Cinque Terre = Beauty

Every semester, as part of the Austrian program, Franciscan takes the students on a 10-day pilgrimage to Rome and Assisi. However, this semester, with the resignation of Pope Benedict, we were given three days off of class before the pilgrimage to attend the final papal audience. I personally did not end up going to the audience, but instead spent those days in Cinque Terre, Italy. 

It was quite the adventure. I traveled there with two friends I really didn't know too well at the beginning of the trip. I also didn't know much about Cinque Terre. It was my first experience on an overnight train. But before I knew it, we were off. 

Vernazza, Cinque Terre

There is a lot I could tell you about this trip, but what I would really like to share are the ways I encountered beauty in this place. 

If you are unfamiliar, Cinque Terre is a cluster of five villages on the Italian Riviera. They are extremely picturesque, and you are even able to hike from town to town if you so desire. You not only see the beautiful coastline, but you are also surrounded by gorgeous mountains. I'm convinced that it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. But this beauty came in two main ways.

1. Nature. As I said above, I am convinced this is one of the most beautiful places on earth. With mountains all around, the shimmering blue/green water of the sea as far as the eye can see, red/orange/yellow buildings in the little rugged and friendly villages, the smell of salt water in the air, much warmer temperatures than the tundra that has been Austria this semester, the beauty was overwhelming. Beauty of this magnitude points so clearly and directly to God, the Creator and Master Artist of it all. It amazes me that He would create such natural beauty just for our enjoyment. One of the afternoons we were there, we were able to do a two hour hike between the villages, and my breath was taken away. It was impossible to not praise the Lord in such beauty!

my wonderful travel companions :) 

2. People. As incredible as the natural beauty was, the beauty of those I encountered and came into contact with was so much deeper. I am learning that you can visit anywhere in the world, but what really makes the difference is the connection you make with people. With or without words, my little encounters with people are going to be what I remember most about the trips I have been on. Our last night in Cinque Terre, we ended up having dinner with a family from Missouri that we randomly met on the street. We had been talking with them and so we just decided to eat with them. It was amazing to be able to share stories with and get to know a family I didn’t know before coming and very well may never see again in my life. We met a girl who has lived in Italy her entire life on the train who is studying to be a translator. We helped her practice her English while hearing about her life and she was really an inspiration to us. She knew something like four languages and still wanted to learn more. We went to daily Mass in one of the villages and after Mass one of the women who knew just a little English showed us around the town and talked to us the best she could. Sometimes it is the little encounters that make all the difference.

They do not even come close to doing it justice, but I hope some of the pictures I included help you experience on a small scale the beauty that I was overwhelmed with in this place. I would also like to encourage you to notice the little encounters. In those small moments - the checkout line at the grocery store or the quick hello to those you pass - you can experience true beauty. See the beauty. See Christ. 

our first view of the sea from the train 

a view from our hike

Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre

The Common Journey

Happy Easter!! Or as they say in Italy, Buona Pasqua!

 

In the past month and a half, I have had the opportunity to travel around Italy, including Cinque Terre twice, Siena, Rome twice, Assisi, Florence, Montichiari, Padua, and Venice. I am so grateful for the chance to experience these places!

I have encountered beauty beyond what I could have ever imagined.

The next series of blog posts are going to be a sort of recounting of the ways in which I have encountered beauty in each of these places. I have truly been impacted by what I have experienced and I do wish to share that with you.

What I am coming to understand is that if you do not allow yourself to be changed and impacted by what you experience, if you do not allow your horizon to be expanded, if you do not allow your heart to be opened to encounter the Heart of Christ in even the smallest ways, there is no point to traveling around and seeing new places.

Without this openness to change, what would be the point?

To be able to say that you have so many stamps in your passport book? To be able to post pictures of yourself on facebook at famous landmarks? To be able to say that you’ve been to dozens of countries?

If that’s how I viewed this opportunity to spend a semester studying and traveling around Europe, I would say I have missed the point.

This world is filled with so much beauty. In creation. In people. In the little things. But why is that?

To draw us back to our Creator. God has given us His creation, has created a truly beautiful world with irreplaceable people, to remind us of why we’re here on this earth in the first place.

We’re all on a journey; a journey towards His Heart and a journey towards Heaven.

We must allow the people and places we encounter to change us. We must allow them to draw our hearts back to God. And we must share our experiences with each other. We are not meant to keep encounters with beauty, truth, and goodness to ourselves.

And this, my dear sisters and brothers, is why I wish to share with you my experiences of the past month.

Mary, Model of Femininity

I would just like to share with you a little bit about my Lenten journey that I am going on during this liturgical season. I mention it for two reasons: 

1. It will keep me accountable. I tend to get a little bit lazy as Lent goes on, but I don’t want that to happen this year. 

2. This message is important for all my sisters in Christ.

The days of giving up only television or sweets are over for me as far as Lent is concerned. There is absolutely nothing wrong with these penitential practices, but I feel like we can really use Lent to go even deeper than that. And so I am approaching Lent a little bit differently now. I am focusing on a theme, and one that I really need to dive deeper in.

Authentic Femininity.

That’s right, I’m becoming a feminist for Lent! But not in the sense that is typical of our society these days. I’m becoming a feminist in that I am going on a journey; to discover true and authentic femininity. I am a woman, and I don’t think I can truly live out my dignity as a woman to the fullest extent if I don’t take time to dive into what authentic femininity actually means. I refuse to accept the definition of woman that our society hurls at us. I am not liberated by my “independence” and “choices.” No, my only freedom – freedom to love – comes from the truth of Christ. The freedom to love and live according to the dignity of womanhood that God has given me. And that is the freedom that I claim today.

http://www.focusequip.org/

When I think of a woman who is truly feminine, I instantly think of the Blessed Mother. Mary is SUCH a BABE! But it occurred to me, she can TEACH us what true femininity is. There is truly no better model of what it means to be a true woman, why wouldn’t we try to learn from her?

And this, my friends, is where my Lenten journey comes in. I have embarked upon a journey to attempt to learn this true femininity from Mary. Through reflecting on the mysteries of Christ’s life from Mary’s perspective in the Rosary, I hope to learn a little bit more about what it means to truly live my dignity as a woman. To not settle for what society tells me about womanhood.  To learn what it means to be a daughter of Mary instead of a daughter of Eve. To radically choose a different path.

 

But the thing is, I think all internal changes involve the external as well. We are body and soul. I feel that my internal journey should have an external manifestation. So as I journey with Mary, I am going to daily express my femininity in ways such as wearing skirts or accessorizing. When wearing a skirt rather than a pair of jeans, you act differently.  If I am serious about this journey, I need to dive into it.

In the coming weeks, expect to hear little nuggets of truth or insights I gain from this journey.

Mother Mary, teach me what it means to truly be a woman. 

Jezu Ufam Tobie

Wow, I have not been very good about blogging this semester! It has been over a month now since my last post… But that doesn’t mean things have been less crazy over here in Austria, because things have been so busy! Let’s see, I have visited Vienna, Rome, Prague, and Poland. And next week I will be heading back to Italy and then Rome and Assisi! Time just flies.

I would however, like to share in a little bit more detail about the pilgrimage to Poland that I just returned from and what I learned while I was there.

First things first. I went on this trip as a pilgrim.  Rather than see Poland as a tourist, I carried intentions with me on this journey and so when I ran into uncomfortable situations I was able to offer my small sufferings up for those intentions. I carried those intentions with me every step of our journey. But I didn’t carry them alone. I had three companions to help me on my journey. Pay attention, I will mention them! J

Our journey included visiting the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Auschwitz and Birkenau, the city of Krakow, the shrine of Divine Mercy, and Wadowice.

Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa: so unbelievably beautiful. We were able to arrive in time for the unveiling of the image of the Black Madonna, and this was a sight to behold. Mary was so beautiful, as was the entire shrine. It only seemed fitting to me that our beautiful Mother would have such a beautiful shrine!

Auschwitz/Birkenau: To say that these places were difficult to walk through would be a complete understatement. Words do not describe. It was unbelievably numbing to walk through a place where so much death and horror had taken place, less than 100 years ago. But the thing is, God’s mercy is endless. Right in the heart of Auschwitz, right when it was getting to be way too much to handle, we were hit in the face with God’s hope and mercy. That is when we arrived at the cell of St. Maximilian Kolbe. (If you are unfamiliar with him, he was a priest who gave up his life for another prisoner in Auschwitz, but there is so much more to his story, so look him up!) To have such a witness to hope, right in the middle of all that horror, just screamed to the world that love is SO much stronger than death. Love always conquers.

Shrine of Divine Mercy: How incredible it was to go from such a place of death to the complete source of life: God’s mercy. I felt like my soul was refreshed in the mercy of God. While we there, we were able to venerate the relics of and to ask for the intercession of St. Faustina (again, look her up if you haven’t heard of her!), who was such a witness to the power of God’s mercy! Death and destruction are present in this life, but God’s mercy can conquer all! It truly is endless!

Krakow/Wadowice: The best part about these two places was being able to walk in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II. Wadowice is his hometown and he was the bishop of Krakow for part of his life. He lived through the horror of the Holocaust. He knew how bad this world can get, how much it can seem that evil has won. But as he went through his ministry and his life, his proclamation to the world was clear: Be not afraid! This didn’t come from his being naive about the world and what’s going on. This came from seeing what the world is offering and recognizing that we are meant for so much more.

In conclusion,

God’s mercy is endless.

Love conquers all.

Jesus, I trust in You.

Our Lady of Czestochowa,

St. Maximilian Kolbe,

St. Faustina,

Blessed John Paul II,

PRAY FOR US.

Austria is beautiful!

This blog for the next four months might become a little bit of a travel blog...but not your typical travel blog. For those of you who do not know, I am studying abroad in beautiful Austria this semester! Rather than bore you with all the details I could share, I plan on trying to record the beauty I encounter as I "travel the world."
As I write this post, I am sitting in the Kartause, which is an 800 year old former Carthusian monastery, at the foot of the Alps. I arrived here four days ago and I still can't believe the fact that this is seriously my home for the next four months. So unreal.
I don't really have anything profound to say with this post, but I would like to share with you some of the beauty that is the Kartause... I think the best way to do this would be to just share some of the photos I have taken. It has been snowy since we arrived here, and last night we got at least a foot more of snow! It is seriously a winter wonderland. I hope you enjoy the pictures! :)

The Kartause

Another view of the Kartause, with
the mountains in the background 

The view from our window

Also from our window 

Beauty in Singleness

Relationships.

It seems that everything in our society is focused on them. Commonly, happiness itself is linked to relationship status. And honestly, this makes sense because the way we were created as human beings is for communion. We are created to be in relationship with other people. However, sometimes the desire for a romantic relationship when one is single can be really difficult. It is easy to look around at all the people in relationships, and wish you have what they have. At times there is definitely a degree of loneliness in being single. Right now, I would consider myself in a period of waiting. I am not in a relationship and clearly do not know who I am meant to marry. And I am at peace with that, considering I am only 20. I definitely have plenty of time and do not need to rush anything. But more importantly, I have high standards for myself and when it comes to these standards, I am not willing to compromise. I will and am content waiting until the proper and suitable man comes into my life. But sometimes this period of waiting can get to me. Sometimes I feel lonely.

And clearly, based on the number of songs written about it and the conversations I have had with other women in the same situation, I am not alone in this. Others feel the same exact way.

I have seen this pattern with friends in the past, that during a time of loneliness in singleness, it is so easy for girls to settle for relationships that they really shouldn't be in. Although a girl may have an idea of what she wants her future husband to be like, if she is feeling lonely, she is much more likely to enter into a relationship with a man of whom she has no intention of even considering marrying.

Photo Credit: madeinHisimage.org

But what most people don't realize, is that there is a very unique opportunity and beauty in singleness, that is not present at any other stage of life. The thing is, as a Catholic, we believe that every moment can be an opportunity to grow in holiness. And so it struck me the other day - even this moment of waiting and loneliness - can be used for good. Redemptive suffering involves taking something negative - suffering - and uniting it to the suffering of Christ and offering it up for a greater good. And I realized, through a conversation with a household sister of mine, that even this waiting can be used for a greater good.

The purpose of dating is to find your spouse. The purpose of marriage is to get your spouse to heaven. One day when I am married, in order to help my spouse get to heaven, I am going to have to sacrifice much and love much. But what makes me think that this love and sacrifice for my spouse will be a switch that I can simply turn on on my wedding day? I don't see any reason why I can't start practicing this now. After all, I am dealing with the eternity of the soul of my beloved. This takes serious preparation. And so I realized that in these moments when I get impatient, when my heart aches for a romantic relationship, when I feel lonely - I can offer them up for my future husband. Rather than increase my loneliness by watching sad romantic movies or blasting Taylor Swift, or even worse entering into a relationship that I shouldn't be in, out of love for my future husband I can allow this suffering to be offered for him, his needs, and most importantly, his salvation. I can face this cross with radical sacrifice and love. Offer it up for him. And not only that, but as my household sister pointed out to me, this small sacrifice I make now, could very seriously be what he needs at this very moment. My small sacrifices can be making a difference for him even though I don't know him yet! How cool is that!

I have no intention of settling for less than my worth just to appease this fleeting time of loneliness. And my dear sisters in Christ, I am urging you, please do not settle either. You are worth so much more. Use this time and this ache wisely. It is a beauty. It is a blessing. It is a gift.

"I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem...that you stir not up nor awaken love until it please."

                                                                                                       - Song of Songs 3:5