great works of art).

These main sights of Paris are most definitely worth seeing. Though of course, I refused to give my body enough sleep due to the modern crisis of attachment to the internet. And as we all know, when you're tired, the brain doesn't function as well as when you're rested. Thus, I walked around these beautiful landmarks in a zombie-like state. 

Sainte-Chapelle

The irony of it all is that I was fully aware of the state of my consciousness. I kept telling Mo that I wish I could appreciate the excursions, but instead all I wanted was to go back to our hotel and "veg-out" (as my Romie roomie calls it) all day.

But, vuala! Alas! It was on Friday, as I walked through the Claude Monet exhibit in a museum for class, I was revived by the breath of fresh air of Monet's paintings. I had forgotten that I learned about him in high school, and I loved how he portrays the nature that he observed first-hand. This simple exhibit was all I needed to have a renewed excitement about being in Paris. Once I found out that there was an official Monet museum, I made plans with a few friends to visit his collection on the weekend.

My favorite: Water Lily Pond, by Claude Monet

And it has only gone uphill since then. I've been telling everyone that seeing Claude Monet's paintings gave me a new hope for my time in Paris because his appreciation for beauty in nature is something that I can relate to. It's almost better than the "ideal beauty" that is portrayed in the perfect bodies and perfect architecture that I've seen in every other church (Rome, Paris, and the like). Monet is the kind of artist I aspire to be, simply because the beauty of God found in nature is what I love to paint myself!

In addition, I found out where the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal and the Shrine of St. Vincent de Paul were - so of course we had to visit these holy places, too! But maybe that's another post for another day.

Au revoir!

Moral of the story: I've finally found something to love about Paris, even if it goes against the grain. As cheesy as it is, if you search long and hard enough, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel...





Lord, guide me by your loving hand!




*My hug limit, by the way, is probably no more than three per day...but I'm always willing to adjust to the circumstances. :)

Siena, Italy - Week Six

There are times when I visit a Catholic Church and I think, “Catholics are kind of weird…” Our visit to Siena was one of those times.

Shrine where St. Catherine's
head is kept

When St. Catherine of Siena died, somebody somewhere thought it was a good idea to separate her body from her head, and when Mo, X, and I went to Siena, we were privileged to see her incorruptible head! For reasons only known to God, there are instances where a saint’s body or part of it, decomposes at a slower rate than usual. Although this is a miracle, it is still a little strange. Nonetheless, we were blessed with the opportunity to pray in front of the head of this amazing and radical saint. We knelt at the spot where Jesus appeared to her and proposed with a wedding ring that was only seen by her.

Picture of the poster of the Miracle

Siena held another surprise in store for us: a Eucharistic Miracle! In the mid-1700s, a thief had stolen a tabernacle from the local church. The people of Siena came together and prayed for the preservation of the consecrated Hosts. Their prayers were stronger than they knew because these Hosts have been preserved for over 300 years! They have had several scientific tests performed – they placed unconsecrated bread next to these Hosts and the bread dissolved after 10 years. But not the Hosts! And we got to kneel three feet away from this miracle! I got to see it with my very own eyes!! It made me kneel in awe and wonder how one could lack faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Holy God, we praise Thy name; Lord of all, we bow before Thee! Give us faith to trust in You.

A Weekend in Assisi

*Disclaimer: I tried to keep this short and sweet, but I just have to share our abundant graces, and although they are sweet, it's definitely not short!

"If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. St. Teresa kissed the ground where a priest had passed. When you see a priest, you should say, 'There is he who made me a child of God, and opened Heaven to me by holy Baptism; he who purified me after I had sinned; who gives nourishment to my soul.' At the sight of a church tower, you may say, 'What is there in that place?' 'The Body of Our Lord.' 'Why is He there?' 'Because a priest has been there, and has said holy Mass."

-St. John Vianney, patron saint of priests

These men that God calls for His Church really are a gift. A priest is a man who has made the decision to live the life of Christ in its fullest sense. You see, after high school I had chosen to live a life devoted to Christ, as His bride. This was and is very beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but the priest is called to live a life for God’s children – and through Ordination, their soul has been changed so that they receive the graces to do this! I could go on and on about the greatness of the priesthood, but this is really just supposed to be a segway into the wonderful weekend I had in Assisi…

We visited Assisi at the beginning of February: Week 5.

As per usual, I traveled in a pack of three. Originally, it would have been just my friend & travel buddy Mo and I. We begged others to come with us, and Lo gave in – and we’re glad she did! Mo’s priest-cousin (Fr. C) is a very dear friend of my family and he had been planning to come to Rome; he was able to plan his trip during our stay abroad, so it worked perfectly that we would all spend a weekend in Assisi.

The beauty of our trip was the fact that Fr. C and his friend Fr. J let us crash their party, which in reality was their retreat weekend. Us ladies arrived in Assisi on Thursday night iand Fr. C was waiting at the train station so that he could show us the way to the Bridgettine convent we were staying at. From the very beginning, we were treated with such dignity, it filled us with so much joy we didn’t know how to respond other than by soaking it in!

St. Clare of Assisi & St. Rita of Cascia

On Friday morning, all five of us walked down to the Basilica where St. Francis’ tomb is and celebrated Mass together. This was very meaningful for me as St. Francis is the founder of one of the most popular Religious Orders, the Franciscans. I begged him for his intercession, asking him to pray for me as I continue to discover what the Lord is calling me to do with my life.

Fr. J was the primary celebrant for that Mass, and he has definitely made his way onto the list of priests I pray for. He’s a great man – at first he may seem stoic and intimidating with his height looming over you, but once you get to know him he is a teddy bear! I’m sure he would laugh at me calling him this, but it’s true and we love him for it. Fr. C is one of the most funniest and enjoyable of priests I know. His laugh is contagious and whenever you’re with him, it feels like you’re the most important thing in the world at that moment.

Father teaching us about the castles
& royalty of Assisi on the way to the
Hermitage

These were the priests that the Lord gave to us that weekend. They took care of us physically, mentally, and spiritually. After Mass at the tomb, we ladies separated from the priests so that they could retreat until the afternoon, and we wandered around the Basilica and took in the beauty of Assisi. After lunch with Fr. C, he took us on a hike to the hermitage where St. Francis led his brothers on 40-day-long yearly retreats. This hike to the hermitage was the most intense and challenging hike I have been on in my life. It was literally uphill the whole way – on steep, rocky ground! But through our deep inhales, we managed to hold a great conversation with Father and I was able to ask him the burning theological questions that had been on my mind for weeks. We had a great conversation about the dignity of the human person, the importance of protection against the Devil, and how to survive our semester studying abroad. Once we got to the hermitage, we prayerfully made our way through the grounds made holy by the steps and prayers of Holy Father Francis.

The next day found us at the town right below Assisi, where there lies a huge church that holds the original church that Francis built. We had Mass in one of the side chapels and then we broke off again from the priests to make our way to the church where St. Clare’s tomb is. St. Clare was the first female follower of St. Francis and she also lived a radical life for Christ. That night, Fr. J heard our Confessions and then it was his turn to take us out for dinner. Here was yet another chance to talk about the “real talk” (as we like to call it) that we rarely have time to engage in with priests. To talk more about the dignity we have as daughters of God was really refreshing for our souls. Every night in Assisi, Mo, Lo and I sat on our beds and expressed the overflowing joy we experienced from spending time with these great priests!

Mo kept reminding us that Fr. C once said something like, “When the Lord is pursuing you, you experience joy abundantly.” How true this is!

Overall, the weekend was full of prayer, laughter, nature, beauty, love, joy, and friendship. I couldn't have asked for anything more!

“O Jesus, I pray Thee for Thy faithful and fervent priests…Thy priests who gave me Thy Body and Blood in Holy Communion; the priests who taught and instructed me, or helped and encouraged me; all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way…O Jesus, keep them all close to Thy Heart, and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity. Amen.”

The Plan

There's this thing called "reflection frostbite" - it's when your life is packed with amazing events and you feel overwhelmed about all of the ways you want to reflect (such as writing in a journal, updating a blog post, messaging/emailing friends and family)...so overwhelmed that you end up doing nothing at all. So you're in this frozen state, wondering what to do with your life, all the while thoroughly enjoying every minute of it.

This is my dilemma. And I don't think that "reflection frostbite" is really a word, because I made it up. But I think it should be a term in our regular vocabulary because it's definitely a reality! I haven't caught up my personal journal for about two weeks now, and my last blog post is leaving the interwebs up in the with loose ends (Week Four Part One, anybody?? There's got to be somebody asking, "What happened to Part Two?!"). So I've made a decision. I'm going to try my best to post when I can, but it won't be the kind of updates that I wish they could have been.

I had this burst of inspiration to write during our stay in the youth hostel in Lisbon, Portugal. We're at the close of our first three days of Spring Break. I'm with two other amazing women, and we just came from Fatima, where the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children in 1917. While my first stay in Assisi made the top of my "favorite places" list, Fatima has definitely been the most meaningful. While we were walking around, I remembered how my Great Grandma Hauser had a strong devotion to Our Lady of Fatima. In that instant, I felt her joy radiating from Heaven. I knew that she was looking down on us and smiling, because I'm sure she would have wanted to be there with me. 

It's the little things that make all the difference.

May Our Lady of Fatima show you the way to true joy!

"My God: I believe, I adore, I hope, and I love You. I beg Your pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope, and do not love You."