leaning from my saint for the year...

Happy Feast Day of Saint Joseph today and CONGRATULATIONS to Amy and Bryan on the birth of their son, Dominic!

amazima

I know I've posted about this before, but I want to share it again for anyone who might not have seen the previous posts.

The blog of 20 year old Katie Davis -- The Journey-- of her life and work serving children in Uganda is a story like no other. I've also recently been following the blog of a team of people who are Joining the Journey.

Amazima Ministries is the organization she has founded. Her story is amazing, as are the stories of the children that she serves.

Have a blessed Sunday!

the other news about stem cells...

I receive a daily e-mail update from the American Medical Association, and this was the headline news as of March 2, 2009. (This news may have been a bit overshadowed by the other news about stem cells that broke a week later.)

Scientists may have created promising alternative to embryonic stem cells, studies indicate.

The Washington Post (3/2, A5, Stein) reports that two teams of scientists "have developed what appears to be a safer way to create a promising alternative to embryonic stem cells." The work that is being detailed in two Nature papers is expected "to have a massive impact on this field." It also "comes at a politically sensitive moment" -- the scientific community is "anxiously waiting for President Obama to follow through on his promise to lift restrictions on federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells." Some who oppose "such a move immediately pointed to the work as the latest evidence" that an alternative is plausible, making the issue a moot point.

For years, scientists have scrambled to develop ways to generate "stem cell treatments without using embryos," BBC News (3/1) added. "In 2007, teams in Japan and the US managed to genetically modify skin cells to be pluripotent." These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) were to become "a new source of stem cells for use in research." But "the technique used viruses to genetically modify the cells." This "Trojan horse" method, according to AFP (3/2), essentially "modifies their DNA in such a way that they cannot be given to patients without boosting the risk of cancer." Now, researchers have found a way to circumvent that problem.

In fact, "the teams in Edinburgh and Toronto had been working separately on iPS cells, until Andras Nagy from Toronto had a chance meeting with Keisuke Kaji, head of the Edinburgh group," the UK's Financial Times (3/2, Cookson) points out. "They found that each had independently solved half the problem." Dr. Kaji's team "discovered how to deliver the four crucial reprogramming genes without using a virus," while Dr. Nagy and his lab mates at the Mount Sinai Hospital were "able to remove all trace of the added genes from the new iPS cells, which avoids disrupting the cells' own genetic machinery."

They were able to do so by using "a snippet of DNA from, of all things, a cabbage looper moth, which delivers the genes needed to reprogram cells into stem cells," the Canadian Press (3/2) reports. More specifically, the "team used a jumping gene, a mobile piece of DNA also known as a transposon," the Globe and Mail (3/1, McIlroy) added. Apparently, "in moths, corn, and other species, these genes hop from chromosome to chromosome, inserting themselves randomly into the genome." During the current experiment, the team "inserted the four reprogramming genes into a jumping gene from a moth," and later "put the jumping gene and its cargo into a skin cell." Eventually, the "jumping gene cut and pasted the stem cell genes into a chromosome in the skin cell. The scientists were then able to coax the skin cell back to its embryonic state, giving it the superhero-like ability to turn into many types of cells."

And, "once the genes had done their job, the scientists removed them, leaving the cells healthy and intact," the UK's Guardian (3/1, Sample) added. A member of the "lobby group Comment on Reproductive Ethics" maintains that there are "some scientists who like to hold on to what they've got, but" she doesn't "think people are going to waste time on embryonic stem cells any more."

Similarly, scientific "experts say the elegant discovery will quickly be adopted by labs around the world and will accelerate further advances in biology's hottest field," according to the Toronto Star (3/1, Ogilvie, Hall). Alan Trounson, "president of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine," said, "It's a very innovative way of delivering the gene products that are needed for reprogramming adult cells into embryonic stem cell-like cells. Well done to the Nagy group."

To recap: Induced pluripotent stem cells (created from genetically "reprogramming" an adult cell back to its pluripotent stem cell stage) were first produced in 2006 from mouse cells and in 2007 from human cells. As of this month, safer methods of this technology have been discovered.

Why is this significant? "Scientists have demonstrated that they can reprogram ordinary human skin skills into pluripotent stems cells which will not cause tumors or rejection. There are several ethical stem cell research alternatives that already have successfully treated thousands of patients. By using adult sources of stem cells (including umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and placental sources) it has been possible to treat, and sometimes even cure, numerous maladies and pathologies, from spinal cord injury to cardiac disease, pediatric brain tumors to cerebral palsy, to the widely-known successes in blood diseases." -National Catholic Bioethic Center

I was very struck by two OpEd pieces today, one in the Washington Post and one in the L.A. Times, that discuss recent decisions by President Obama regarding embryonic stem cell research. Mr. Krauthammer (the author of the Washington Post piece) sat for five years on the President's Council for Bioethics which he explains "consisted of scientists, ethicists, theologians, philosophers, physicians -- and others (James Q. Wilson, Francis Fukuyama and me among them) of a secular bent not committed to one school or the other."

As a member of the council he had "long argued... that, contrary to the Bush policy, federal funding should be extended to research on embryonic stem cell lines derived from discarded embryos in fertility clinics." He now, though, believes that the new executive orders have gone too far. What drives his reaction? I think it makes for an interesting read.


Okay, I must get to the library.... time to study biochemistry. If you'd like to know more about the Catholic Church's response to embryonic stem cell research, I can recommend a few resources:

Declaration of the Production and the Scientific and Theraputic Use of Embryonic Stem Cells
Practical Problems with Embryonic Stem Cells
Adult vs. Embryonic Stem Cells Educational Video

"If human embryonic stem cell research does not make you at least a little bit uncomfortable, you have not thought about it enough." -Dr. James Thomson, the pioneer of embryonic stem cells

Emmanuel's Gift

If you are going to rent/buy/watch one movie this year please consider this one...




Emmanuel's Gift.

I just watched it and am speechless.

Gift yourself the gift...


Also... regarding the last post (the one below)... I humbly ask for your prayers for this man. (Please pray especially on March 19th if you can.) Thank you.

"The ultimate measure of a man or woman is not where he or she stands in moments of comfort and convenience; It's where they stand in times of challenges and controversy." - Osagyefuo Amoatio Ofori (Akyem Abuakwa, Ghana)

"Any country that accepts abortion is the poorest of the poor."
-Mother Teresa

Today (Wednesday) at noon there is going to be a presentation at the med school on first and second trimester abortions. I did some research on the presenter tonight, and found his testimony from 2004 when he testified on behalf of Planned Parenthood in their attempt to overturn the ban on partial birth abortions. (Planned Parenthood vs. Ashcroft, April 6, 2004.) (Warning: it's graphic.)

Excerpts from Government's cross-examination:
DAY FIVE: Tuesday, April 6, 2004

Q. Now, you have encountered situations in which you are performing a D&E and the fetus is removed intact except that the head of the fetus gets stuck at the internal cervical os, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. When that has happened you have preceeded with the D&E procedure in one of three ways, correct?

A. If you can tell me the three ways I would be happy to.

Q. One method would be to pull on the baby so that the head breaks off from the rest of the body; is that right?

A. Yes.

Q. And then, you will go inside the uterus with the forceps and remove the head?

A. Correct.

Q. The next method is that you would use scissors to puncture the base of the skull?

A. Correct.

Q. And then, you will stick a suction cannula into the opening and drain the brain tissue, and then you will have the head come out.

A. Did you say "Drain the brain tissue"?

Q. Then, you will drain the brain tissue?

A. Yes.
~
Q. And the third method is that you take a crushing instrument, put that instrument inside the cervical os, crush the baby's head, and pull the head through the cervix, correct?

A. That would be the third possible, although physically that would virtually never be the case. It
would be one of the first two. Those are my three options, but it would be one of the first two that I could realistically do.
~
Q. Doctor, if a woman's cervix was so dilated the fetus could be delivered in intact it would not be necessary to collapse the skull because the fetus could pass through the cervix, right?

A. Correct.

Q. But you would not allow the fetus to pass intact if the fetus were at or about 24 weeks in gestation, correct?

A. Correct.

Q. Because if the fetus were close to 24 weeks, and you were performing a transvaginal surgical abortion you would be concerned about delivering the fetus entirely intact because that might result in a live baby that may survive, correct?

A. You said I was performing an abortion, so since the objective of the abortion is to not have a live fetus, then that would be correct.

Q. In your opinion, if you were performing a surgical abortion at 23 or 24 weeks and the cervix was so dilated that the head could pass without compression, you would do whatever you needed to do in order to make sure that the live baby was not delivered, wouldn't you?

A. Whatever I needed, meaning whatever surgical procedures I needed to do as part of the procedure? Yes. Then, the answer would be: Yes.

Q. And one step you would take to avoid delivery of a live baby would to be to deliver or hold the fetus' head on the internal side of the cervical os in order to collapse the skull; is that right?

A. Yes, because the objective of my procedure is to perform an abortion.

Q. And that would ensure that you did not deliver a live baby?

A. Correct.

We have good reason to hope and to pray for conversion...

"A number of abortionists have converted to pro-life activism since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. The most famous such convert is Dr. Bernard Nathanson, co-founder of the abortion lobby NARAL. Nathanson renounced his abortion practice in the 1970s and subsequently converted to Catholicism in 1996." -Human Life International

(Read Dr. Nathanson's powerful testimony)

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

happy birthday mom and aunt lisa!!

Hi Mom,

I know you're my most faithful blog reader, so I hope that you see this on your birthday today...

Happy Birthday!!

I'm so glad that I was able to come home this weekend to celebrate your and Aunt Lisa's birthday. I hope you have a great day today, and a good week ahead too!! Talk to you soon~

love,
nicole

the birthday girls :-)

leaven

Last night at mass I heard a Gospel story -- Mark 8: 14-21-- that I don't recall ever hearing before. This passage occurs immediately after the multiplication of the bread and fish, and picks up as Jesus and his disciples get into a boat to head to the other shore...

"They (the disciples) had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He (Jesus) enjoined them, "Watch out, guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They concluded among themselves that it was because they had no bread. When he became aware of this he said to them, "Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread? Do you not yet understand or comprehend? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?"

They answered him, "Twelve."

"When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?"

They answered (him), "Seven."

He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"

As many times as I have heard the story of the loaves and the fish, I don't ever remember hearing what happened immediately after. I can almost picture the disciples looking at their one loaf of bread, and looking around at one another-- hungry and wanting something to eat. They had just helped to feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish, and now here they are with one little loaf to share among their boat.

And Jesus says, "Watch out. Guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod..."


Hearing this Gospel made me think of the lesson that my dear friend Amy teaches as a catechist to illustrate the parable in Matthew 13:33, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened."
In front of the children she mixes two batches of bread dough-- in one batch she adds a small amount of yeast. Over the course of the next few hours the children watch one loaf begin to rise and learn the lesson of how the smallest amount of leaven will effect the whole batch of dough.

The point seems to be that the 'bread' of our lives will rise in some fashion, according to the leaven that has been added. This is (I think) why Jesus tells the disciples in this rather ordinary moment as they face the reality of their hunger to guard their hearts against the wrong kind of leaven. Yep, although the smallest decisions and influences might seem to disappear into the overall story of our lives, they are in a powerful way mediating an effect that will be known in time. For better or for worse.


This morning when I woke up I had an e-mail waiting from Mrs. Skorich in which she shared with me a reflection from a devotional book "The Word Among Us" on yesterday's Gospel that helped me to understand this even more:

Twice the disciples had witnessed, twice participated in, a miracle of multiplying bread and fish (Mark 6:34-44; 8:1-10). Twice did they see Jesus satisfy everyone's physical need for food and spiritual need to know God's love and provision. Twice did they see the abundance: more bread and fish was left over than when they started. So why were they now concerned that they had only one loaf of bread?

Jesus must have confused them when he warned against the "leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15). What did those people have to do with the disciples' lack of bread? But Jesus knew that the issue wasn't a lack of bread. It was a lack of faith. Having seen two miracles in which Jesus provided for so many people, the twelve still couldn't believe that he would take care of them.

Somehow, the doubts, cynicism, and skeptical attitudes of Jesus' enemies still had inroads in the disciples' minds. Like yeast in bread dough, these attitudes threatened to expand and take over their ways of thinking. And so Jesus reminded them once more about how good he is and how eager he was to care for their needs. In effect, he was cautioning them against having too narrow a concept of what God can or wants to do.

We face a similar challenge today. Every day, we have the privilege of witnessing one of God's most amazing miracles, as plain bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Every day, we have the opportunity of being fed--nourished and sustained--by the heavenly food of the Eucharist. And yet despite this amazing truth, we still find the philosophies of the world "leavening" our minds. "Maybe God doesn't really love me all that much," we think. Or "Maybe I'll be happier if I focus only on myself and don't worry about the needs of others."

Don't fall into that trap! Today in prayer, call to mind all the ways God has worked in your life. Think about the way he comes to you in the Eucharist, always feeding you and lifting you up into his presence. He really will take care of you. He really will provide for you.

Father, fill me with your love today and carry me close to your heart. Open my eyes to see how you provide for me. Help me to see your abundant goodness all around me."


God bless you all today!
love,
nicole

a special b-day wish...

Happy Birthday Sister Rose Therese!!!

"I take delight in the day when we shall celebrate in the heavenly city."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

"Birthdays keep us childlike. They remind us that what is important is not what we do or accomplish, not what we have or who we know, but that we are, here and now. On birthdays let us be grateful for the gift of life."

- Henri Nouwen

congratulations beth and josh!

I've shared this the past two years, and can't let the day pass without sharing it again...

"For God so loVed the world,

That He gAve
His onLy
BegottEn
SoN
That whosoever
Believeth In Him
Should Not perish
But have Everlasting life"
- John 3:16

I also thought that today would be a perfect day to announce the engagement of two dear friends... congratulations Beth and Josh!! Beth, you are such a wonderful friend and I couldn't be happier for you-- Josh is such a great guy and you have both been so blessed. You're in my prayers as you prepare to be married & I can't wait for the big day!!

the happy couple :-)

Thanks Beth for sharing the engagement story too...

"Let me start off by saying that I hate surprises. When I get an idea that something is going on I can't stop thinking about it until I solve it. So when Josh suggested a few weeks ago that we go on a trip to Brown country--a place I loved as a kid-- the seed was planted. I kept trying to push it out of my head but everybody kept saying 'do you think he is going to propose?' By the time the weekend came I was freaking out. (Not that I was scared that he was going to do it, but just how he was going to do it.)

The weekend was cold but we were determined to make the best of it & headed out to Brown County State Park for some hiking. We hiked about 6 miles and it was so great to be outside, but even as we were hiking I was wondering IF Josh was going to pop the question. Every time he fell a step behind me or unzipped or zipped his coat I was freaking out and asking what is going on, what are you doing, are you ok. I am sure I was quite annoying.

After hiking we went wine tasting and to mass at a cute little church in Nashville. We then started making dinner and as soon as it was in the oven Josh mentioned that I had a present in his bag. I then became like a little kid on Christmas... As dinner was cooking he asked me to go sit on the couch and he brought me a box wrapped up in bright red sparkly paper. I looked at Josh who was semi-nervously holding a card. He gave me the card and said that I had to read the card first and what he wrote second. So I skimmed through the card and read the part where he said that the weekend before instead of going to see his friend in Illinois (like he told me) he actually went to my parent's house. The card ended 'So here it goes…' He then got out the ring (it is perfect) and asked me to marry him. I said yes and started crying. It was perfect. Only later did I find out that my entire family knew, my mom had already contacted some of my aunt and uncles and Fr. Bob already knew. There was a wide range of reactions from being glad that I finally knew (Fr. Bob) to being shocked and excited that it happened. It was so great being able to celebrate with everybody and now the real fun begins... bring on the Kitchenaid mixer!!"

happy trails...

Dream Car + Dream Job + New Adventure = One Happy Brother

Last night we were all home to help send Ryan off to his newest adventure... New Hampshire!!

It was so much fun to all be together for the day. What a gift!!! He and Christy left this morning and will be arriving to his new town tomorrow. Prayers that all goes well as they travel and as he begins his new job and settles in are most definitely welcome :-)

the new car

Jeff had to get to bed early...but here are 3/4 of us!

the packing team

At one point around midnight we decided to have fun with one of Ryan's most prized possessions... his coyboy hat. We turned it into a little contest & you decide who wins... cast your vote today!! --->> --->>

Happy Trails Ryan!!! You're the best!!!

"to frances"

"Keeping to one woman is a small price for so much as seeing one woman." -G.K. Chesteron, Orthodoxy

I went to a talk last night at the Newman center called "The Polish Pope and the Prince of Paradox (aka JPII and G.K. Chesterton) discuss Sex, Marriage, Men & Women."

Many beautiful things were shared at the talk, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass to share the letter that Chesterton wrote to Frances Blogg shortly before they were married.

The art of a good letter is something I am learning to appreciate, and this one is one of the finest I have ever read as he looks to the future with her with gratitude and wonder. I love the whole letter, but here are two of my favorite excerpts...

I have sometimes thought it would be very fine to take an ordinary house, a very poor, commonplace house in West Kensington, say, and make it symbolic. Not artistic - Heaven - O Heaven forbid... No: my idea (which is much cheaper) is to make a house... really explain its own essential meaning. Mystical or ancient sayings should be inscribed on every object, the more prosaic the object the better; and the more coarsely and rudely the inscription was traced the better. 'Hast thou sent the Rain upon the Earth?' should be inscribed on the Umbrella-Stand: perhaps on the Umbrella. 'Even the Hairs of your Head are all numbered' would give a tremendous significance to one's hairbrushes: the words about 'living water' would reveal the music and sanctity of the sink: while 'Our God is a consuming Fire' might be written over the kitchen-grate, to assist the mystic musings of the cook - Shall we ever try that experiment, dearest. Perhaps not, for no words would be golden enough for the tools you had to touch: you would be beauty enough for one house..."

And this is at the very end of the letter when (writing in third person) he describes to her the moment he met her~

Once in the course of conversation she looked straight at him and he said to himself as plainly as if he had read it in a book: 'If I had anything to do with this girl I should go on my knees to her: if I spoke with her she would never deceive me: if I depended on her she would never deny me: if I loved her she would never play with me: if I trusted her she would never go back on me: if I remembered her she would never forget me. I may never see her again. Goodbye.' It was all said in a flash: but it was all said....

Two years, as they say in the playbills, is supposed to elapse. And here is the subject of this memoir sitting on a balcony above the sea. The time, evening. He is thinking of the whole bewildering record of which the foregoing is a brief outline: he sees how far he has gone wrong and how idle and wasteful and wicked he has often been: how miserably unfitted he is for what he is called upon to be. Let him now declare it and hereafter for ever hold his peace.

But there are four lamps of thanksgiving always before him. The first is for his creation out of the same earth with such a woman as you. The second is that he has not, with all his faults, 'gone after strange women.' You cannot think how a man's self restraint is rewarded in this. The third is that he has tried to love everything alive: a dim preparation for loving you. And the fourth is--but no words can express that. Here ends my previous existence. Take it: it led me to you.

(Chesterton Day By Day is a great site for reading more of his thoughts too. The quote at the top of the page was my favorite quote from the talk last night, and is also the excerpt for my b-day. I liked the coincidence.)

med school wisdom

I'm nearly 1/2 way through with med school, and just thought I'd take a moment to post a few of my favorite things that I've heard in lecture so far...

"Sometimes language is like a scalpel-- and you should use it with the same precision." -Dr. Larry Nichols, pathologist


"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." -Dr. David Steed, vascular surgeon

"Gastric bypass surgery at a cost of $28,000 is covered by insurance. A typical nutrition visit at $50 an hour isn't. We must shift the paradigm from care that is fragmented and reactionary to care that is prevention focused, coordinated and planned." -Dr. Linda Siminerio, director of the University of Pittsburgh Diabetes Institute

More soon... including an exciting 'guest blog' from Beth!

have a great weekend--
nicole

here comes the...

...spring??

It sure feels like it today!

My roommate Cheryl and I have a few of our apartment windows open and as I type this are finishing up the last bit of un-decorating from Christmas. We said our goal was to have the tree down by February, so today was the day :-) We played the Yo-Yo ma CD as we worked, especially 'Here Comes the Sun.' She said it was a good 'transition' Christmas cd, and I agree.

Yesterday I went to the ND/Pitt basketball game with Jeff and after the game ate my first Primanti Bros. sandwhich (well, half of one) so I guess I can officially say that I live in Pittsburgh now. If you've ever wanted a sandwhich with french fries on the sandwhich (look at the picutre at the top left of their website), come to Pittsburgh and I can make sure you get one. In fact, you can even get a salad with fries on it here if that's what you want. Not kidding.

Here is a pic from the game, and a pic Cheryl and I took last night by our tree. Our apartment seems so bare now, but at least the windows are open and the sun is shining in!

'finding saint therese'

I've been wanting to post this for awhile now, and just figured out how to do it...

This is the video -- "Finding Saint Therese"-- I made for ND Vision '04 about my experience as a "Called to Witness" delegate to Rwanda with Catholic Relief Services. (ND Vision, by the way, is an awesome summer program at Notre Dame for high school students based on the lives of a few of my favorite people--> please check this program out if you are/know/love any teenagers!)

I knew before going to Rwanda in September '03 that I wanted to make a video about my experience to share the following summer at ND Vision, but it wasn't until the night before I was to share for the first time with about 200 high school students and 50 mentors in faith that it all came out. Literally. I started around 10pm (after a long day at Vision) and finished as the birds were chirping and the sun was coming up.

Danielle Rose and Michael Downs were the first to see it the next day when we did a test run in Debartolo Hall. It's hard to believe that was almost 5 years ago...

Imana aguhe umugisha,
(God bless you)
nicole


"Finding Saint Therese"

yo yo ma

I've fallen in love with Yo Yo Ma lately... this man is joy and peace personified.

I was recently given a beautiful gift of his latest CD, "Yo Yo Ma and Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace." The CD came with a documentary of the making of the music that is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time. Here is one of my favorite parts... Yo Yo Ma with James Taylor recording "Here Comes the Sun." Be ready for your heart to melt!!


And here he is at the inauguration playing "Air and Simple Gifts" arranged by John Williams with Itzhak Perlman, Anthony McGill & Gabriela Montero. Look at his joy!

life... and memories of d.c.

"The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose?"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan

(miraculous medal chapel, basilica of the immaculate conception, d.c.)

It was bittersweet being in d.c. yesterday for the march for life. While is was powerful to join in a sea of people proclaiming the sacredness of all life, including children in the womb, it was also very sobering to remember exactly why we were there... that it has been 36 years that abortion has been legal in the United States. Approximately 3,700 abortions a day in the US... 1.37 million a year... 49,551,703 since Roe v. Wade. (Center for Bioethical Reform and National Right to Life.)

The most powerful moment of the march for me was hearing the post-abortion testimony of Georgette Forney of nearby Sewickly, PA who now devotes her life to the "Silent No More" campaign. She said, "We who have lived with the pain and regret of abortion declare to our nation that abortion is unjust, cruel, and oppressive. If hope is truly to be restored, abortion must end." As she spoke, a large group of women stood behind her with signs that read "I regret my abortion." These same people, along with men saying "I regret lost fatherhood" led the march from the National Mall to the Capitol building, sharing their testimonies on the steps of the Supreme Court following the march.

I wanted to share a few photos from the march and from what was the highlight of my day... mass and visiting the chapels at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.


the march~






the basilica~





So many memories came back to me yesterday when I was at the Basilica.

Last time I was at the Basilica was with Sister Rose Therese when I joined her in D.C. for a concert organized by our friend Brendan at the house of some friends of his studying at the JPII institute. At this awesome house concert Danielle shared for the first time songs from the album she was writing for Mother Teresa, "I Thirst". That night was the first time I heard "Holy Family", "Small Things with Great Love" and "Love Until it Hurts" and it was a concert unlike any of hers that I had ever experienced before. (I remember that Brendan felt the same way.) There was a depth to her spirit, a quiet strength in the way she spoke and sang, that was captivating. A few weeks later she found out she would need to go on vocal rest, and shortly after began discerning her call to religious life.

Earlier that day we went to mass at the National Shrine with Brendan, and I remember visiting almost every chapel with Danielle. Then I remember running to the metro -- Brendan with Danielle's pink guitar case in hand-- so we wouldn't be late for our meeting at the White House offices with Jim Towey, who at the time was the director of the Office for Faith Based and Community Initiatives. We made it to his office in time and had a beautiful visit as he shared many stories of Mother Teresa with us. Towards the end of our visit I so clearly remember Danielle singing "Love Until It Hurts" for him. I remember the look on his face as he closed his eyes as she sang. He was so moved by her gift that he gave all three of us a prayer card of Mother Teresa that included a relic-- a small piece of her habit.

God really surprised me with the gift of her presence at the Basilica yesterday, both in these blessed memories and in the living present. I especially thought of her when I was in the chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe (where I found the "roses") and also when I found a beautiful statue of Saint Therese, with this quote below it~

"How often have I thought that I may owe all the graces I've received to the prayers of a person who begged them from God for me, and whom I shall know only in heaven."

-Saint Therese of Lisieux

How awesome it is that we can meet each other in His heart...

Prayers for the fullness of life for all of you today and always~
nicole

Feels like the weekend....

When an exam falls on Tuesday, Wednesday gets to be the weekend... so today was one of those all-around good 'catching up on life' days. I went to the bank, to the dry cleaner, cleaned my room, gave the blog a facelift, went through some of my 'piles' and just felt great about catching up and cleaning up. It's amazing what cleaning your room can do for mental clarity and peace of mind!

Last night after the test I went to dinner (at a great Italian restaurant) and to see "Marley and Me" with Ani and Veronica, two of my closest friends from school. The movie isn't exactly Oscar material, but it is a sweet movie with a good message about love, and yes, it did make me cry :-)


('Marley and Me' was a cute movie, but not half as cute as 'Marlo and Christy'!!!)


Honestly, the best part of the night was celebrating finishing this class with such good friends. It's amazing how much we can learn about taking care of each other-- both in celebrating the joys and in being together in the struggles-- through med school. I know that I couldn't do it without the friends and family-- both near and far-- who so lovingly surround me with so much support and encouragement. Thank you!!

We only have two more courses (and therefore tests!) left in our second year, and our last exam (before the boards) is February 27th. A little over a month to go... where has the time gone??? It is exciting (and truthfully a little intimidating) to think about beginning rotations in May. Most of all it's a good thing that with God all things are possible, because I definitely could never do it on my own.


I'm heading to DC tomorrow for the March for Life... more updates soon. Praying for all of you!

nicole

"God wants to reach out to others through your hands. He wants to speak to others through your lips, and God wants others to look into your eyes and see Him... Give God Permission..."
~John Cardinal O'Connor

bread for the journey

I just wanted to share the daily reflection for today in Henri Nouwen's "Bread for the Journey." This really spoke to me today~

January 17: Be Yourself

Often we want to be somewhere other than where we are, or even to be someone other than who we are. We tend to compare ourselves constantly with others and wonder why we are not as rich, as intelligent, as simple, as generous, or as saintly as they are. Such comparisons make us feel guilty, ashamed, or jealous. It is very important to realize that our vocation is hidden in where we are and who we are. We are unique human beings, each with a call to realize in life what nobody else can, and to realize it in the concrete context of the here and now.

We will never find our vocations by trying to figure out whether we are better or worse than others. We are good enough to do what we are called to do. Be yourself!

Or, according to our beloved Saint Therese, (in response to her sister Celine when Celine claimed that Therese's responsibility for the novices gave her more worth)

"I'm really only what God thinks of me. As for loving me more because He has given me charge of souls... I do not share your opinion. I think He has made me rather your servant. It is for you and not for myself that He has bestowed these virtues which make me pleasing in your eyes."

unlikely friends

Thanks to my cousins Chuck and Beth for sharing this story with me... hope you enjoy it!

ordinary time

Tonight at mass I was struck by the fact that today is the first day in ordinary time (meaning "numbered or counted") of this liturgical year.

This means that last night my Christmas season drew to an end as I coincidentally returned home to Pittsburgh after three very full and beautiful weeks spent with family and friends. It has been bittersweet returning to my commitments here, but I love how today begins a new part of the liturgical year marked by hope and growth.

As I read tonight~

In vestments usually green, the color of hope and growth, the Church counts the thirty-three or thirty-four Sundays of Ordinary Time, inviting her children to meditate upon the whole mystery of Christ – his life, miracles and teachings – in the light of his Resurrection.

If the faithful are to mature in the spiritual life and increase in faith, they must descend the great mountain peaks of Easter and Christmas in order to "pasture" in the vast verdant meadows of tempus per annum, or Ordinary Time.

Sunday by Sunday, the Pilgrim Church marks her journey through the tempus per annum as she processes through time toward eternity.

When I heard the Gospel at Mass tonight I also couldn't help but think of how Peter, Andrew, James and John were in the middle of their ordinary lives -- fishing by the Sea of Galilee-- when Jesus approached them with an invitation... "Come after Me." They had no idea of all that was to come, and yet it was all there in the promise of that moment as they were surprised by His invitation that would change their lives forever...


After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.


May we all be so open to His invitation in the midst of our ordinary lives!