Europe

Category Archives: Europe

An Empty Church

By | May 14, 2011

This Holy Week was the first one I had ever fully participated in. I had pretty much no idea what to expect. When I walked into Mass on Holy Thursday, I was walking in blindly. The Mass was so beautiful! At the end, however, I was very confused as to why the church was being emptied of all decoration, why the candles were being taken away, and why the Tabernacle was being emptied and left open. When I had it explained to me that it was a representation of the stripping of Christ’s garments, I

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Jesus Felt Abandoned

By | April 21, 2011

Standing and singing the words, “Praise to You Lord Jesus Christ, King of Endless Glory” at the Palm Sunday Mass, opened my heart to listen deeply to the Lord’s voice.  It was the twenty-third time I had heard this long interactive Gospel recited during the Mass. I asked the Holy Spirit to provide me with the grace of hearing His Word in a new way and that I would be kept from distraction.  As I listened, the Gospel came to life and my eyes started streaming with tears. The reality of Jesus’

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Being Thankful

By | April 19, 2011

Lent is hard. Being thankful during Lent is even harder. I entered the desert a few days early this year. It started as I was preparing to begin my journey to Covecrest’s staff retreat; the doctor’s office called saying that my blood tests had come back abnormal. After our staff retreat ended, I did not fly back to Europe with my community. Instead, I sat on Delta Flight 2715 headed to Phoenix, Arizona, to pursue more medical testing. Weeks later, I still find myself in my parents’ house

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Mission: Change

By | April 18, 2011

Being a missionary. What does it mean? Many times I have had people tell me, “I could never do the things you do” or “I’m not a missionary.” BUT YOU CAN BE AND YOU ARE! We are all called to be missionary in our everyday lives. So how do we do that? This is a video I made for the campus ministry at Young Harris College. They did a service on mission and asked me to skype in, but the times didn’t work out. So I made this video instead. It’s made specifically for Young Harris, but it can TOTALLY be

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Sacrifice of Love

By | April 2, 2011

An inspiring woman in my faith journey has been my Mom. This week was her 50th birthday and she celebrated BIG. Although she threw a party it was not your typical birthday party; oh no, it was a dancing fundraiser. Okay, let me explain.  It all started five years ago when my Mom’s good friend was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’ve never seen a whole faith community come together so fast. Her friend is a wife, a mother of two and a sister in Christ. Within a blink of an eye, she was in danger

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Come In

By | March 30, 2011

At the beginning of March, all of the LT Board, Staff and Missionaries came together for our annual Staff Retreat. Each year, as we gather, I feel like I’m at a family reunion—I’ve never actually been to a family reunion, so maybe it’s nothing like one, but, either way, it’s a bunch of people I love coming together for a few days. One of the days we were there, we had a time for local outreach and the team I was on was making home visits. We put together simple, little baskets with some

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I am 40 years old

By | March 24, 2011

I can’t believe I am announicng this to all of you.  I have dreaded this day (march 24th) since I turned 39.  For an entire year, I stopped telling people how old I was.  I was very good at dodging the question any time someone asked me.  Admitting I was 39 sounded so old, even though I don’t feel old.  This past fall, someone (who will go unnamed) announced to a friend that this year I was having a Big birthday.  I cringed inside when she said it.  I later prayed about this asking God

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Lent: The Invitation to Draw Closer to Jesus

By | March 17, 2011

A few weeks ago, a close friend and I were discussing Lent and the sacrifices we were going to be offering. Afterall, Lent is all about prayer, sacrifice, and almsgiving, right? While this is true to an extent, my friend helped me to realize that I was missing the point that the deeper significance of Lent is developing a greater relationship with Jesus. I was getting caught up in thoughts about me and the sacrifices I was going to make. While I was focusing on myself, Jesus was just waiting patiently

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Tell Me How You Really Feel

By | March 15, 2011

A few Thursdays ago, we did something totally and blessedly spontaneous. We had just gotten home from Mass and were sitting down to breakfast, when the phone rang. It was Fr. Roland—he was sick and wouldn’t be able to come to Holy Hour that day. He wasn’t the only sick one that day either; Pam and Stephen were also both feeling under the weather. A few minutes after we got the news, I randomly mused aloud, “Hey, do you know what we should do today? We should go somewhere!” I had been thinking

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Are You At Risk?

By | February 17, 2011

Have you ever said a prayer, like in Mass or before a meal, and then realized you have  no idea what you just said? Have you ever said an “Our Father,” then at some point, not know where you actually are in the prayer? Have you ever said a Rosary and found yourself just counting, not actually praying? If you said yes to any of these questions, you may be at risk for a serious condition called PPS, or “Passive Prayer Syndrome.” I first realized I was at risk when, in the car, I made the Sign of

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