I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to write... between going home for Beckah's shower and starting preparations for our holiday party in a couple weeks, I have barely had time to breathe. In all the craziness, however, I did manage to catch some type of bug that I'm still trying to fight off to no avail.
Some highlights from the past week or two... one, Fred came over for dinner and to re-decorate our house with the stuff we already had. He was an interior designer in NYC and was Elton John's personal interior designer so we had only the best working for us! Our house now looks like an adult house and we LOVE it!!!
We had the pleasure of having our program director, Katie, over for dinner on Wednesday night! We ate, then had a saltine-eating contest, then sat around talking for 3 hours. I will talk more about this later, but it was such a great conversation with great people!
Thursday night, Michael took us out to eat and then shopping for Christmas decorations for our house!!! He spoils us rotten and I think deep down he really likes having a "sorority", although he'd never admit it! I found out that Michael gave the homily for Fr. Mychal Judge, the first person listed on the death toll from the World Trade Center attacks in 2001. This is the homily he gave, one of hope, love and faith...
http://www.hnp.org/publications/articles_view.cfm?id=16&yr=1911
Anyway, I also went home for Beckah's bridal shower! I was home for only 24 hours but got to see a lot of family and some friends who are still at Saint Anselm. It is such a blessing to be able to go home when I want and to be received with such love.
I told you earlier that I'd return to the conversation the three of us had with Katie on Wednesday night, so here we go. You know how you can hear something over and over again and then one time you hear it differently and you finally understand what everyone has been talking about all that time? I had one of those moments that night sitting with Katie, Emily and Maureen. We were talking about love and the difference between "universal" love (as we called it) and romantic love. The universal love we discussed entailed the love that we should show everyone as brothers and sisters. After talking a little more and making quite a few jokes, I had an epiphany. I have heard so many times that God is love, but I guess I only ever applied it to the outpouring of love that God showers on us, not really the Earthly relationships here. But for some reason, it finally clicked for me that when I experience love, whether it be "universal" or romantic, that is me experiencing God, that when I love someone God is working through me and God's presence is in that relationship. When someone experiences God, they are allowing God to be present in that relationship. What a beautiful thing! I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well enough, but I hope that you can understand what I'm trying to say.
Taking the focus off of myself and my relationships with others and trying to recognize God in the relationship allows me to more fully be aware of God's grace in my life. What a cool thing to realize!!!
I hope that even if this is something you've already known, you are reminded of how impactful love is and how integrated in our lives God really is!
In other news, I am working on the Saint Francis Inn Christmas card this year... I've for some reason decided that I am artsy and have taken it upon myself to design the card for the Inn. Yesterday Emily, Maureen and I went to Michael's art store to get the supplies to make the cards next week. We also stopped at David's Bridal so that Maureen could show us the wedding dress she likes and then stopped off at IHOP!!! We came back and had a slumber party and watched Elf! So, despite my sickness, I am trying to make the most out of the holiday season with everyone here!
1 comment:
Thank you for linking to Fr. Michael Duffy's eulogy of Fr. Mychal Judge.
Most of us first heard of Father Mychal Judge, the late New York fire chaplain and "the saint of 9/11", from that iconic photo of his body being carried from Ground Zero.
Yet even prior to his heroic death on 9/11, Father Mychal was widely seen by many New Yorkers as a living saint for his deep spirituality and his extraordinary work not only with firefighters -- but with the homeless, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and others rejected by society.
This often annoyed the church hierarchy. But like his spiritual father St. Francis of Assisi, Mychal reported directly to a Higher Authority, as evidenced by several miraculous healings through his intercession.
For more information about Father Mychal, I invite you to visit:
http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com
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