the vocation calls....

I would love to blog on something terribly profound right now (what that might be, I'm not sure of - but I'm sure I'd figure it out), but my vocation is calling - in the form of four massive piles of clean (CLEAN!) laundry on our apartment floor. 

A presto

bell'italia

"Even now I miss Italy; I dream about it every night."

~ Eila Hiltunen

 "You may have the universe, if I may have Italy."  

~ Giuseppe Verdi

 "Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life."

~ Anna Akhmatova

 

 "A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority."

~ Samuel Johnson

Pictures from top: Historical Center of Perugia (Umbria); celebrating the semifinal World Cup victory of gli Azzuri (the Italian National Soccer Team) against Germany, Perugia; "The Glory of St. Dominic", the Basilica of St. Dominic, Bologna; Sunset over the Mediterranean, taken from Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre, Liguria)

defende nos in proelio!

~ St. Michael the Archangel, by Guido Reni

Fight for us, Michael! 

gotta love His Holiness....

"Bear witness to everyone, beginning with your peers, to the joy of His strong and sweet presence.  Tell them how wonderful it is to be friends with Jesus and that it is worthwhile following Him.  Show your enthusiasm...only by following Jesus can the true meaning of life, and true and lasting joy, be found."

~ His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, December 2005

If only my life reflected this every day!

27.

After suffering through another season of Yankee hating (seriously, sometimes I just can't stand the utter vitriol that accompanies Yankee bashing), and losing touch with the season this summer due to particularly momentous things (um....getting married, hehe), I reconnected with my team just in time to see them clinch World Championship #27.  They were exciting times last night as Game Six came to a conclusion - I often forget the unabashed excitement that comes with being so close to a Championship win.  Counting down the outs....nine, six, and finally, just three away from the clinch.  Honestly, I hadn't quite experienced that excitement since 2001, even though that Fall Classic didn't turn out as the Yankees had hoped.  

And it was in the waning innings of last night's game that brought me back to postseason 2001, as lower Manhattan smoldered after the terror attacks and I (and much of the world) turned to baseball, and particularly the Yankees, in a seemingly endless effort to escape the clutches of the news cycle - words like war on terror, jihad, Patriot Act, the list goes on and on and on.  Hoping to escape the hellish scenes of September 11th that were now, starkly, part of our reality, we turned our television sets to baseball each October night, reveling in nine innings of America's pastime and forgetting the real world that awaited us once the broadcast concluded.  It seemed like I was back in 2001 last night as I watched the Yankees, remembering that October when I was but an awkward adolescent, struggling with the horror of the post 9/11 world, turning to the Yankees for comfort and escape.  

Often, people don't quite get why I could embrace the Yankees as I do.  I receive my fair share of teasing - and sometimes, the joking can become downright mean.  Quite simply, in some strange way, I owe that team a lot.  It was their playoff run of 2001 that certainly helped me to forget the horrors of September 11th and, in a sense, helped me to start to do my own healing from those events.  Often it is said that the Yankees' playoff run helped the city of New York to heal - I know they certainly did that for me too.  Watching the Yankees with my family that October reminded me of the simple things in life, the simple things that became so important in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks.  The simplicity of Yankee baseball in October helped me move on from 9/11 and learn to heal, which, ultimately, paved the way for my life's next big moment - the moment where I met the person of Jesus Christ for the first time.  I won't say that it was Yankee baseball that began my conversion, but the 2001 playoffs certainly put the steps in motion that eventually led to my meeting Christ.  

It's funny how something that seems pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things - professional baseball - can do so much when the circumstances are just right.  

It feels so great to celebrate #27.... :-)  

A presto. 

just thinkin' about the Incarnation...

Son of God, Purest light
Lord on high is here tonight
Stepping through this sacred sky
Suddenly our eyes behold
Heaven's perfect plan unfold
Son of God

Son of God, Love divine
Timeless one steps in to die
Who could dream of such a thing
With us now, the King of Kings
Man and angels bow and sing
Singing Hallelujah

Emmanuel, our God is with us

~ Michael W. Smith, "Son of God"

I'll admit, some of the time, this man's music does sound a bit cheesy.  The lyrics and notes themselves don't always fit quite right.  But I think he seems to get something right about the Incarnation, in just the simplest terms.  

I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that my Lord and God walked this very earth, the same earth of which I am resident, 2,000 years after the fact.  

all souls' day.

Merciful Father, hear our prayer and console us

as we renew our faith in your Son, whom you raised from the dead.

Strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters

will share in His resurrection

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, forever and ever. 

Amen. 

~ Collect of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed

I have never quite "fully grasped" the meaning of this day in the Roman Catholic calendar.  I have the blessing (and privilege, for that matter) of having most of my extended family (and all of my immediate family) still in this life.  I can count the number of funerals I have attended in my life on my hands (around six), and the number of Catholic funerals I have attended on one hand (three) - and half of these total funerals were for friends and not family.  My husband shares with me frequently how wonderful it is to have my grandparents still alive, all four of them - it's our prayer to give them a great-grandchild before they depart this world for the next.  I guess you could say that I've never really "grasped" this day because death is an infrequent occurrence in my little sphere of the world. 

It is the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed today, or colloquially dubbed "All Souls' Day" in the Roman Catholic calendar.  The priest wears purple (or, sometimes, black), and the living faithful of Holy Mother Church are given a stark reminder of our own mortality and the necessity of praying for those who have gone before us, the faithful departed.  We light candles and reminisce and remember those we have loved in this life, who have seen the end of their lives.  And, most importantly, we pray for them - for the rescue of their souls from the clutches of purgatory, for our merciful and just God to grant them eternal rest.  

Tonight, as my husband and I pray our rosary on the way back from the east side of town, I will remember in the intentions of my heart the faithful departed, my brothers and sisters in Christ who have departed this world.  I will pray for the peaceful rest of their eternal souls and for the mercy of God and the intercession of Our Lady to come to their aid.  Most especially, I will keep close to my heart the soul of my father-in-law, who I was never able to meet in this life, but a man for whom I am so grateful.  

My husband lost his father at a particularly formative time in his life, just before going off to college.  We don't speak much of him, I must admit.  Every once in awhile, he'll come up in our conversation - I'll ask my husband what his father might think about the situation about which we're talking, or what his father was like in a certain circumstance, things like that.  His picture now hangs on one of the walls of our apartment - it is really a fantastic picture, his smile is just priceless, and it's as if that one smile, forever immortalized in picture form, gives me so many glimpses into this man's personality.

I never met this man, yet the first time I was with all of my in-laws (just about a year ago - we weren't engaged yet), I thought of him.  I glanced around the room, from person to person, sibling to sibling, grandchild to grandchild - and I kid you not, I was in awe.  This man, this man I never met, gave five beautiful souls to this world in his children, and subsequently, there are two more in this world - his grandchildren (and I pray that there are many more to come!).  I looked around the room and I could just sense that his legacy and his memory remain deeply embedded in the family.  And then there were times, particularly in some more tense and emotional moments, where I nearly wondered aloud why God had to take him so early from this life, why God had to take him, the patriarch, from this incredible family so soon.  Yet I trust that my father-in-law's life has in it some divine meaning for the family - I know already that his life and untimely passing has transformed my husband into the man he is today.  I am hopeful that God might give my husband and I another glimpse into His Divine Plan that surrounds my father-in-law, whether it be through our own family, our own vocation, or something entirely different.  

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them. 

Amen.  

it's official....

And I have the mold (a.k.a. penicillin, see above) to prove it.  I came down with probably my 11 or 12th strep throat infection in my lifetime on Sunday and it has eaten me for breakfast every day since.  Monday was the worst - I was in bed for the better part of the day, save for my ninety minute excursion to urgent care and then, ultimately, to the pharmacy to pick up my prescription.

I can definitely understand the medical profession's unease at over-prescribing antibiotics to patients; then the immune system would be shot and unable to absorb antibiotics when and if the body ever encounters a massive infection.  I concede, to be unable to rid your body of an infection because the body can't absorb antibiotics properly would be really nasty.  What I can't understand is the cold hard truth: the fact that I have to shell out over a hundred bucks to undergo a five-second test that I know is going to come back positive.  I like to say that I know strep.  I had probably about half a dozen infections when I was a child, and then another half a dozen in my adolescence and up to now.  Heck, a couple years back, I had strep twice in a year!  But I can't just call up the doc and say, "I'm telling you - it's strep; now write that scrip."  With strep always comes that inconvenient trip to urgent care, the impatient wait to see a doc, and then - always my least favorite part - that merciless swabbing at my tonsils that always, always makes me gag.  Yuck!

Sorry to whine; this seems to be my biannual strep throat rant.  :-) 

In other news.....the Fall Classic is back.  Dang, there is just something about the World Series that gets me every year, no matter who's playing.  It's the cold fall weather, the frosty baseball diamond, the enthusiasm of the fans and ballplayers, the pomp and circumstance with the start of every World Series game.  Gosh, I just love it.  This year is especially wonderful because the Yankees are back for the first time in six years.  I'd like to think their chances are pretty good - but the Phillies are a very talented team.  No matter what the turnout, it will be quite the Series!  

A presto

buon compleanno! birthday week!

This week we celebrated my husband's birthday, and a whole lot of other fun things happened too.  I would extrapolate and make this post more descriptive, but it seems I've come down with the preliminary symptoms for strep throat (ugh) and am not feeling up to par at the moment....

New car!  

The Green Machine has been showing her age for the past couple of weeks and we were convinced she wouldn't last much longer.  After some weeks researching and doing his homework, my husband and his mom were able to put the gears in motion for us to receive a new car.  Words can't express how grateful I am for this piece of machinery, and for the generosity of my mother-in-law.  We're just not in the situation to be thinking about independently purchasing a vehicle, so to have her assistance is a blessing that can't quite be put into words.  She never ceases to amaze me - in her generosity, her giving, and most of all, her deep maternal love for her son.  It's a blessing to watch and be a part of!  

Of course, a new car isn't a new car without a lovely bug guts splotch on the windshield, no more than forty miles into ownership.  :)  I kid you not, this splotch was a deep, grape-esque purple.  What kind of bugs are out there in October that have purple guts?

And so continues my "culinary prowess."  My latest masterpiece?  A German chocolate cake for my husband's birthday.  I am not entirely sure it is supposed to be that massively big, but it was certainly tasty, and we have some leftovers to prove it!  

.....And so concluded my husband's birthday week.   

Conclusions? 

1. We are terribly blessed, by our families, friends, and in particular, by God the Father.  Even when we don't know it, we are blessed! 

2. I'm pretty sure I can cook.  Between a tortilla soup on Monday, apple pies last weekend, and the German chocolate cake this week, I've become something of a menace in the kitchen, and I'm always scouring our cookbooks for new recipes to try out.  We'll see how long it lasts....

3. My husband is an amazing soul, a beautiful expression of married love.  It's my prayer that I would strive always after that same level of married love that he shows me each day.  In ways unknown to me, somehow, God saw it fit that I be married to this man and gave him to me, at a time in my life when I did not see him as a gift, at a time in my life when I wasn't ready for him, at a time in my life when I was just learning about sacrificial love and failing miserably at it.  According to my Heavenly Father - my husband was just what I needed, and, as always - God was right.  What a gift my husband is to me - an immeasurable, incredible, unworthy gift.   

A presto 

one of those moments

You know, we just don't recognize
  the most significant moments of our lives while they're happening.

- Moonlight Graham to Ray Kinsella, Field of Dreams

That day seven weeks and two days ago was one of those moments. It was terribly surreal, incredibly fast, and now, but a memory, that my husband and I will cherish forever.

In the same conversation in Field of Dreams, Moonlight Graham describes to Ray his memories of playing baseball, the feelings and sensations evoked upon the memory of a certain sound, taste, smell on the ballfield. There are times that our wedding day does that to me, too. We've recently taken a liking to listening to the hymns from our Nuptial Mass - even something as simple as the first note of the processional brings me right back to that moment, the moment where the world stood still and I saw my groom - the man who will ultimately fulfill my vocation - waiting for me at the altar.

Wow.  :) 

Photo above courtesy of Dave Watkins of Narella Studio, 
 www.narella-studio.com

the nobel peace prize....

is a complete joke.  No, really, it is.  I would go into a full-fledged rant but it just wouldn't be worth it. 

In one last vent, I'm not particularly a fan of one side of a dispute making its argument and completely disallowing the other side a rebuttal.  It doesn't matter the means by which the other party closes the argument, what matters is that the other side isn't offered even a chance to express their views/opinions/reasons why they disagree.  I also don't like condescension and name-calling.  That's just not fun.  

None of that probably made sense.  It's most me blowing off steam after a pretty juvenile attack on me, wrought with stereotypes and riddled with immaturity.  What's more unfortunate, is that the attack came from a former high school classmate of mine - someone, despite our political differences, I always very much respected (and still do!).   

For the record: I am allowed to disagree with the Peace Prize Committee in their selection!  Get over it!   

Argggggh, sorry.  It drives me crazy!  This is very much a part of the reason that even a political science graduate like myself becomes terribly disillusioned with the American system of governance today.   

Scott Tolzien was just intercepted and OSU ran it back for a touchdown.  Argggggh again!  

A presto

it's october....and that means......

that baseball playoffs are back!  Just finished watching the Boys from the Bronx beat the Twins, 7-2.  There's just something about October baseball that is really special - I was a bit disconnected from the playoffs last year due to work, so it's been wonderful to reconnect this year!  

In other news, I am down for the count with a nasty head cold.  I woke up yesterday morning with a scratchy throat and some pressure in the sinus/temple region, and by this morning it had reared its ugly head and become a full-blown cold, complete with a constant headache (that sinus pressure is so mild but so uncomfortable), stuffy/runny nose (how can a nose be stuffed and runny at the same time?!), intermittent coughing, and pronounced fatigue.  I was supposed to head downtown for the day to catch up on some work at St. Paul's, but opted not to infect the entire student center and instead, perhaps only (and unfortunately) my husband.  Hoping that it will pass in a few days and I can get back to some semblance of normal.  

Last on the docket is our car situation.  The trusty Buick Century that we've had for about ten months, known fondly as "the Green Machine", is ailing fairly rapidly.  We put a couple hundred bucks of repair into it about three weeks ago when the starter failed, and last week, it was serviced and diagnosed as leaking coolant into the engine, which will ultimately be what causes the Green Machine finally to keel over.  We're holding our breath now, significantly rationing our car trips (as few as possible and only on the west side of town, using the bus when necessary to get elsewhere in town), filling the car with coolant as necessary, hoping it starts each time we need it, and........starting the grown-up process of car shopping, and all that it entails.  We're looking at all of our options right now, applying for a loan, and hoping to have the situation resolved sooner rather than later, because we're not sure how much life the Green Machine has remaining!  

The Buick has been a really reliable vehicle, up until about a month ago.  It was sad finally to come to the realization that the car is on its last legs - it served our purposes wonderfully for so long.  We've had so many fond memories in that car.  Embarking on dozens of trips home to visit my family, freezing our butts off in the dead of winter when the heater took forever to work (and would squeal if turned on too quickly - I kid you not), the countless trips we took back to campus in our engagement when Brad would drop me off at home, usually as we prayed a rosary, those trips a beautiful reminder of the sacrifices we were making in engagement for love of each other and of God, in anticipation of the marriage that was to come.  I know we'll both be sad to see the Green Machine leave our lives, but I can't say that I won't welcome a new vehicle and the reliability, and ultimately, the money saving (at least on repairs) that comes with it!  

A presto :-)