It’s a new semester! First week of classes is over and done with, and I am back in the swing of things. My school isn’t offering very many lower-level computer classes this semester, so this time around I am only able to take one course, an introduction to software design, that applies towards my major. In my three other classes, I’m fulfilling my last two general education requirements (including PE, which I am going to knock out with a short backpacking course in the spring), and taking Spanish 101. This is new territory for me; I have only ever studied French and Latin before, but I needed one more class to stay a full-time student, and if you remember last week’s Quick Take #4, Spanish is something that I might actually want to know at some point down the road.
The two hardest things about starting back in school are trying to stay positive and humble, and not being able to go to Mass as often. Regarding the first point, Spanish is going to be my biggest opportunity to practice humility, because I’m a complete beginner in a class where most of the students have studied the language before, some of them quite recently. Someone is going to be the star pupil, but it ain’t gonna be me! We’ve only had two classes, and I’ve already stumbled, bumbled, and flat out froze when called upon to answer a softball question.
My pride hates that with a burning passion, so this is something that I will have to overcome. It helps that I recognize this already and that Spanish is a subject I genuinely want to study. With God’s grace and a good sense of humor, I’ll be able to laugh at my mistakes, stay patient, and keep trying harder.
The example of St. Ignatius de Loyola is one of which I keep reminding myself: when he first sought to enter the seminary after his call, he had no Latin, so he was forced to start taking it from the beginning with a class of eight- and nine-year old boys. Call me crazy, but that probably took some wind out of his sails at first, don’t you think? Well, if he could swallow his pride and throw himself into his studies, then with the help of the same Spirit that fired his heart, I can too!
As far as not being able to go to Mass as often, I am disappointed that my class schedule this semester means that I’ll have to miss daily Mass on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Mass is the highlight of my day, and I really love receiving Our Eucharistic Lord in Holy Communion. That said, I knew when I started going to Mass every day that I would not always have this privilege available to me, and I know (per some excellent direction I received during Confession a couple weeks ago) that as much as God loves and desires my presence at Mass, it pleases Him more to see me sacrificing something I enjoy in order to diligently apply myself to something that I don’t enjoy but that will enable me to serve Him better. This knowledge, and the fact that I can at least step into the Adoration Chapel and spend ten or fifteen minutes praying before the Blessed Sacrament before heading to school, is a great consolation.
If you sense a generally theme of “humility” running through this Friday’s Quick Takes, you’re right! I had a bit of an epiphany last Sunday (no pun intended), and it made me realize how much of my anxiety and dissatisfaction was the result of pride I have been carrying around for a good while. I’ve been focusing and fretting over discerning God’s future plans for me as a way of ignoring and expressing my disappointment with His current plans. This was a bit of a shock, but at the same time not; the suddenness and depth of the realization was startling, but I felt like it was something that I knew deep down already.
I credit this epiphany to the pilgrimage I made this past Saturday to the National Shrine Grotto of Lourdes. It was a wonderful half day pilgrimage and a perfect bridge between Christmas break and the new semester (plus I was able finally to meet in real life one of my online friends, whose idea the pilgrimage was). I left feeling filled with peace and joy, and as I said, the very next day after Mass I had this insight that is shaping my attitude towards school into a positive, prayerful direction and staving off the temptation to get caught of yearning for the future at the expense of the present.
Speaking of school, and staying on task and successful, this webseries I discovered on Thursday is not exactly going to me of aid in that department!
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For those without video, it’s a spoof on Star Wars told from the perspective of the janitors working on one of the Empire’s starships. Thank goodness the episodes are short, and that so far there are only seven of them. Otherwise I could see myself wasting a lot of time!
In two days is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which marks the end of the Christmas season. I can’t say that I am ready to see it go just yet. It has been really nice to knowing the tunes and being able to sing during the Divine Office, and I am not exactly looking forward to going back to having to reciting the hymns during Lauds and Vespers. Oh well…
Finally, I had some fun Wednesday coming up with “Catholic Pick-up Lines” and sharing them on Twitter. A few others even got in the game, and many laughs were had! I collected some of them here on Storify, but here are a few to start of with.
So what’s a Novus Ordo girl like you doing in an Extraordinary Form place like this? #CatholicPickUpLines
— Epiphany Mike (@MikeCGannon) January 9, 2013
The Blessed Sacrament isn’t the only thing I’d like to spend an hour every week adoring. #CatholicPickUpLines
— Epiphany Mike (@MikeCGannon) January 9, 2013
Are you a communion rail? Because you’ve got me dropping to my knees. #CatholicPickUpLines
— Epiphany Mike (@MikeCGannon) January 9, 2013
A properly chanted Te Deum isn’t the ONLY thing in here that sets my heart on fire! #CatholicPickUpLines
— Epiphany Mike (@MikeCGannon) January 9, 2013
Have a blessed Friday!
For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!
