Walkin' in Memphis...

In celebration of Julie's upcoming nuptials, we took a girls' trip to Memphis. Well, we started at Cajun's Wharf here and stayed downtown on Friday night. Saturday morning, we headed for Memphis. It was a wonderful trip!

Friday, we started at Cajun's Wharf. Then we moseyed on to the Peabody hotel for the Alice 107.7 Peabody Rooftop Party, where we got in free (Thanks to the doorman who felt the need to be nice to us since it was Julie's last girls' trip as an unmarried lady.) Then, Julie's fiancee, Shawn, graciously sprung for a room for us girls downtown so that we wouldn't have to worry about driving all the way back to her place then all the way to Memphis from there. It was very considerate and nice of him.

Anyway, after hitting Cracker Barrel in the morning on Saturday, we headed to Memphis and got there around 2. We checked into our hotel room (we had sprung for the "nice room" up on the top floor, where you had to swipe your key to get to, that had concierge service, free h'ors d'erves and champagne, free valet, free breakfast, free coffee and cookies). It was REALLY nice, and when split between four of us, wasn't unreasonable.
After getting settled in, Julie wanted to go to Graceland, so we took off to Graceland. I had gone several years ago (like 15 or 20) with my family, so I really didn't remember it all that much. I had forgotten what everything looked like! Anyway, we parked somewhere close (within walking distance) because the public parking was $15.00, and we were not about to pay that just to park.
We hopped on the shuttle which took us across the street to see Elvis' digs. It's definitely interesting to see the difference between celebrities' homes today and what was considered a huge home back in Elvis' days. The strange thing was hearing that he paid $120,000 for it. My, how times have changed!

(In more ways than one, apparently!)

While enjoying some h'ors d'erves in the Club Room on our floor, we met our wonderful concierge, Ms. Linda, who gave us some advice about getting around, gave us some coupons for BB Kings, and made us feel like we were right at home with her friendly, caring personality. (I wish we would have gotten a picture with her, but I guess, that's all the more reason to go back, right?)

Saturday night, we left the room and went to Beale Street. We met a friendly couple from North Carolina on our floor and ran into them downstairs as we were heading toward Beale. They had met a girl who was (ironically) from the same area as Julie and her sister are from and she got us into Silky O'Sullivan's for free and bought a shot for the bachelorette!

We had the obligatory Diver from Silky's, and we headed onto BB Kings, where we stayed for the rest of the evening. They had some great live music there, and we enjoyed the performance.

Unfortunately, the weekend had to come to an end, and we made it back home around 3:30 yesterday. We have, however, decided to have an annual commemoration of our trip by going to Memphis again next year (and hopefully many years!). Hopefully, we began a wonderful tradition this weekend!

Adventures in Cycling

Ok, so this post is probably (ok, yes, it is!) a couple weeks late.

Anyway, on 8 May, we did the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure ride. We had signed up for the 20 mile ride, and I was pretty scared that I wouldn't be able to do it.

I mostly got scared because two days prior to the ride, we did a preliminary ride, to follow the track and go back and do around 20 miles, just so that I would know that I could do it. During said ride, I got really dehydrated (despite my efforts to the contrary). My head hurt so bad that I couldn't even move it. We ended up going about another mile so that I could get some hydration and have someone come to pick us up and take us back to the truck. After drinking several containers full of water/gatorade mixture, I still had a headache and it lasted until the next morning. Not EXACTLY the best thing to happen two days before your first 'big' ride.

So we started the morning. I was a little uncertain and nervous, but we were with a great group from Outskirts Bike Shop, where we get all of our biking gear. (They are so great and helpful down there!) They were doing the 50-mile ride, but we were scheduled to do the 20-mile just the two of us, so we decided to take off with them at the 50-mile start. (We were told that we could start ahead of our scheduled start time, if we wanted, just not after.)

We were riding with Sherry, one of the owners of the shop, so when we got to the 20-mile turn around, it was around 8.75 miles (so would in sum be less than 20 miles), so we decided to go with her through some of the uncertain parts of the ride until she made it to the straight point, which ended up being around 12 miles. Because we are training for the 62-mile Tour de Rock in less than a month, I figured, why not just go the extra 3 and turn around for a total of 30 miles. I also made extra careful to stay very hydrated throughout the ride.

The wind was a little rough on the way back, but we made it to the base of the Big Dam Bridge, which is about a mile long (that's where the above was taken), leaving us with around 2 miles left. I made it up and down the bridge (that side is the 'hard' side because it's about 0.5miles of climbing up up up up up and my legs were burning!!!) and to the finish for a total of around 31 miles on my first ride! Woo hoo!

Plus, I raised $225 for a great cause in riding! Now, we're in training for the 62-mile Tour de Rock on 12 June. (I think we're going to do a 50-mile ride in the River to River Memorial Ride on Memorial Day, but that is yet to be seen).

It's very confidence-boosting to know that I've ridden more than half the big ride I'm training for. I'm hoping and praying that I'll do it! I'm sure that I can. I've got a great riding partner who won't let me fail (or fall, for that matter)! He's a great one to have around. God love him for putting up with my whiny self! :)

En Memoriam

Being from Louisiana, it strikes me anytime there is a tragedy in or around the great state. The explosion of the oil rig hit me a little harder than usual, mostly because my father worked on oil rigs out in the Gulf for most of my early life. He no longer works out on rigs but he still works in the oil industry.

I never thought anything, really, of the long weeks he would be out on the oil rig. I just thought it was normal, something dads did all the time, and it never once struck me that he might not be coming back.

Since the explosion out in the Gulf, I have come to realize just how dangerous a job that is and how much danger my father was in during most of my young life. I praise God for bringing him back home to us safely every time he went out on those rigs to work.

I think of the little children who were expecting 'daddy' to come home and had to be told that he wouldn't be coming home this time. How difficult that must be for a child, especially a little girl, to grow up without a father.

This day, my thoughts and prayers are with those children and the families of those who were lost in the explosion.

While reading the Gospel today, I was struck by the timely words from John 14:1-4:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.”

Christ is with us at all time, through the heartache and the pain. He asks us to allow Him to share this burden with us in Matthew 11:28-30:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." Jesus asks us to take on His meekness and humility. In doing so, we find rest and our burdens are lifted by having faith in and trusting in Him, the only one who can give us comfort and true peace.

For those lost in the explosion, we pray:
"Eternal rest grant unto them, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

Anima Christi

I love this prayer! It is such a wonderful expression of desire to always be with Christ. I especially enjoy praying it directly after receiving the Eucharist.

The 'Anima Christi" is a reminder of what Jesus himself said:

"Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." ~John 6:53-58 NAB (c) USCCB available at http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/john/john6.htm

It's a reminder of the holy presence of Christ within us at that most holy moment of the reception of the Eucharist and the desire for Christ's presence to remain in us, that we may be little lanterns carrying the light of Christ to all people.

Anima Christi (Soul of Christ)

Soul of Christ, Sanctify me;
Body of Christ, save me;
Blood of Christ, inebriate me;
Water from the side of Christ, wash me;
Passion of Christ, strengthen me;
O good Jesus, hear me;
Within your wounds, hide me;
Separated from you, never let me be;
From the evil one, protect me;
At the hour of my death, call me;
And close to you, bid me;
That with Your saints, I may be,
Praising you forever and ever. Amen

It reminds us of the hope we have in Christ, the promises he made to us, and the life we have because of his death.

This fourth week of Easter, we still sing: Hallelujah! He is risen! Praise be to God!

Let the old be stripped away...

In the spirit of the Spring, I finally (after nearly 2 years) have been able to go through my storage unit and purge it of unclean things, aka, get rid of a bunch of junk that I've been hanging onto for no good reason.

I cannot take full credit for this sudden desire to clean, however. If my financial peace class wouldn't be having a garage sale, I probably would have avoided the storage unit like the plague, mostly out of fear of collapsing objects but also out of the fear of being reminded of things I didn't want to be reminded of.

I bravely (i.e. with the help of my wonderful boyfriend) attacked the mountain of junk that was my storage unit and can proudly say I no longer posses a bunch of junk haphazardly strewn about a 10x10 concrete room claiming to be a storage unit. I shredded a bunch of worthless papers and reminders of a time when I wasn't so financially responsible and now posses a sense of relief and, oddly enough, freedom.

I think a lot of times in our lives we accumulate junk and hang onto it because we are afraid of letting it go, not because we feel we may need it one day but because we don't know how we will function without it and because we are afraid of facing those issues/ problems/ whatever we want to call it head-on. We don't know the sense of freedom and relief we can feel by just letting it go.

I think this happens a lot of times with Confession. We've been walking around accumulating "junk" in our lives and we just don't (a) want to face the issues or (b) think we have to live with the junk as a consequence of our actions. Fear and doubt are tools of the devil, which he uses to attempt to keep us from the mercy and love of God.

When we fear facing issues, we are, in essence, saying to God "I'm too afraid of telling you what you already know because I don't think you can help me." By the same token, doubt and shame tell God "You can't help me. I'm too bad of a person, and I can deal with this myself." Doubt and shame, seemingly humble, can actually be acts of pride and arrogance, denying the saving power that Christ's death has over our lives.

When we openly approach the confessional and honestly come to terms with all the 'junk' we've accumulated, we're basically saying, "Jesus, I know I've screwed up, and I approach you with a sense of humility and repentance; and humbly ask your help because I KNOW that I can't do this alone. I know that only you have the power to help me overcome all the issues, all the 'junk', all the sins I've accumulated in my life, and I know that in coming to you, your death and resurrection wipes all of that away."

When it comes to junk, we need to clean it out of closets, storage units, sheds, garages, but we also need to remember that we need to clean it out of our lives, too, before we can be renewed and begin to live a life fully in the grace of God. Like the physical junk, we need to realise that we can't do it alone. The grace we receive from the Sacrament of Reconciliation is powerful but equally powerful is the resignation it takes to admit we cannot do it alone; we NEED God. To know that we need Him and need to rely on His grace and mercy and need to be submissive to His will is the most freeing and fulfilling act we can do. We need His grace and His mercy. Without it, we are nothing, we can do nothing, and we leave our role in the Lord's will vacant and like our lives without purpose. The only way to live a purposeful life is to accept the graces the Lord freely gives us through the sacraments, through prayer, through living our lives for him. And, my, what liberation to be submissive to the Lord!

Dominus vobiscum!

Two Reasons I love Latin...

Just wanted to share two of the many beautiful Latin prayers. Latin just flows so well, and I feel as though I am praying and singing at the same time when I pray them. (Both come from http://www.catholicsaintoftheday.com) They had videos of the prayers being sung, but I'm not so tech savvy as to know how to embed them in my posts just yet. I'm learning, though! Enjoy! Dominus vobiscum!

Pater Noster

Pater noster, qui es in caelis:

sanctificetur Nomen Tuum;

adveniat Regnum Tuum;

fiat voluntas Tua,

sicut in caelo, et in terra.

Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie;

et dimitte nobis debita nostra,

Sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris;

et ne nos inducas in tentationem;

sed libera nos a Malo. Amen


Ave Maria

AVE MARIA,

gratia plena,

Dominus tecum.

Benedicta tu in mulieribus,

et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei,

ora pro nobis peccatoribus,

nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae.

Amen.

A Simple Life...

There are many times in our lives that we expect God to speak to us in extraordinary, dramatic ways. Surviving a plane crash, missing a plane or train only to find that you were saved by a vending machine or your lackadaisical child who made you late, meeting your soul mate on the top of the Empire State Building a la Sleepless in Seattle, having a "near-death" experience are all ways in which we expect to see God at work or to hear Him speak to us.

There is nothing wrong with looking for or listening for God in these things because He is there. He is in all things and can be heard in all things. However, God speaking through extraordinary events tends to be the exception rather than the rule.

God tends to speak to us through small, barely noticeable events and lives. Even the birth of his Son, the saviour of the world, was an unextraordinary one. Born in a stable and laid in a manger, Jesus came into the world. Until the beginning of His ministry, Jesus was himself a rather unextraordinary person doing the will of the Father by honouring His mother and father here on Earth.

One such life was the life of my grandmother. She was far from being important by the world's standards. She lived a simple life in Assumption Parish, where she was born and raised and where she got married, gave birth to 12 children and raised them. She was a person of little account by what society would tell us.

She dedicated her life to being a devoted wife and mother; seeking only to follow the Lord's will for her. For 101 years, she was extraordinary without anyone ever noticing. Her love for the Lord and her family were at the forefront of her life. She was a member of the Lay Carmelites and devoted hours each day to praying the rosary and offering prayers of petition to our Lord for her family and friends and any other person who needed prayers. She received the sacraments as often as she could and was devoted to the Lord in every way.

She was an example of unconditional love to everyone around her. She gave of herself constantly by offering housing to a relative in need, taking care of grandchildren when it was needed, taking care of her sisters' children at times, and praying unceasingly.

Never did she pronounce a word of ill will toward another, and she was generous with her time and her love. Through her life and her love, my grandmother's 118 direct descendants as well as everyone with whom she came into contact were shown the example of how to love and be loved and how to live a full and glorious life according to the will of the Father in Heaven.

In the end, she passed on to the Father in the same fashion she lived her life: surrounded by her family, with love, with devotion, and without question. As he called her name, she answered joyously and with quiet resignation to His will, not unlike the mother of our Lord. Her life of humility, love, and resignation to the Father's will reflects that of the Blessed Virgin. It's no surprise that she was called to join our Father in Heaven on the Feast day of the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.

An example to us all, my grandmother has touched the lives of so many, and her impact will continue to be felt for years and generations to come. Hopefully, we will pass on the example that she set for us during her long, fulfilling, profound, yet simple life.