NAS: The love of friendship

Linking up with the NAS

I have learned a lot about myself and how to love through my friendships. In college, I was privileged and blessed beyond belief to be a part of a household, which basically is Franciscan's version of sororities and fraternities with a Catholic twist. There are about 43 households, each based off a different virtue of aspect of our faith, and we sign a covenant, committing to live a faithful life and to help one another grow in holiness. My household is Regina Angelorum, or "Queen of the Angels", and my sisters and I would have weekly mass, rosary, holy hours, share groups, and other activities together.

Without a doubt, my best of friendships have come out of this group of women. Never in my life have I seen such real, authentic, raw, vulnerable human love. These friends sisters have stood by me through the thick and the thin. Through the moments where we laugh so hard our sides hurts, through praying with each other in our heartaches and tears during all hours of the night, through looking a sister in the eye and asking how she is really doing, through dragging one another to mass at 6:30 in the morning, through the moments where we are so lost in shadow and despair that nothing keeps us together except the love and prayers of our sisters. Through the excitements, the joys, the losses, the sharing of our hearts. This is the real love of friendship. And this love requires vulnerability. I would not have the beautiful relationships that I have if I had kept my heart enclosed for fear of it getting hurt again. I would not be the woman I am today without having friends who loved me enough to kick my butt and tell me when I was wrong or to encourage me when I was hesitantly walking the right path. I know that no matter what, no matter what time, no matter the distance, there are always 200+ women whom I am blessed to call sisters and who are always ready to love on each other. So to these beautiful women, wherever you are, thank you for teaching me how to love and be loved. Know that I hold you all in my heart.

Fight the good fight always

A bunch of sisters were visiting so of course we took a picture!

From retreat last spring

Thanksgiving party :)

A household sisters wedding in CT!

My two little sisters and I


And of course, our mother and her Son!

Cue the tears...

Why I love being Catholic

This past week, I've had many opportunities to reflect on my Catholic faith while being exposed to various other religions. I went to some prayer meetings with Baptists and different Protestant groups, and let me say, you guys know how to pray! It was such a powerful experience, and I love how the Holy Spirit is so present in your prayer groups! That being said, I can't imagine not being Catholic. While there is that power and zeal  unfortunately missing from a lot of Catholic's spirituality (that's a soap box for another day), there are those of us Catholics who do pray with that same fervor and zeal under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. During a prayer meeting at one of the Protestant churches, one of the ministers began explaining that they were "just speaking in tongues" as if we didn't know what they were doing ... And I'm like "Yea, we do that too!" The Charismatic movement is a relatively new movement in the Church... I never experienced anything like it since I came to college at Franciscan. But I honestly cannot imagine my faith without this aspect. We love to praise too! It's in the Bible that the Apostles were speaking in tongues, and people who witnessed them thought they were drunk because they were so on fire with the Holy Spirit and could not contain the joy they felt for the Lord.

Another reason I love being Catholic: the saints. Great, holy, men and women who have gone before us as an example of faith. By their examples, we can learn how to be more faithful and to love Jesus better. We don't worship them. We ask for their intercession the same way you would ask for a friend to pray for you. We remember them, as much as you would remember loved ones who have profoundly impacted your faith journey. It is just more powerful that they are in Heaven and adoring the Lord and can intercede more completely in their holiness than we presently can. There is so much to be learned from the example of the saints: so much wisdom in their writings, so many beautiful prayers and lessons...perhaps we are too prideful to admit that we need to learn from them...

A third reason: Mary. Our beautiful Mother. No one loved her more than Jesus did, and He tells us as He is dying on the cross to "behold your Mother". He gives her to us as a gift. Now there are some who are in error and seem to hold her in higher standing than Jesus, but that is not true of the Catholic religion as a whole. Anywhere you go, no matter what religion, location, people, you are going to have some who take things to extreme, and unfortunately that is what the media seems to focus upon. But the Church does not put Mary higher than Jesus. We entrust ourselves to Her because Her only desire is to bring us to Christ. She directs us always to Her Son. She was the Lord's first tabernacle. She carried Him for 9 months in Her womb. I think we should give Her some credit for that and for raising Him and loving Him more than any of us ever could! She is the most perfect example of how to love and be obedient to the Father's will. There is so much that She wants to teach us, and She longs so much to wrap us in Her motherly embrace and carry us to Her Son.

And the best reason of all: The Eucharist. Our Source and Summit. Jesus says in the Bible "This IS My Body...This IS My Blood... Do this in memory of Me." Now, I know that non-Catholics believe that He was  speaking metaphorically when He said this, but why would you not want to believe in the true Eucharistic presence? In giving Himself to us in the Eucharist, He is giving us the best gift of love to keep us sustained while we are on this earth. He loves us soo much that He desires to dwell within us so intimately through this Sacrament of the Altar. Why would you not want to believe in that love? It is almost too good to be true. It just seems like such an oxymoron of His love to believe that it is just a symbol. It would be as if He was saying: "I only love you so much as to give you this symbol of myself for you to remember me by, because I am going off to Heaven and you will just have to physically reach me when you get here!" What kind of love would that be? That is not the love that I know, the Love that would give of His whole life for us on the cross, even if we don't return it or care, the Love that would be beaten and bruised for the sins that I would commit, the Love that would do it all again if He had to. No, the Love that I know would leave us that same Body that was broken for us and that same Precious Blood that was shed. That Love would want us to be with Him so intimately, so profoundly, so badly that He would give us His body again in the Eucharist, so that we could have Him physically with us always. The same Jesus that walked the hills of Nazareth preaching the Gospel is the same Jesus present in all the tabernacles around the world. Now that is love. He wants us to have Him. How can we look in the face of that Love and reject Him?





Linking up with Catholic Bloggers network: http://www.catholicbloggersnetwork.com/p/link-up-blitz.html

Fictional love or real love?

"You want a man, who will lead you down the beach, with his hand over your eyes, just so you can discover the feel of the sand beneath your feet. You want a guy, who will wake you up a dawn, just bursting to talk to you, he can't wait another minute just to find out what you'll say. Am I right?"

I was watching Runaway Bride for the first time today (classic... I don't know why I've never seen it) and this quote just really hit me at my core. What girl wouldn't want a man like this? At first I just tried to shake off the feelings that this moment in the movie evoked by telling myself that this kind of love only exists in movies. At least that is what Hollywood always tries to tell us. They come up with these elaborate tales of men who drop everything that they are doing, simply to see their one true love again. Men who walk for days in the rain, men who give up their dreams because they know that their dreams mean nothing if they are alone, men who will do anything, just to see her smile... I'm sure you can name many more of your favorite romance scenes. But we all think Oh, this could never happen to me.... what guy would want to give up his life for me.... that kind of love doesn't exists. And so, all too often, we settle. We settle for whatever guy happens to give us the slightest bit of attention. Sure, maybe he is a really awesome guy and there is nothing 'wrong' with him, but does he hang on your every word? Does he constantly tell you how much he loves you? How beautiful you are? How you are the best thing that has ever happened to him? My challenge to all of you in the dating world is this: don't settle. 

Women: You are the crown of creation. Don't be afraid to set some kind of standards. Sooner or later, someone will come along who will realize your worth and your dignity and fight for it. I'm not saying you have to wait for "Mr. Perfect", but wait for someone who will really pursue you and figure out what makes you you. Trust me, it will be hard. You're going to get tired of waiting, you're going to hurt, you're going to want to give up. But keep fighting. It will be well worth it in the end. And it's amazing just how much boys turn into men when you make them work for your heart. Allowing a man to pursue you doesn't make you weak: it makes you strong because you know what you deserve.

Men: Fight for your women. Be bold. Don't be afraid to say no to a girl who is simply seeking attention from you. It's not fair to you either. Beware of the fine line of giving your all to a woman, and letting her walk all over you. We need to be called on as well. Set your own standards and allow them to influence the way you pursue and look after the women you love. Recognize the beauty that is before you. Cherish her. It is said that the Trojan War was started because of Helen, a woman, so beautiful, that the Greeks wanted to win her back from the Trojans who had taken her as their queen. If you want to pursue a woman, fight for her... literally or figuratively... We all just want to be "the face that launched 1,000 ships."

All I'm trying to say, is that while finding love isn't easy, that doesn't mean it's not real. I certainly have my fair share of cynicism, but I know that it is only because I'm afraid I won't find it. It's out there somewhere. And until then, I pray that the Lord will guide me and reveal pieces of my story in His own timing. He will lead you too if you ask Him. Allow Him to write your love story for you, and I can guarantee that it will be better than anything you could have come up with on your own. The way I look at it, if you haven't been successful yet, then what is there to lose?

Be the change you want to see in the world

Lately I have found myself getting angry about seemingly insignificant things. Something small will aggravate me to so much that I literally need to take a personal time out and figure out why the heck I am angry. And then I get more angry that I am angry about nothing! So I though about the things that seem to have set me off: things that are dirty, things that are out of place, unanswered text messages, the toilet paper roll not being re-filled... stupid stuff that shouldn't make me angry. But it does. The big question is WHY??

I realized that because I am such a giving person, that I expect others to do the same and get angry when they don't. Now this is definitely something I need to work on. But just because I go out of my way to do little acts of service for others, doesn't mean they have to...I shouldn't expect that from others, right? WRONG. Now, I should not get angry or upset if my expectations are not met, but I also should definitely not stop expecting people to show common courtesies and maybe a little more than that. I guess my challenge is this: expect greatness. Not only in others, but in yourself. Hold yourself to higher standards. Go out of your way to pick up that little piece of trash, to fold your roommates laundry, to bring a friend some coffee when they're having a rough day at work. Being busy is not an excuse. If you are too busy to do something nice for someone, than you're too busy.

"Do small things with great love"...

and you'd be surprised how much joy that can bring. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

I also have a challenge for myself and anyone else having similar struggles: any time I get angry about one of the above stupidities, I am going to do one act of service to counteract that. BUT, I need to make sure I am not doing it out of resentment, otherwise it is meaningless.

Pray for opportunities to love and be loved. Be the change you want to see in the world!