Real love grows

It has been a long time since I have spent an entire weekend without plans, taking my landlady her rent and saying yes to her cup of coffee. And after so much quality time talking at the park and just "being with" my BF, I can really say with conviction what someone told me two years ago: real love grows... I hope you love each other less than tomorrow and more than yesterday.

Onto a week that is starting out crazy already... my hopes for this week: priorities, making decisions and friendship (sharing with others and listening). And yours?

Society is a requirement

Today was a much-needed FREE morning to clean my house, go grocery shopping and make chocolate muffins, all pretty basic necessities. Even though my mornings and early afternoons are free (I work evenings), I usually fill them up by going into Lisbon by train and meeting people or running errands of some sort. Usually that 1 1/2 hour each way is worth it just to have lunch with someone special, my BF or a friend. This week was cloudy (weather-wise and mood-wise for me!), but it turned out pretty good actually, and I think it had something to to with those special lunch dates. And the muffins.



Clouds during my train ride



"The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation." (Catechism of the Catholic Chuch, #1879)

Having one of those weeks...

That this song describes exactly:

"So you lie in your bed and you won't let the morning come in..."
"Your life is not what you thought it would be..."
"Lift up your head; help is on the way and it won't pass you by...
You just gotta reach out a hand" ("Breaking You" by Audrey Assad)

Making a goal list was not a good idea. I haven't even done one thing. "That at which we should aim is, then not to impose a lot of things on ourselves, as good as they may seem... Rather, we must try to discover the disposition of our soul, the profound attitude of our heart and the spiritual conditions that permit God to act in us..." (Searching for and Maintaining Peace by Fr. J. Philippe, p.4)

How to react to failure?

How to react when confronted with failure? Mother Teresa has quite a few things to say about it, a few here:

"If you are discouraged it is a sign of pride because it shows you trust in your own power. Your self-sufficiency, your selfishness and your intellectual pride will inhibit His coming to live in your heart because God cannot fill what is already full. It is as simple as that."

"God doesn't ask that we succeed in everything, but that we are faithful. However beautiful our work may be, let us not become attached to it. Always remain prepared to give it up, without losing your peace."

"Be humble and you will never be disturbed. It is a very difficult in practice because we all want to see the result of our work. Leave it to Jesus."

This weekend I went on a retreat with my youth group. It has been hard to not be discouraged and not depend on the success of what I'm putting my effort into. Last year I quit the youth group, then regretted it and went back, but it suffered a few heavy blows and we're pretty much starting from zero again. There were a total of six people at the retreat and things are looking pretty unsuccessful for the near future, but I'm learning that it might just be in these moments that we learn the most and that the most surprising things happen. I'm learning my real motivations in doing things, accepting my weakness, learning about faithfulness and that relationships really are the most important thing in life. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father, with others, how to love and be loved.

Just being

Carnival was still a holiday here for me in Portugal and it was oh so nice not to work Monday and Tuesday. I hung out with my friend Sofia all day Tuesday at the beach near my house. If I hadn't been with her, I would've probably gotten ahead on "work" I have to do, would've prepared the retreat I'm going on this weekend or cleaned my house or something productive like that. Instead, we walked on the beach and sat at a cafe all morning. It was almost difficult to not do anything, and try not to think about things I had to do, but it was wonderful. It's exactly what I'd like to spend more time doing: slowing down, hanging out, being outside, being with people.

“Uma experiência, cada vez mais frequente, é a de não termos tempo. Dizemos, repetindo um provérbio que os latinos já usavam, que o tempo voa (tempus fugit). Voa o tempo para estar. Contudo, ‘foi o tempo que perdeste com a tua rosa que tornou a tua rosa tão importante para ti’, explicou a raposa ao Principezinho. Contudo, sabemos vem que há uma qualidade de relação que só se obtém no tempo. Por alguma razão, esse raro Mestre de humanidade chamado Jesus, disse: ‘Se alguém te pede para o acompanhares durante uma milha, anda com ele duas.’ Só estando, descobrimos o sentido e a relevância da nossa marcha ao lado dos outros. Só estando presentes a nós próprios nos apropriamos da nossa caminhada interior. É tão fácil tornarmo-nos desconhecidos. Basta não estar."(Pai-Nosso que estais na Terra de Jose Tolentino Mendonca, p. 62)

"An experience, ever more frequent, is not having time. We say, while repeating a proverb that the Romans also used, time flies (tempus fugit). Time to be flies. However, 'it was the time you lost with your rose that made your rose so important to you", explains the fox from the Little Prince. We know there is a quality of relationship that you can only obtain with time. For some reason, that rare Teacher of humanity named Jesus, said: 'If someone asks for you to accompany him for one mile, walk two with him.' Only being, do we discover the meaning and relevance of our journey alongside others. Only being present to ourselves do we appropriate our interior journey. It's so easy to become unknown. You only need not be."