Live a Great Story

I am overjoyed to announce that this summer I will interning for the Office of Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Louis! Check out the blog post I wrote for them promoting the Encounter Young Adult Conference that will take place May 29-31, and I would LOVE to invite you to join us.

Live a great story and it will bring glory to God.  This was a theme from one of Ennie Hickman’s keynotes at last year’s Encounter St. Louis conference that struck a chord with me.  He addressed attitudes of many young adults today that I can see in myself and in our society at large. A satisfaction with mediocrity and letting the hours flit away without any real purpose are just a couple of the themes that plague our stories and make them tearfully boring.  We allow page after page to be turned without adding much content to the story.  Read on HERE. 

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest human achievement” –St. Augustine of Hippo

Home Sweet Home

Spring break is upon us and I cannot believe how quickly this semester has arrived at the halfway mark. I am spending my spring break in one of my favorite places ever...St. Louis.  I could list many reasons why I love the good ole STL, but the reason that it holds such a special place in my heart is because it's home.

The notion of home often captures my attention.  How does a place become home?  What constitutes a home?  How do we even know what a home should look like?  Is being home defined by a place, feeling, people, etc?  These are a few of the myriad of questions that my mind asks my heart.

I do not know definite answers to any of these questions, but after much reflection I have attempted to make some sense of the thoughts that by God's grace have crossed my mind (or the minds of incredible people and I stumbled upon them). I have been thinking about this topic for a long time so I apologize for the lack of conciseness in the following. 

"I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world" -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

We have an innate yearning entangled into the fabric of our being that points us to the fact that we are not made for this world. This goes back to the beginning of creation as we are told in Genesis. Made in God's image and likeness as His children our home was the Garden of Eden. But as we all know the Fall came upon us and displaced us from our home. God did not intend evil to enter the world, but through the gift of free will it did. Theistic philosophical arguments tell us that God, all-good, all-powerful, and all-knowing, would not have willed this but due to the confines He set before Himself (i.e. the gift of free will) it is inevitable reality for us to face.

Fast forward to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Word become Flesh, and there is hope for us all! Through His Death and Resurrection we have been given the opportunity to once again return to our true home for the rest of eternity. Whoa, I am just going to let that sink in.

"Home is where one starts from" -T.S. Eliot, East Coker

God formed each of us in the inmost of our mother's womb. He has known us to our core before we even came into being. We come from our Creator just as we describe our hometown as the place we come from. They are different realms of home, but the same concept nonetheless.

I find an incomparable sense comfort in the places that I have called home here on Earth and I think this is because they naturally seek to recreate what our hearts long for. My homes have been made of unconditional love given and received, unquestioning forgiveness, constant familiarity, fulfilling conversation, and genuine concern. I am the most myself and most accepted for who I am when I am at home. These things overflow my cup with joy and they are merely glimpses of what eternal life with the Jesus will look like.  These are the things seen brightened by the light without witnessing the sun in all its magnificence.

"If you want to get warm, you move near the fire.  If you want joy, peace, eternal life, you must get close to what has them." -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

It is only logical that we replicate this most desired comfort of home in life lived for God. I am constantly inspired by the family and friends that make up my home.  By their commitment to the faith they reflect the home we were designed to inhabit.  I am encouraged to live a life that participates and promotes that of Heaven, an eternal union with the Trinity because of their example and because I am inclined to believe...

"The world's thy ship and not thy home." -St. Therese of Lisieux

And that...

 "Life's a voyage that's homeward bound." -Herman Melville

This world is not our final destination but rather a means to learn how to participate in our true home. In one of my very favorite books, there is a description of characters as they experience and begin the ascent to Heaven. It cannot truly be grasped in all its fullness and beauty without reading the entire book, but this is pretty good summation.

"I have come home at last! This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it until now." C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle

So...here's to finding blissful comfort at home and knowing God has something even better in store.
cheers.

Allison

Greater Things Are Yet to Come

The year 2014 came with more blessings than I can count, many opportunities for growth, and some new found and very dear friends. Fortunately I was able to ring in the new year with some of those new friends.  The night was filled with good brews, great conversation, and wonderful company.  

To kick off the new year here is a list of the things I would like to accomplish in the year 2015

1. Read these 5 literary gems: 

Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton  (I am sort of cheating with this one since I am already half way through...please withhold judgment)

The Story of a Soul by Therese of Lisieux

Back to Virtue by Dr. Peter Kreeft

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

The World's First Love by Fulton Sheen

And maybe post a blurb (my favorite parts, quotes, what struck me, etc) about them when finished? Am I setting myself up for failure with this caveat? I guess only time will tell...ha.  I plan on reading more books that these noted, but I wanted to set a concrete goal and these seemed like a reasonable undertaking. Also, I would like to throw up some posts/suggestions for other books that I have already read but I am not going to explicitly state them because I have not chosen any.  No expectations leads to no disappointments.

2.  Talk (a lot) less in order to listen more.

I have never counted the number of words I say, but I am confident it is absurdly higher than the average person's.  Frankly, I just need to shut up because no one enjoys me monopolizing the conversation.  I truly appreciate that I am outgoing and extroverted, but I also want to be wary of the hindrances this gift (that's for you to decide if it should appropriately be called a gift) presents.

3.  Run my second half and first (and probably only) full marathon.  

I'll see you at the finish line 13.1 miles later in April and a whopping 26.2 miles later in October.  I wanted to slide the dates in there to solidify this goal. Still to be determined if these races will be in Kansas City or St. Louis, but probably one of each.  Running will help me stay physically and spiritually fit because this girl gets her podcast on as she jogs along. Also, I am going to dedicate my training to praying for the souls in purgatory.

4. Pray the Liturgy of the Hours consistently.

I am pretty good about saying the morning prayer found in my daily missal, but I would like to take the next step and do the full Liturgy of the Hours.  My hope is to essentially have my day scheduled (as much as I can) around prayer and taking time to be quiet with the Lord.  Fingers crossed that this contributes to me talking less too.

5. Go to confession more, need to go less.

I absolutely love the sacrament of Reconciliation (seriously...I could talk your ear off about how incredible I think it is, but there I go again talking too much).  I am beyond grateful for the grace given in this sacrament.  I never ever regret taking the time to go and I always feel exponentially renewed and revived afterwards.  The point of confession is forgiveness, but also to continually try to overcome particularly tricky pitfalls that we encounter, hence the latter part of this goal.  In this coming year, with the grace from the sacraments I pray that I can fine tune my conscience and avoid the temptations that usually get to me.  Ultimately, working on becoming more humble, less prideful.

6.  Attempt to curb my caffeine addiction.

I am not going to cut out coffee completely (ya crazy!) because there is nothing inherently wrong with coffee, but I do want to not be dependent upon it.  Nobody has time for that afternoon caffeine headache. So I am going to cut down the amount of coffee I consume on a daily basis and substitute more herbal and green teas. Putting my brand new red tea kettle to use (Thanks for the Christmas gift, Grandma!)  All good things in moderation.

7.  Leave less crossword puzzles almost finished.

I am notorious for getting most of the puzzle filled in.  This goal is rather silly, but a personal goal nonetheless. 

Hmm...seven sounds like a reasonable number of goals for the year.  I wouldn't want to overwhelm myself too early.  So I will wrap it up here.  Blog readers, please hold me accountable (this is where it comes in handy that you all are few and far between muwahah...just kidding...I genuinely want to stick to these seven manageable goals and would appreciate your help)  

So here's to 2015...a year filled with good books, good runs, good tea, and more prayer, more humility, more listening, and more completed crossword puzzles.  Greater things are yet to come.  

cheers.

Allison

Blessed are the Hungry Ones

I changed the name of the blog over the summer (practically forever ago!) because I feel it is much more fitting of who I am and what I am trying to say.  Here's why...

I have noticed in myself that I am an information gatherer (on occasion referred to as a nerd, but hey we are all being professional here).  Over the past few years this trait has manifested itself in becoming an avid blog follower and binge podcast listener who is constantly tabbing articles and has an ever-growing lists of books hoping to be added to her bookshelf. Sometimes the amount of information I want to soak up can overwhelm me (i.e. when I have 20 tabs open on my internet browser...wowza) which tempts me to see it as a curse, rather than a blessing.

I love to learn in general, but the vast majority of my recreational information gathering is centered around my faith. I am fortunate enough to be attending a university which not only offers, but requires theology and philosophy courses. A marvelous opportunity to feed my nerdiness and expand my knowledge regarding Catholic teaching for which I am extremely grateful, but usually I want to go further.

Last week in a homily on podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz stated,

"Desire is the foundation for Christianity"

(for the record, the irony of me hearing such a thing in a podcast is acknowledged and embraced)

Saying that I have a desire to know is a major understatement. I have an insatiable hunger and thirst to find the Lord and to seek more of Him in all that I do.  But, being the flawed human being that I am I sometimes become distracted with other things.  The gift God has given me is wasted on things not worthy.  I feel most myself when I am passionately desiring the Lord and filling myself with Him.

Now to explain how "blessed are the hungry ones" became the new and improved name for my blog, I must backtrack a bit.  Obviously, the original source of this phrase comes from Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6

Summed up with extreme brevity, I have mainly understood this Beatitude to mean those who seek good things shall be filled with good things. Good things including a plethora of virtues and things of that sort, ya know? Anyways, I found a much deeper personal connection to it despite reading or hearing it numerous times prior (shout out to the over-played and over-rated classic "Lead Me, Lord".....) when I heard it in Audrey Assad's song "Blessed are the Ones."

"We're tossing pennies in the well, empty pockets all turned out. Happy, shining, blessed are the ones who hunger." 

"Pour ourselves out like a wine that we've been saving.  When our well is running dry and when we raise our glasses high.  Happy, shining are the faces of the thirsty."

These two lyrics poetically illustrate the desires of my heart to know and learn and live in the joy found in hungering and thirsting after God.  I want to be able to toss all my pennies and pour myself out for something greater than myself because in return I know I will be receiving a gift unmatched by anything in the temporal world.  One of the many blessings contain within this gift is that the more I learn and gather, the more curious I became.

I thank the Lord everyday for infinite curiosity to explore this absolutely fascinating and beautiful world He has given us.

This idea of hungering for the Lord has been tugging at my heart for awhile now. As said in Kathryn Scott's song

"Hungry I come to you for I know you satisfy.  I am empty, but I know your love does not run dry"

When I am feeling drained and weakened from nature of my sin, my desire can be renewed and restored in the sacrament of Reconciliation.  Receiving forgiveness and healing in such a personal, profound way only encourages me to strive for Him once again.  The Holy Spirit guides me to keep hungering and thirsting for the One who give me life.

So...here's to podcasts, infinite curiosity, and the blessings of being hungry.
cheers.

AL.

P.S. I'm sorry for the incredibly long blogging hiatus...nursing school for the win there.

P.P.S. I also thought "Blessed are the Hungry Ones" would be fitting because I very much enjoying baking/cooking and have dabbled with the idea of throwing a recipe up here on occasion. Thought the title would be a nice little play on words.  Hope you ate that pun right up.....okay I am actually finished rambling now.  I sincerely appreciate you sticking with me until the end...you rock.

Be Still

Be still and know that I am God.

Be still and know that I am.

Be still and know.

Be still.

Be.

This was a meditative reflection I stumbled across from Fr. James Martin, SJ.  The powerful simplicity of these words have led me to venture into the waters of meditative prayer.  A territory difficult for me to navigate because I looooooove to talk (hmmm....you haven't noticed?)

Despite my talkative nature, I have lately been making a greater effort to incorporate more listening into my prayer life. I have created a scene for Jesus and I.  At first my imagination was running wild creating the scene (leaving little time to listen), but now that I have the go-to place in my mind and can focus on listening to what the Lord has to say to me.  The place I have created: Jesus and I sitting on a front porch of a country home near a lake in the autumn.  We're resting easily in white rocking chairs, while drinking hot apple cider or iced tea.  Jesus is sporting a red flannel.  As I said....the imagination...can go crazy if I let it.  Anyways, I love this scene.  It's comforting, peaceful, and safe. All things my heart desires in prayer. To enter into this place I need to ready my heart and the prayer at the beginning of this post is an excellent segway.

Today's readings were on point with this theme of stillness.  In the first reading from first book of Kings, Elijah is seeking God, you know...pretty typical for those prophets.  Elijah retreated to a cave and experienced strong winds, an earthquake, and fire...yet none of those were God.  God spoke to Elijah in a tiny, whispering sound.

For me personally, I am often chatting away at about a million words a minute, very much in danger of missing a tiny whispering.  Because of this habit of mine, I need to consciously give myself time to be quiet with the Lord as to not miss any whisperings from God.

Something that has been resting on my heart lately, is from T.S. Eliot's poem East Coker which I first heard in a podcast/homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz.

"We must be still and still moving."

Finding the real stillness is a challenge for me.  I am all about action; what I can do.  There is a sensitive balance between resting in the stillness of God and working towards the mission God has uniquely set before each of us, avoiding stagnation or mediocrity in faith. I feel T.S. Eliot sums up this paradox beautifully. I find myself thinking about this line and asking myself am I resting in God's presence? Am I continually working to glorify God more greatly in my actions?  Am I being still and still moving?  For it is in the tiny whisperings and stillness that I receive the direction and perseverance to keep moving.

God desires quiet time with me. Often in the gospels, Jesus goes off by Himself to encounter His Father is the intimate silence.  In following Jesus' example, it can be in these moments of silence that God is speaking the loudest.  I just need to be still and know that He is God (Psalms 46:10).  He is revealing Himself and His Will for me in the tiny whisperings.  I can be still and still moving, in His Presence.

So here's to being still and still moving.
cheers.

AL.