Oh Hai Internet

My poor neglected blog. I always have these dreams of posting more than once a millennium, and those dreams last right up until I sit down to write a new post and end up getting distracted by Tumblr. Such is life.

I haven’t been a zombie these past couple of months, though. Thankfully, it’s been more of a “living so much that I don’t have time to write it down” situation. And let me tell ya, that is a great situation to be in. I went on a weeklong vacation to my hometown, just because. It was lovely to spend time with my family on a non-holiday. We went to the beach. We spent time with my sister. I got to celebrate my best friend’s birthday IN PERSON. That hasn’t happened in ages! It was great.
Then came the novena to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (who I have a big devotion to) and the feast day! I attend a Carmelite parish (Little Flower Basilica FTW!!) so it was a solemnity for us. The Mass was glorious, and the dinner afterwards was great!

The altar all decked out for Mass.

Carmelite Sisters! More about them later.

Ora pro nobis, Regina, decor Carmeli!

I received some major graces during that novena. I mean, I was just happy because one of my favorite Internet peeps said he would pray it with me (and he did!). But Our Lady interceded for me in a big way and I finally feel like I have a clear path cut out for me for the time being. God is so good.

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I didn’t read quite as much as I had been earlier in the year, but here are two of my recent favorites.

Epic. I saw the movie ages and ages ago, but as a card-carrying member of Team The Book Is Always Better Than The Movie, how could I resist picking this up and blazing through it? It did not disappoint. It’s not a short book (my copy had over 1000 pages) but it’s definitely a page turner. I carried the book with me everywhere, reading snatches whenever I could, because I just HAD to know what was going to happen to Scarlett next.
And can I have a second to talk about Scarlett? Holy crap. Book Scarlett is like 9727182637 times more infuriating than Movie Scarlett, and let me tell ya….I loved it! She’s just one of those characters you love to hate, and I kept having to suppress audible reactions to things she said or did. Definitely recommend!

I’d never read any Merton before, other than random quotes floating around the Internet. The only thing I knew about him was that he’d converted and then joined a Trappist monastery in Kentucky. And for some reason I associated him with sketchy theology??? (I don’t know why?) Anyway. I enjoyed this book. He’s pretty quotable, and has a way of writing that occasionally makes you go, “Huh. Hmmm. Yeah. Yeah!” The book is a bit slow in the beginning when he’s talking about his childhood, but picks up after he gets older. I liked it a lot, so much so, that I checked out “The Sign of Jonas,” which is his journal from his first years in the monastery, from the library the other day.

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I’ve started looking around at different orders here in San Antonio. Nothing too intense, just sort of feeling out a few that caught my eye. I did go and visit the awesome Carmelites of the Divine Heart of Jesus! I’d actually never heard of them before the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, but after I saw them at Mass on the feast day, I asked around and got some info. It was soooo much fun, and they are definitely on my short list of communities to look into further!

Please keep praying for me! As you can probably tell, I’ve decided to go full steam ahead into looking at religious life. So if you think of me, please ask for continued clarity in discernment, por favor. 🙂

Until next time!

Random Update of Random

Hey, y’all! Happy Easter! I hope you are still partying, because I totally am. Alleluia!

I was lucky enough to get to go home for Easter weekend, and that’s always, always super fun. I spent my time in the RGV eating, talking, going to Mass, talking, sleeping, talking, flying kites, and did I mention talking? Seriously, though, my family is an Catholic extrovert’s dream.

How I spent my Easter vacation.

I finished both The Namesake and Between Heaven and Mirth. Real quick about those two books: I didn’t realize that I’d already seen the original talk on which Between Heaven and Mirth is based, and while I enjoyed it in book form, I feel like I would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t seen the talk first. Such is life. I still highly recommend it, though! The Namesake was good, too! I now want to READ ALL THE JHUMPA LAHIRI BOOKS.

In case you live under a rock, just letting you know that this happened yesterday:

So epic. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch it because of work, but I saw plenty of pictures and a couple of news clips. Also, my aunt and uncle were there (I KNOWWWWW), so I’m looking forward to their descriptions! I was talking to a friend about Pope St. John XXIII, and we both agreed that 1) we know almost nothing about him and 2) we definitely need to get to know him better! So if you have any favorite quotes or pictures or whatever, send them my way!

I promise to try to blog more! I’ve had lots of thoughts knocking around in my head, and I definitely need to be more disciplined about setting them down somewhere instead of letting them evaporate in my head. Easter resolution!

I think I’ve pretty much caught you all up on my life now. Have a lovely day!