A glimmer of the splendor

I'm sorry I haven't been posting much of anything lately, let alone writing anything significant. It's not that I have nothing to say or write about, it's just that I have been very busy with school and other activities lately, and properly writing a blog post can take me quite some time and requires a specific mindset. I will try and do better. :)

Anyway, the whole thing is beautiful, but here is passage from Pope John Paul II's Letter to Artists:

“Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and, reaching beneath reality’s surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery. The intuition itself springs from the depths of the human soul, where the desire to give meaning to one’s own life is joined by the fleeting vision of beauty and of the mysterious unity of things. All artists experience the unbridgeable gap which lies between the work of their hands, however successful it may be, and the dazzling perfection of the beauty glimpsed in the ardor of the creative moment: what they manage to express in their painting, their sculpting, their creating is no more than a glimmer of the splendor which flared for a moment before the eyes of their spirit.”

And so it begins...

The second semester of my freshman year of college, that is. :P

Classes begin on Tuesday, as tomorrow...well, today, lol (Monday) is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

I am not sure how I feel about it all. I am hoping my classes will be good, and I really hope they will be better than last semester. -___-

I know that I will really have to work in my French class. I am hoping it will not take me long to brush up on my French skills, rusty after being neglected and unused for an entire summer and semester. :/ But hard work is required for mastery of the language. As far as I can tell, the class I am in is approximately at the level of my senior year of high school French class. Only more challenging, probably. Of course, if I need help, I know I can always get tutoring or something. I can do this! God help me.

I am also taking a Latin 101 class. You would think this would help with my French somehow. ;) I am looking forward to greatly adding to my smatterings of Latin knowledge, which is just that -- some words here and there, from singing many, many songs in Latin and being a Catholic interested in such things. I know nothing of verb conjugation, grammar, or anything in Latin, so this will be interesting! xD

Wednesday evening I leave with some other students as part of Loyola Students for Life/Campus Ministry's trip to the March for Life 2010 in Washington, D.C. I've never been before, so I hope it will be a great experience! Please pray for a safe trip both ways and for safe days there. :)

I am struggling again, somewhat similar to the beginning of the year, with homesickness. 5 weeks at home and now I feel weird being back here, as much as I like certain aspects of being here. Somehow, there is grace in this. Lord, train my eyes that they might see Thy workings in all things. Amen.

I also recently stumbled across more info on the disaster in Haiti - to be honest I haven't paid attention that closely, knowing without too many facts that the suffering and damage are profound. I hurt anyway. But this was more with regards to damage to the Church there, and my heart broke even more and tears welled up in my eyes.

The historic cathedral in Port au Prince has been destroyed, the archbishop and the chancery staff have died in the disaster. The seminary has been destroyed – the seminarians and their instructors have died. Catholic schools, hospitals and orphanages have been destroyed.

*taken from Will You Hear the Cry of the Poor in Haiti?

Oh, God, how You must weep! In Your Passion You suffer and weep with Your people of Haiti.

How cruel Mother Nature, cast into disharmony since the Fall, can be. Especially to the world's poorest! Oh, Satan, see the pain thou hast wrought? As much as my heart weeps, I pray and I rest in thinking upon the words of the Blessed Virgin at Fátima:

"In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph."

Amen. (so be it)

Random thoughts

Well, time for another post, methinks! But what to say? I have many ideas, but it would be silly of me to swamp my blog with them all at once. I just hope I don't forget them all...

This one might just be random thoughts. Which is okay. ^_^

My days here at home are fast disappearing before I return to school in Chicago. Part of me is ready to have something to do, lol, and still another part of me is nervous. I never know what to expect, and after last semester, I am trying not to get my hopes up too much. If everything goes well, then I shall be pleasantly surprised. There is one class I am looking forward to, though, and do not expect it to let me down. I pray it doesn't.

Here I could easily rant about something, but I think I shall save that for another day.

I'm not really used to having a blog anymore. I used to keep up my blog on MySpace pretty well, before the number of friends I had on Facebook far outnumbered MySpace. I recently checked - I haven't logged in to my MySpace since October 11, 2009. Wow. o_O

I hope I am faithful with this one. I think it might be good for me.

Tomorrow I get to get up way earlier than I am used to right now, as I get to go to the dentist for a check-up at 11am. woot. xD ahaha. I always hate that, I feel like telling them to get out of my face! But if all goes well, it should only take about half an hour.

That was certainly random. Hmm.

I really don't know what else to say right now. :/ I know that will improve in time, as I grow accustomed to having a blog...

I am currently reading a beautiful book, Maurice and Thérèse: The Story of a Love. It contains the correspondence between St. Thérèse of Lisieux and a struggling seminarian. It is a wonderful book and I encourage you all to read it! It will change you, I promise. Perhaps later I will comment more on it.

I guess that's all for now. I feel like this was a lame post, nothing very profound or observant in it or anything. Ah, well. I guess they can't all be like that, can they? ;)

Many blessings to you.