On Exercise and Diet.

Alright. So it's obviously healthy eating and diet are a huge obsession in our society today. But don't you think it's sort of "animalistic" to live your life for the body? We need to survive, obviously, but we also have leisure as a result of living in society. This leisure allows us to satisfy the needs of the soul and be men. Men have souls which are able to know, love, and delight in the good. So we can see how it would be greatly lacking in only striving to take care of the body. I mean, soon enough each one of us will die and..bye-bye body! While taking care of our body is obviously not an end in itself it is necessary for taking care of the needs of the soul in the most efficient way possible.


1.) We are commanded by God to take care of our bodies "Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" We must take care of our bodies to survive and a healthy person will live longer than the unhealthy one. We may not decide when we die and that's what we're doing in a sense when we live with habit we know are destructive and are keeping us from living as God intended.


2.) We feel better. While feelings are not Truths and should not have that much effect... we are men. Why make to path to holiness harder? When I stuff my face and never exercise I feel awful and it consumes my mind. It's so hard for me to feel capable of anything when I feel my body dragging me down. When I don't take care of my body I'm just inviting the devil to use all my insecurities against me.


3.) What about fasting? While it is good to fast from time to time to detach ourselves, we cannot read of saints fasting for very long times and feel that we are failing if we don't do the same. Each person has a different calling with different duties. For example, the father with children could not go without food for very long because it would leave him incapable to take care of his family as he should.


4.) Some people don't take care of their bodies and say "Well, God doesn't care how I look!" well...duh. That's not the point. But many problems like binging and extreme dieting are effects of something wrong internally. It shows lacking a proper respect of ourselves as God's creations. Food often consumes and refusing to deny yourself from it's pleasure means it's controlling you. Obviously, that's bad. 

Senior Thesis Night!

 

Shirt: Forever 21, Skirt: H&M, Belt: Target, Shoes: Nordstrom Rack

I can't believe it's over. I worked and worried so much for this thesis and now it's over. Whoo!

I'm going to miss my fellow seniors so much. They are such incredibly awesome people.

My God, thank You for bringing me into this group of people and leading me to You through the truth. Thank You for forming me so that I could tonight present a thesis and answer questions. Thank You for granting me knowledge of You. i adore You :)

If the dress don't fit...

I had this summer dress that, although I loved the pattern, I could not get it to fit well. Soo..I cut it :

Here are some photos of what it looks like on:

and here's the wonderful guy who took my photos :) i love you!

Femininity

Spiritual Highs

Such a good video. I think we all know the struggles of dry prayer and awesomeness of 'spiritual highs'. This video says it all so well.

it's gonna be okay

it's the little things.

the feeling of  "it's gonna be okay." 

knowing my Father is the Creator of the universe & He loves me so very dearly.

everything is in His plan for me.

I totally abandon myself to You. 

I surrender.

You conquer my heart with Your most tender, gentle, mighty love and there is absolutely nothing else that I could ever need.

my Jesus, i trust in You.

Oh, Senior Year...

I've been so so stressed out about my thesis lately and I've been feeling pretty sick,too. I tried to work on my thesis last night but got so frustrated and ended up crying - FAIL. So, I stayed home from school today and after a day of green tea, Matthew Mayfield, fruit salad and working on my thesis, I think it's gonna be okay :) My Jesus, thank You for helping me through anything, no matter how trivial. i love You.

Here are some songs:

               Fall Behind - Moses Mayfield 

Grow Old with You - Matthew Mayfield

         Safe & Sound - Matthew Mayfield 

St. Faustina and God's Love

"Jesus, when You come to me in Holy Communion, You who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit have deigned to dwell in the little heaven of my heart, I try to keep You company throughout the day, I do not leave You alone for even a moment. Although I am in the company of other people or with our wards, my heart is always united to Him. When I am asleep I offer Him every beat of my heart; when I awaken I immerse myself in Him without saying a word. When I awaken I adore the Holy Trinity for a short while and thank God for having deigned to give me yet another day, that the mystery of the incarnation of His Son may once more be repeated in me, and that once again His sorrowful Passion may unfold before my eyes. I then try to make it easier for Jesus to pass through me to other souls. I go everywhere with Jesus; His presence accompanies me everywhere. "

-Divine Mercy in My Soul, the diary of St. Faustina

What I love about St. Faustina is how well she understood the love God has for us; not just that He would die for us, but that He's there for us every day at every moment no matter what we're doing. She understood what it meant to walk with God, always having him in her heart and on her mind. She realized that everything in her life was a gift of love from our Saviour. This a truth that we always need to have buried deep within us, a truth that we will never let go of, no matter what may happen. 

Not only do we have to hold on to this truth, but we also have to respond to it. And really, how could we realize God's great love for us and not be moved to respond? Scripture, especially St. John, has a lot to say about God's love. 1 John 3:1 says,"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" Jesus also says in St. John's gospel, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." We're even told that "God is love." Finally, Jesus tells us how the Father made his love manifest in John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Knowing that God loves us so much that he would give his only son to us ought to move us. If we truly believe that God loves us so much, how could we help but love him in return?

St. Faustina clearly truly believed this, and it's so inspiring to see her response. Because she loved God as perfectly as she could and opened her heart to him, we now have the Divine Mercy image and her personal diary. We can use the Divine Mercy image to meditate on how God loves us. From her diary, we can discover what it means to love God in return in everything we do. We know that God is truly with us all the time, and that every little thing that happens in our day, good or bad, is another little part of the love letter that he is always writing to us. 

Your Love is a Song

"Ooh, Your love is a symphony

All around me, running through me.

Ooh, Your love is a melody

Underneath me, running to me."

worship.