To be blessed...

I know, I know, after a month of hardly writing, I've put lots of little things up today. But I've been catching up, and some of the things I've come across have just been too beautiful not to share.

My friend Faye, of the ever challengingly honest posts wrote a post in poem form recently - a meditation of sorts on candles and life. I love the way Faye thinks and writes. So deep and personal, and yet integrating her coursework, the things she happens to be reading and listening to, whatever's been going on in her world. She used colors in this one the way she always does, and they add something to her posts. They work for her in ways they'd never work for me were I to attempt such a thing. You can find the whole post here, but, I'm going to steal just a few lines from it, and put them on my own blog - giving her credit of course - because they caught me where I'm at today, as I work to process the impact of five weeks away from home, in the midst of intense situations.

John says:
"Jesus breathed on his disciples"
before his ascent-
"a blessing".
We generally avoid being breathed on.
Breath is stinky,
wet,
contagious,
a violation of our personal space.
Maybe we need to be violated
to be blessed.

In Honor of Valentine's Day...

In honor of the day, I thought I'd share one picture from my recent trip to Rome. This, my friend's is the purported skull of St. Valentine. Just in case you were unclear that it was St. Valentine from the sign nearby labeling it as such, make sure you note the lovely piece of tape across the skull, making sure you know just exactly whose bones you're looking at!



Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Bless the Darkness

Was reading through some archived posts of mine, and came across this quote, which I thought I'd pass along all over again, because it is speaking to places I have found myself over the course of the last month.

Bless the darkness around you.
That’s why you’re a poet.
As the night presses inward
you radiate beams of light.

Voznesekií

Pictures

So, I just spent probably 2 hours putting a bunch of my photos from the trip up on facebook albums... If you're interested in seeing them, you can either look me up on facebook, OR, follow the links below.

Malta 1
Malta 2
Malta 3
Malta 4
Malta 5
Malta 6
Malta 7

Rome 1
Rome 2
Rome 3
Rome 4

London

Suffering Amidst Gemstones

Was catching up on my blog reading this morning and came across this post.

Loved the dream this guy had, and the image that came from it.

Reminded me of conversations with a friend over the course of my trip. Reminded me of Lent, and ducking my head in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome as a Priest sprinkled ashes across my head, saying (in Italian, I think) some variation of, "Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return. Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Something so deep and profound in that moment shared with two friends and hundreds of strangers. Something I am still struggling to bring words to.

Mostly Asleep

Just wanted to let you all know that contrary to my first night home, when I went to bed at 9:30, slept until 1:30 am, was up from 1:30-4:00, and then slept from 4:00 until 8:30 or so, last night I fell asleep reading somewhere around 10 or 10:30, and stayed in bed, mostly asleep until 7:30 this morning. Jet lag is slowly going away... very, very glad for that!