Exaltation and Church Class!

Today went by way too fast; I almost couldn't keep up.  By the time I knew it, work was over and I headed to my first spiritual direction meeting with Father at St. Mary's.  For an hour we talked about the current state of my life, my family, my work, and of course my spiritual life.  It felt good to get some things out and to discuss some of my problems and anxieties.  I plan on meeting with Father once a month to seek out guidance and talk about life in general.  Again, I am so fortunate and blessed to have a priest as my spiritual director!

Today is a very important feast day: the Exaltation of the Cross.  We focus on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, and we don't just see the Cross as an instrument of death, but an instrument of salvation in the plan of God.  What a beautiful paradox of suffering and death which lead to joy and eternal life!  I'd like to share some of the antiphons from Morning and Evening Prayer from the Christian Prayer book:

Morning Prayer, 2nd Antiphon: "The Lord hung upon the cross to wash away our sins in his own blood.  How splendid is that blessed cross."

Morning Prayer, 3rd Antiphon: "How radiant is that precious cross which brought us our salvation.  In the cross we are victorious, through the cross we shall reign, by the cross all evil is destroyed, alleluia."

Evening Prayer, 1st Antiphon: "What a great work of charity!  Death itself died when life was slain on the tree."

Evening Prayer, Canticle of Mary Antiphon: "O cross, you are the glorious sign of our victory.  Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus."

What powerful phrases these are!  There is so much to contemplate in just the antiphons alone.  The idea of Christ's sacrifice is so contrary to our humanness, that "death itself died when life was slain" on the Cross baffles the mind!

Tomorrow, I'm attending my first class, Introduction to the Church, at the Diocesan Institute at the Cardinal Keeler Center in Harrisburg.  I never thought I'd be so excited to go to a class!  I think the reason why is that it's about the Catholic faith, and I've never had any formal classes like this growing up or in college; I went to a public elementary school and high school and a PA state university.  With the classes I'm taking, I plan on getting a basic catechist certificate, and then work toward another certificate with a concentration in RCIA and adult formation.  I look forward to being able to teach, if it is God's will!

Busy, busy week.

Last week was a busy week, and I didn't get the chance to post at all.  From Friday after work until this morning, I was in Huntingdon, PA at Juniata College.  My brother is the head women's volleyball coach for Transylvania University in Lexington, KY, and his team played in a tournament at Juniata this weekend.  I don't get to see him very often since he lives in Kentucky, so I definitely wanted to make the trip.  My dad and his fiance (which, by the way, I found out this weekend that they are now engaged!), and my sister, my nephew, and my mom also came to stay the weekend for the tournament.  It was really special to have everyone there to watch because both my brother and sister played volleyball at Juniata, and we all got the chance to reminisce and catch up with people we hadn't seen for a few years.

The whole week, weather wise, was a mess from all the rain we got with the combination of a cold front and remnants of tropical storm Lee.  There were many major roads running along the Susquehanna River that were impassable because the river was at record level flooding and was covering some roads.  I had to take a completely different route to get up into central PA, and lot of those detour roads were congested, even for a Friday well before rush hour around Harrisburg.  I witnessed monumental flooding where parts of routes like 322/22 along the east side of the river were completely under water.  I had to take 11/15 along the west side, and there were places where houses along the river were partially submerged and water was coming close to the road.  When I came back this morning, 322/22 was passable again, and you could tell driving along the road where the water came up and covered everything.  It was incredible!

Now, again, I'm back home and preparing to start another work week.  Tonight was the first youth group meeting for my parish, and we had a back to school party for all the teens.  This week, I have my first spiritual direction meeting on Wednesday.  I'm really looking forward to this because I've been looking for a spiritual director for a while, and Father Leo, the priest at my parish, offered to be my director.  I'm so grateful to have a priest as my personal guide!  Finally, on Thursday, I start the first of a series of classes I'm taking through the Harrisburg Diocese to go toward a pastoral ministries certification (I'll talk more about that in a later post).  The class is called Introduction to the Church, and it's to be held in Harrisburg.  I'm sure I'll be talking about my classes in later posts so I can share a little bit of what I learned!

Well, I hope everyone has a peaceful and productive week.  May God bless you, and may Jesus keep us close to His Sacred Heart!