Best days

Everytime I watch this video, I feel like crying:

 

(Here are the lyrics:

I'm five years old, it's getting cold, I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you, I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides, look now, the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
But I know you're not scared of anything at all 
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today
 
I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop 'til I've forgotten all their names

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel okay

But I know I had the best day with you today 

I have an excellent father, his strength is making me stronger
God smiles on my little brother, inside and out, he's better than I am
I grew up in a pretty house and I had space to run
And I had the best days with you

There is a video I found from back when I was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
And Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world

 And now I know why the all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes
For staying back and watching me shine
 And I didn't know if you knew, so I'm takin' this chance to say
That I had the best day with you today)

Why do I cry? Because this song really, really describes how I feel about my mom. She is the prettiest lady in the whole wide world, I have the best days with her, she stays back and watches me shine. I also remember the countless times I'd come home crying because of mean girls at school or something that had happened, and how she was always there to make it all better. I also want to say, like Taylor swift says at the end, "I'm not sure if you knew, so I'm taking this chance to say..." I have the best days with you and I'm grateful for your life and your motherhood.

I love you mae.
Happy birthday (tomorrow).

Thanksgiving at Hard Rock

My sister and I found the one restaurant in Lisbon that serves a Thanksgiving dinner: Hard Rock Cafe. It's the first time since we've been in Portugal that we've really celebrated Thanksgiving again. Nevermind that I totally messed up the history of Thanksgiving to about 10 people, including students, before my sister told me the real story today... oops. It was nice to celebrate our Americanness, even though I don't eat turkey. "Why did you organize a Thanksgiving dinner if you don't eat turkey and you don't like pumpkin pie?" she asked. I'm not really sure. But my veggie burger was good...

Their turkey dinner and my veggie burger...

I am thankful for so many things, but mainly for people and relationships. For having someone like my sister to share culture and life with. For having people that love me and that I can slowly learn to love also... even when I don't get it right at first. 

Being thankful

It is so easy for me to get caught up in what's not essential. Wasting time on the internet, doing things that aren't worth it, thinking up useless projects. This week I've been trying to really stick to routines that are really essential. Making simple meals, running by the ocean, going to bed early, spending time with friends, going to mass, writing in my diary at night. Instead of dreaming of what I want to buy, I've realized that I have everything that is essential and I just need to appreciate it. I have two beautiful parishes, walking distance from my house, that have the hidden gem of the Eucharist and an amazing homily everyday. I have amazing relationships to cultivate. I am healthy and creative. With Thanksgiving approaching, I wish I could be more thankful!

“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” ― G.K. Chesterton

PS Check out my post today called Lessons from my Youth Group

Nov 22: St. Cecilia party

St. Cecilia

Apart from the fact of her martyrdom, we know practically nothing about her that is historically genuine. Among other details the breviary offers the following:

Cecilia led a life of prayer and meditation and had vowed lifelong virginity, but a youth by the name of Valerian, relying upon the approval of her parents, hoped to marry her. When the wedding night arrived, she confided to Valerian, "There is a secret, Valerian, I wish to tell you. I have as a lover an angel of God who jealously guards my body." Valerian promised to believe in Christ if he would be enabled to see that angel. Cecilia explained how such was impossible without baptism, and Valerian consented to be baptized. After he was baptized by Pope Urban and had returned "He found Cecilia in her little room lost in prayer, and next to her the angel of the Lord was standing. When Valerian saw the angel, he was seized with great terror." The angel handed to them a bouquet of fiery red roses and snow-white lilies as a reward for Cecilia's love of chastity, a bouquet that would not wither, yet would be visible only to those who love chastity. As a further favor Valerian besought the conversion of his brother Tiburtius.

Upon arriving to congratulate the newlyweds, Tiburtius was astounded by the unspeakably beautiful roses and lilies. As soon as he was informed regarding their origin, he too asked for the waters of baptism. "St. Cecilia said to Tiburtius: Today I acknowledge you as a brother-in-law, because the love of God has made you despise the idols. Just as the love of God gave me your brother as a spouse, so it has given you to me as a brother in-law." When Almachius, the prefect, heard of the conversions, he ordered Maximus, his officer, to arrest and imprison all of them. Before being put to death, they instructed Maximus and his family, and baptized them during the night preceding execution.
At dawn Cecilia roused the two brothers to struggle heroically for Christ, as the glow of morning disappeared, Cecilia called: "Arise, soldiers of Christ, throw away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Cecilia pursued her victory as the soldiers willingly listened, "We believe that Christ is the true Son of God, who has chosen such a servant." Led before the prefect, she professed her faith in Christ, "We profess His holy Name and we will not deny Him."

In order to avoid further show, the prefect commanded her to be suffocated in the baths. She remained unharmed and prayed, "I thank You, Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, that through Your Son the fire was extinguished at my side." Beheading was next in order. The executioner made three attempts (the law prohibited more) and let her lie in her blood. She lived for three days, encouraging the poor and dedicating her home into a church.

Cecilia was so highly venerated by the ancient Roman Church that her name was placed in the Canon of the Mass. Already in the fourth century there was a church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, erected on the site where her home had stood. Her martyrdom probably occurred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year 230. In 1599 her grave was opened and her body found in a coffin of cypress wood. It lay incorrupt, as if she had just breathed forth her soul. Stephen Maderna, who often saw the body, chiseled a statue that resembled the body as closely as possible. Since the Middle Ages, Cecilia has been honored as patroness of Church music, a practice having its source in a false application of a passage from the Office (cantantibus organis).Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Albi, France; composers; martyrs; music; musicians; musical instrument makers; archdiocese of Omaha, Nebraska; poets; singers.

Symbols: Holding a lute; playing the organ; holding roses.

From catholicculture.org 

How we celebrated:

a musical banner

flowers to represent her bouquet of red roses and white lilies

a harp (made out of a hanger and felt)

Italian food and music

musical muffins

Happy St. Cecilia memorial!

The King and the Shepherd

Whose kingdom are you building: yours or God's?

This week's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday podcast:
http://lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-11202011-christ-the-king

My favorite quotes:

• Not warnings because He wants to condemn us, but because he wants to save us.
• This Sunday, rather than having a lot of kingly imagery (on the Feast of Christ the King), we have a lot of imagery of shepherds.
• I really encourage you to read the first reading and put emphasis on the "I" phrases.
• The shepherd's role is for the sheep's safety. The shepherd is the one that's going to make sure the sheep don't get left out of the pen, don't get carried off by a wild beast, don't die.
• Our lives proclaim whether we truly know the Shepherd and walk with him.
• What is your motivation to serve and to act? Is it because you want to be seen in a certain way or because you are a loyal subject of the King and you're here to build his kingdom?
• It's either my kingdom come or thy kingdom come. If we really pray and proclaim thy kingdom come, that means my kingdom go. That means it's not about me, it's about God like we hear in the first reading. That means it's not about all the power and authority I can gain, it's about Christ having the power and the authority and me bowing before him, like we hear in the second reading. It's about trusting in him as the shepherd for everything as we proclaim in the psalm.
• Christ is the King, the question is whose kingdom are we building?

source

Nov 17: St. Elizabeth of Hungary + Why Saint Parties?

Today is the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary!

St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth was the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II. At the age of four (b. 1207), she was brought to the court of her future husband, Ludwig, landgrave of Thuringia. After her marriage in 1221, she very conscientiously fulfilled her duties both toward her husband and as a servant of God. During the night she would rise from bed and spend long periods in prayer. Zealously she performed all types of charitable acts; she put herself at the service of widows, orphans, the sick, the needy. During a famine she generously distributed all the grain from her stocks, cared for lepers in one of the hospitals she established, kissed their hands and feet. For the benefit of the indigent she provided suitable lodging.                                                 

After the early death of her husband (in 1227 while on a crusade led by Emperor Frederick II), Elizabeth laid aside all royal dignities in order to serve God more freely. She put on simple clothing, became a tertiary of St. Francis, and showed great patience and humility. Nor was she spared intense suffering -- the goods belonging to her as a widow were withheld, she was forced to leave Wartburg. In Eisenach no one dared receive her out of fear of her enemies. Upon much pleading a shepherd of the landgrave permitted her to use an abandoned pig sty. No one was allowed to visit or aid her; with her three children, of whom the youngest was not more than a few months old, she was forced to wander about in the winter's cold.                                                       

In 1228 she took the veil of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis at Marburg and there built a hospital with some property still belonging to her. She retained for herself only a small mud house. All her strength and care were now devoted to the poor and the sick, while she obtained the few things she needed by spinning. Young in years but rich in good works, she slept in the Lord in 1231, only twenty-four years old.                                                                                                                                                             

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch                                                                         

(from http://www.catholicculture.org/)                                                                                                         

We celebrated with...
felt roses
a banner
Hungarian (vegetarian) goulash
the star of the day: the crown cake

Next Tuesday... Saint Cecilia party!!! :)

 Why host saint parties?

1. Because Catholics give the best parties (<-- great article!)
2. There are saint feast days to celebrate everyday... why make up holidays?
3. It's a great way to learn about saints and also to tell saint stories to others
4. It's a great way to have your domestic church accompany the liturgical seasons
5. It stimulates creativity, friendship, relationships and I would even say faith!

Rome Symposium Interview

Today I post over at Virtuouspla.net about Daniel's experience at the Rome International Theology of the Body Symposium:

http://virtuouspla.net/2011/11/16/news-from-rome-an-international-theology-of-the-body-symposium/

It was a big deal. He went with a group of Portuguese people and they're pretty much the beginning of a spiritual revolution here in Portugal I would say. We are so blessed to be a part of it!

Making it routine

My friend Sofia and I have started our Christmas crafts. This morning we turned into little Christmas elves. I love how it's becoming a routine for us to visit each other's houses, try to make artsy projects and then cook for each other. Today she "invented" this amazing pasta arrabiata. With lots of tomato, spicy peppers and of course her secret ingredient ginger.

Inspiration for ornaments here

5. God had a eternal plan of love for us even before creation

This post is about the fourth section of Theology of the Body (highlighted):    
      Part 1: Who Are We? Establishing an Adequate Anthropology

         Cycle 1: Original Man

         Cycle 2: Historical Man  

         Cycle 3: Eschatological Man 

      Part 2: How Are We to Live? Applying an Adequate Anthropology
         Cycle 4: Christ and the Church (Catecheses 87-102)
         Cycle 5: The Dimension of Sign
         Cycle 6: Love and Fruitfulness

     We saw in the last chapter that celibates point us to heaven. Although marriage and procreation are wonderful and should be a sign of what God's love is like, that's not our ultimate goal: God's love is. Pope John Paul II unpacks scripture all throughout the first part of Theology of the Body and also in this chapter, explaining that Christ gave his life for the Church, his Bride, and wants to include us in communion with him... basically, he wants to marry us.

     In this chapter, our Holy Father bases himself on Ephesians 5:22-23 and brings together the preceding three chapters: What we were made for (communion with God and others) and what we're destined for (perfect communion with God and others in the eternal wedding banquet). It's commonly said that the Bible starts with a wedding and ends with a wedding, and St. Paul in Ephesians brings together the two great signs: marriage between man and woman and marriage between Christ and his Church.

     The Church is Christ's body and she receives everything from the head: the fullness of salvation as a gift, Christ's gift of self. The analogy of the Church as bride and Christ as bridegroom that St. Paul uses has a rich tradition in the Old Testament and empasizes God's total and irrevocable gift of himself in a way that other analogies aren't able to. "The analogy of spousal love contains a characteristic of the mystery that is not directly emphasized by the analogy of merciful love, nor by the analogy of fatherly love (nor by any other analogy used in the Bible to which we could have appealed)" (TOB 95b:3).

     This passage from Ephesians brings the union of man and woman (instituted by God in Genesis) and the union of Christ and his Church together as means to carry out God's original saving plan. All of the preceding chapters of who man is (Genesis), the situation he is in now and where he is going are brought together: "In fact, that passage from Ephesians cannot be correctly understood except in the broad biblical context, considering it as the 'crowning' of the themes and truths that ebb and flow like long waves through the Word of God revealed in Sacred Scripture" (TOB 87:4).

     God is love and he had a plan for us before he created us. The letter to the Ephesians opens with a presentation of the eternal plan of man's salvation in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3-7.10) and the second part defines Christian life as a vocation flowing from this divine plan. "Ephesians opens before us the supernatural world of the eternal mystery, of the eternal plans of God the Father in regard to man. These plans precede the 'creation of the world' and thus also the creation of man" (96:3). God is love and he wants to include us in that love. Not only do man and woman point to this love/eternal plan in marriage, but also Christ and his Church point to this love/eternal plan and carry it out. Through Christ, this mystery, what was before hidden, is revealed and accomplished. This mystery expresses itself in the visible order and becomes Sign ("visibility of the Invisible" TOB 95b:7). These two marriages are the foundation of the whole sacramental order which makes visible the eternal plan of love.

     We not only are given the fruits of redemption but Christ gives himself as a gift to the Church, his Bride. His spousal love is redeeming and the great goal of marriage is also santification: "The essential goal of the love of Christ for the Church is her santification" (91:6). When God created us for communion and created man for woman and vice versa, it was not only the creation of the most fundamental human community, but it was also the beginning of his plan to save us. Wow, makes you think marriage is pretty important, right?

     "Can we not deduce that marriage has remained the platform for the realization of God's eternal plans, according to which the sacrament of creation had come near to human beings and prepared them for the sacrament of redemption, introducing them into the dimension of the work of salvation?" (TOB 97:1)



Michelangelo's Pietà


And some music: http://www.resonanceofthegift.com/Marriage_Covenant.html

Celebrating my dad's life

Sunday is my dad's birthday and so I think this is the perfect opportunity to share with you some of my favorite things about him. I never seem to talk about my dad as much as I do about my mom, but that doesn't mean that I love him any less. In fact, even though I share most of my lifestyle/routines from my mom (vegetarianism, religion, etc.), I definitely get my temperament/personality/looks from my dad. So how could I not be thankful for him? ;)

Some of my favorite things about my dad:

• the fact that he makes freshly squeezed orange juice every morning
• his courage in trying new things (for example, going to Taize last summer!)
• his obsessive cleanliness (better than the opposite, right?)
• his love for animals
• his interest in history and philosophy
• how I can ask him for help/advice for almost anything practical
• his striped pijamas
• his dedication to golf
• his sense of humor
• how he really is proud of me all the time (even though I still hate it when he brags to others about me!)
• his sensitivity and introspection
• how he helped me in my dream to have a dog ;)
• his insatiable appetite for bacalhau
• his love of learning
• his constant support and love of me

Brownies at Tiffany's

My friend Sofia and I have been trying to watch Audrey Hepburn movies together. Today we had brownies for breakfast while watching Breakfast at Tiffany's! 

“I'm an introvert...I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees,flowers,the sky. I have to be alone very often. I'd be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That's how I refuel.” ― Audrey Hepburn

PS Check out my article today on Virtuouspla.net called Nourishing Your Spiritual Life

Leek tart and friendship

My weekend was a whirlwhind, but a definite treat was having my friend Alex come over for lunch. We had beet and goat cheese salad and leek tart from my favorite cookbook, and her delicious toblerone brownies. And we drank wine... just us. I'm really into wine with friends recently. Then I talked her ear off for literally the whole afternoon. She's one of those people that makes you spill your heart out and talk non-stop, without her even trying. The first day I met her, I told her my whole life story on a bus ride. She just got back from a TOB Immersion Course, so really I should've listened more, but she's also one of those people that likes me anyway. Those people are amazing and I call them friends.

Better NOW than never...

Have you ever arrived late to mass, maybe during the homily and thought, "better late than never"?  Listen to this week's Sunday podcast about READINESS:

http://www.lifeteen.com/podcasts/sunday-sunday-sunday-11062011

Ready thoughts:

• "Better late than never" might pass in a lot of different things in life, but when it comes to our readiness for Christ to come again, when it comes to our salvation, better late than never is a pretty dangerous proposition.
• Now that we're in November, we're going to hear about the last things: about death and judgment, heaven, hell and purgatory... You're going to have a series of Gospels all leading up to Advent with a similar theme of "be prepared, stay awake, be watchful"
• This seems kind of uncharitable... shouldn't the people that have the oil share some? Isn't that what Jesus would have said: share some of the oil with the people that don't, so that your lantern is lit? The answer would be no.



Source

The role of a theologian

I am so, so, SO excited that my boyfriend will be going to Rome next week for an International Theology of the Body Symposium. I've been to three and he has never been to any. Unfortunately I won't be able to go with him (we imagined admiring the Sistine Chapel together, eating gelato, listening to the wonderful speakers together...sniff, sniff), but I am still happy he is going. I'm sure there's some reason for him to be going alone. And maybe this way he'll come back with the Theology of the Body FEVER I seem to be having recently.

I heard this debate yesterday between Janet Smith and Charles Curran and it was WONDERFUL. Just thinking that my boyfriend will be able to listen to JANET SMITH in person next week makes me want to dance a little jig. This debate is called "Humanae Vitae Revisited" and has a very respectful and very intelligent discussion between two moral theologians... one who defends (wonderfully) Church teaching and another who openly dissents:

https://www.mycatholicfaith.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1945:janet-smith-debates-charles-curran-on-contraception-&catid=67:janet-smith-articles&Itemid=133

So many great things were said (I liked especially Janet Smith asking "Why do I get the idea there are more people saying the Pope has to listen than people listening to the Pope?" And a lady who asks the question, "How do we know when it is the Holy Spirit really guiding us? I have a friend who says the Holy Spirit led her to leave the Church. We have a divided room here in terms of opinions. Where are all these Holy Spirits coming from?"), but my favorite quote was Janet Smith touching upon...

the role of a theologian:

Part two at about about 12:00: "You want to talk about why do 80% of Catholics contracept... I want to know how many of them have every heard a homily on this. How many of them have heard a respected theologian explain to them why the Church thinks its wrong whether than tell them they're free to dissent in good conscience, whatever good conscience might mean in this phrase. So it seems to me that the job of the theologians of the Church among others is to respectfully treat what the Pope has written to try to absorb it and transmit it so that the Catholic public who don't have the time to do this on their own can be led by those who have the privilege of having the wonderful education and leisure time that we have to ponder and peruse these things."

I am SO thankful for having had the privilege of studying theology... largely thanks to my parents for paying for my education. I am SO thankful for the leisure time I have now to continue to study and dedicate myself to catching up on 2000 years of theology. Even though my primary job is teaching English right now, I (am trying to) transmit all I know and lead the teens at my the parish youth group I lead and I also feel a theologian at heart in my daily life . And it is such a privilege!!!

Me and some girls from my youth group on a hike in October

Great views

Lately I've been feeling my life as an uphill climb. It's been hard to take care of my basic necessities, grocery shopping and eating, hard to accept the solitude of living alone and not try to distract myself, hard to accept small things that don't go my way. It's been hard to stay put, accept my day-to-day here and pass up trips. But even though it's hard, I think it's been really good. I heard in a homily one time that "the Christian life isn't easy like a slip and slide. It's not a lot of fun and downhill. It's more like climbing a mountain. It's really challenging, but along the way and especially when you get to the top, you have a really great view."

I've had some really great views. Last week, of my boyfriend who left his job in the middle of the day to come find me when he thought something had happened to me (I had left my cellphone at home on accident). It really put things into perspective for me... that I am really loved even though sometimes it's from far away. And this weekend at my Halloween party I had the great view of my sister, cousins, boyfriend and friend all in my living room: the people closest to me that I can most count on and that I realized I should most invest in.

PS Check out my article published today on VirtuousPla.net: Give Beauty Slowly (And Mormon Mommy Blogs)