Poem of the Week CI

Fireflies in the Garden

Robert Frost

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,

And here on earth come emulating flies,

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart)

Achieve at times a very star-like start.

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

It's my grandmother's birthday today. When I called to wish her a happy birthday she told me, "Tonight you need to have a drink for me."

Well, I can't tonight, but instead, here's one of my favorite pictures from Christmas 2006.

Grandma Costeira, better known as "Black-headed Grandma"

Psalm 110:4

After praying the rosary with the Schultz family in high school I adopted their tradition of praying this prayer at the end of each decade:

God, our Father, please send us holy priests, all for the Sacred and Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, all for the sorrowful and immaculate heart of Mary, in union with Saint Joseph.

God is so good. He answers this prayer! He has blessed me with such great priests who constantly work to love God and love His people. What amazing witnesses! I praise God for the holy priests in my life who have chosen to radically live out God's love for His Bride, the Church.

Homesick

As you can see in the picture above, I am having a great time at FOCUS New Staff Training in Champaign, IL, but after 4 weeks (and with 2 more to go) I am definitely beginning to feel a little homesick. Here are just a *few people I miss a lot...

Holy Nashville roommates

(why don't we have a recent picture together?)

Amazing Auburn friends

My adorable parents

My silly sisters

Sweet Chad Michael

I miss you all a lot, but I am praying for you.

*I would like to acknowledge honorable mentions for this homesick post: Natasha (+Brett and Katherine), Ha Cha, and all others, that by some great oversight of my own have been omitted.

Poem of the Week C

In honor of Father's Day, the prayer Our Lord prayed to His Father, one of the greatest poems ever written:

Our Father

Jesus Christ from Matthew 6

Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Have a Listen 16.0

I have gotten feedback from many of my blog followers that I am not personal enough with the things I post. Well, here's another generic series post, yep the ones you guys grumble about, (see: "Poem of the Week..." and "Have a Listen...") with a twist.

It's personal. Don't believe me? Have a listen.

Poem of the Week XCIX

Warm Summer Sun

Mark Twain

Warm summer sun,

Shine kindly here,

Warm southern wind,

Blow softly here.

Green sod above,

Lie light, lie light.

Good night, dear heart,

Good night, good night.

The Coronation

"A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars."

Revelation 12:1

My favorite mystery of the Rosary is the Coronation (the Crowning of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth). I love it! I think I find it particularly great because there's something inside of me, no matter how tough I act, that has just always wanted to be a princess. I have this one friend who had a lot of princess things as we were growing up. One of the things I remember about her house is playing the game "Pretty Pretty Princess" over and over. I really loved it because I got to wear sparkly jewelry and pretend I was a princess.

When we got older she had a sticker on her car that said, "Auburn Princess" (I think). I have always admired the confidence of women who were aware of their relation to the Father and said things like, "I'm a princess because I'm a daughter of the King."

Well, I think this is why I love the Coronation so much. Mary is crowned our Queen Mother, and I am reminded of my identity as a princess. In Mary's crowning I am reminded of my own destiny, "to receive the unfading crown of glory," as Saint Peter promises in his First Letter.

There is something really beautiful and innocent about a young girl's desire to be a princess. She doesn't seek ambition. She doesn't desire wealth. She desires to be splendidly arrayed, but not so that she can rule over others. She longs to be looked on with admiration. She longs to be beautiful in body and soul, content to be loved perfectly and unconditionally. She longs to be blameless, spotless, radiant, as she stands before her Lord and Lover.

This Spring I had the privilege of singing in a friend's wedding with my lovely sisters. The responsorial psalm was selected from the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. My sister Amanda sang beautifully, and I must admit every time she sang I could not help but cry thinking about how our destiny is Mary's. It went a little something like this:

R. The queen stands at your right hand arrayed in gold.

V1. The queen takes her place at your right hand in gold of Ophir.

V2. Hear, O daughter, and see; turn your ear, forget your people and your father's house.

V3. So shall the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord.

V4. They are borne in with gladness and joy; they enter the palace of the king.

Beautiful! Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Earth, pray for us.

Regina caeli, laetare, alleluia:

Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,

Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,

Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.

Guade et laetare, Virgo Maria, alleluia.

Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia.

Have a Listen 15.0

I am inspired by my sweet friend Ross totally calling me out on his blog the other day. Yes, this was my favorite song when I was a child, and yes, it is highly inspirational. Whenever you are having troubles, just do as Cookie Monster does here. Go ahead, have a listen (and watch)...

Special note to children: This is not a good way to learn grammar.

Please note Cookie's eyes throughout the video.

Poem of the Week XCVIII

In honor of a sweet friend from high school getting married and my grandparents' anniversary:

Most Like an Arch This Marriage

John Ciardi

Most like an arch—an entrance which upholds

and shores the stone-crush up the air like lace.

Mass made idea, and idea held in place.

A lock in time. Inside half-heaven unfolds.

Most like an arch—two weaknesses that lean

into a strength. Two fallings become firm.

Two joined abeyances become a term

naming the fact that teaches fact to mean.

Not quite that? Not much less. World as it is,

what’s strong and separate falters. All I do

at piling stone on stone apart from you

is roofless around nothing. Till we kiss

I am no more than upright and unset.

It is by falling in and in we make

the all-bearing point, for one another’s sake,

in faultless failing, raised by our own weight.