A Month of Thanks: Day 15

I am thankful for the chance to study the lives of some of the saints. Like Hildegard and Teresa. Both of them have qualities I see in myself, as well as many more I really need to strive to imitate and attain. But because I can self-identify with them, it gives me hope that I, a tremendously flawed sinful individual, can also be holy. Like one of my former professors said in my course on Saint Augustine, his first name wasn't always saint. And there was a really cheesy song about how saint are just the sinners who get up after they fall.

Today I read this quote for my girl Hildie, "I too cower at the puniness of my mind, and am greatly wearied by anxiety and fear. Yet from time to time I resound a little, like the dim sound of a trumpet from the Living Light."

I am relieved to know a great saint and doctor Church also felt somewhat completely inferior, but still there is hope.

A Month of Thanks: Day 12

I am thankful for God, who guides my days and provides light in the darkness. Being a child of God is fundamental to my identity. I am working on bridging the gap between my studies in theology and living the faith, but sometimes it is hard to move from theory to practice. I am grateful that he has lead me to where I am today, and I pray He continues to lead and I continue to have to courage to follow and obey wherever I am asked to go.

"You never said it would be easy. You only said I would not go alone."

A Month of Thanks: Day 6

Today I am especially thankful for laughter, especially when I was rather upset about the impending demolition of one of my favorite hometown landmarks. Yes it is ugly, but I love the Astrodome, that's where I fell in love with the Astros, who are constant disappointments, but I love them all the same, as well as other events.

Anyway, I digress, I am thankful for laughter, the best bout came when I read my friend Tom's reaction to a lost pair of pants in the library, "A sign on a table at the entrance if the Boston College Theology and Ministry Library where I spend all of my days. I just could not resist posting this . . . Surely, St. Paul's command that we "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27) should not involve taking off one's pants . . ."

Laughing is one of my favorite things to do, and I am glad there are some many people around me that bring it out. :)

Too Stressed to be Blessed . . .

Wait, I think I got that wrong. I am very blessed, even in the midst of all this stress. I was half successful in getting my assignments done on time, and with the other 2, well thank goodness for nice professors who are willing to give extensions, the one I was granted this morning is my 3rd this semester. I am relieved that my professors all seem to care so much about having me do well and be successful in school. If the opposite were true, I don't think I could make it through this program.  

Day 29

I am thankful for no classes today, a good night of sleep (the first one this week), and free lunch today! Off to the library for crazy fun reading times. :)

Things Standing Between Me and Freedom

Things standing between me and freedom, or what I have to have completed by 2 weeks from tomorrow:

• Work 8 - 4 on Saturday and 3 - 11:30 on Sunday (which means I am not getting home 'til almost 1)
• Read ~30 page for Fundamental Theology by Monday
• Read ~100 pages for Doctrine of God and write a 1 page paper by Monday at Noon
• Write a 250 word response paper for 3 Doctors of the Church by Wednesday
• Read 84 pages for Fundamental Moral on Friday
• Answer 3 Questions, 1000 words each for my exam in Fundamental Theology by 9 AM on Monday, Dec. 10
• Read ~60 pages to finish the Johnson book, read the USCCB's statement and her response
• Write 2 papers about the above (10 and 5 pages) by Noon, Tuesday, Dec. 11
• Write a 20 page paper of Natural Law and Freedom by Noon, on Tuesday Dec. 11 (yes, at the same time as the other one!!)
• Write a 15 page paper about Hildegard of Bingen and her music by Noon, Thursday Dec. 13
• Plus work the weekend of Dec 8 and 9, well hopefully not on the 9th, I asked for that off.

I am gonna be a busy girl the next two weeks. Please pray for me to stay focused so I can get all this done. 

Day 20

I am thankful for free bagel Tuesdays! Especially days like today when there is cream cheese and strawberry jam. Thank STM.

Day 15

I am thankful that I can write my essays in the first person in grad school. It is so much easier to say we or us that one or they. :)

Also I am thankful we get total choice of topics for our research papers. It makes research so much more exciting.

4 weeks

4 weeks, that's how long I have been in Boston and in Grad School. It's been a crazy 4 weeks. I've already written 9 papers, and I've read over 1,000 pages of material.  And, while I am totally overwhelmed most of the time, I love it!

I am adjusting to walking everywhere too, and navigating the buses and T. I tried to go to Mass in town last week, misunderstood the directions, and ended up God knows where, but tomorrow I am headed into town after a coat and some boots, so I am hoping I have better luck. I might try to get my phone looked at as well, every time I try to use the camera, it restarts. Ugh, they fixed this problem once.

Still working on making friends in Boston, I think part of the problem is I am always in the library reading or watching tv on hulu.  I'm addicted or something. :)

I am also getting acquainted with Karl Rahner, and I am not sure I like it.  People keep telling me he's a Thomist, but I'm not processing him as such. I am trying to keep an open mind.

So things about Boston:

• People don't acknowledge each other on the street, no hellos, no passing greetings, no smiles, very different from Texas.
• It's already cold (and yes, I know it will get worse :( )
• Hills!!!!
• I've actually voluntarily eaten clam chowder, twice!
• Things are much closer together than they appear on the map (but unless you walk, that distance takes the same amount of time it would in Houston by car on the T)

Things about BC/STM:

• First names everywhere (yes we call our professors by their first names, even the priest minus the father before)
• Jesuits everywhere, but I guess that happens at one of the only 2 Jesuit seminaries in the country, and none of the priest wear collars, so my 3 male professors are all priests, but I had no idea, crazy. Same with the Jesuits in my classes, glad I am not looking for someone to date cause I have no idea who most of them are!
• Coffee!!!! 
• The TML is the place to be, seriously.
• BC loves using Initials for stuff: BC- Boston College, STM- School of Theology and Ministry, and TML- Theology and Ministry Library
• Free food - Breakfast on Tuesday and Lunch on Thursday
• The best chocolate chip cookies . . . I had 3 yesterday
• Rahner, Rahner, Rahner, everywhere
• 500 pages of printing = about 4 weeks worth

That's all I have right now, but give me another 4 weeks and there will be more. :)