little bird foot-steps in the snow!So today it snowed!
woohoo! It was only about 10cm deep though, nothing excessive and by the evening quite a lot of it had melted..but it was snowing pretty consistently as I was cycling to the hospital this morning (and ouch do snow-flakes hurt when they hit your face!)
But everyone was enjoying the snow...some teenage kids had rolled a 1 metre high snow/ice ball into the MIDDLE OF THE ROAD and cars were swerving pretty dangerously to avoid it.
So (like the good UK citizen that I am) I stopped as I was cycling past and pushed it with all my puny strength to the edge of the road to prevent the occurence of any major road traffic accidents.
(ah, teenager vandals, you get 'em everywhere).
I also had to phone Chris this morning at his lab to ask him someone's phone number...he sounded very excited and bouncy when I spoke with him and he said "Guess what we've just been doing?"
me: "...I don't know..."
Chris: " We just made a 50cm high snow-man and put it in a box, and put it on someone's chair who arrived in late to work...and he just came in and found it...!!!"
oh, to be a care-free PhD student spending your morning making snow-men and/or videos of exploding lego-men (re: see post in Decemeber!)
* says stressed out medical student as she looks at her enourmous pile of books, and starts to hyper-ventilate about the seemingly infinite amount of revision that needs to be done*
My brother also made a snow-man with some friends; say hello to Reginald Kingston:
haha!In other random non-snow-related news....look at the plant that I got for my mum at Christmas!
It was nothing but a bulb 5 weeks ago and now look at the beauty it has blossomed in to:
I went to my parent's house today, and I exclaimed "wow, that's a nice flower! Where did you get it from?!" and it turned out it was the one I gave her!
That was a good purchase!
Everything else with me is okay; I'm kinda tried, stressed, lots going on....the washing machine in our house is broken (it's not draining the water away, as we discovered the other day when we opened the door and 10 Litres of water poured out all over the floor)....our shower is still an 'electrical hazard' and they haven't been to replace it yet, so we are forced to use the bath-tub and a pan to wash ourselves (well, except Chris, we uses the amazing showers in his boat-house after rowing. It's just me who has to wash my hair using a pan to pour water).
Otherwise work is okay....I have so much to revise and study it's not even funny any more.
Why do antibiotics have to have such silly names and such random uses and side-effects?! I can't remember which bacteria/virus/protozoan produces which clinical disease, which bacteria is resistant to which antibiotics, what quantity of what antibiotic is given to different age groups under different circumstances for different diseases....waaaaaa!!
Also, it is seriously shocking how sexually promiscuous people are out there.
I mean, I knew that some people had sex with just anyone, but I don't think I actually truely believed it....sitting in sexual diseases clinic has been a bit of an eye-opener in that respect.
It's just sad really how little worth people attach to sex, and how much they use each other's body, and allow their own precious body to be used by others as objects for transient gratification.
not to mention how much disease is spread.
All I have to saw is...EW.
If I wasn't a Catholic I think sitting in a sexual health clinic would be enough to make me never want to have sex outside of marriage with anyone other than a virgin. There are a lot of sexual diseases out there.
Also, that reminds me...a few posts ago I was going on about the HPV vaccine (human papilloma virus). Well, if you are interested....one of the sexual health doctors told me that they did a study in their waiting room at the hospital. They swabbed the chairs, magazines, door handles etc and tested for the HPV virus, and he said that they found it "everywhere" in their waiting room.
(fun! I try not to touch anything any more!)
He also said that there have been case reports of babies and toddlers getting HPV 16 & HPV 18 which are the subtype of the virus that is normally transmitted sexually. He said to me that they believed these infants got the virus from the hands of their carers.
Honestly, I'm not making it up, he did actually tell me all this the other day.
So yeh...I'm washing my hands a lot more these days!
Finally, I am glad to be home and able to go back to Mass & our daily rosary prayer group.
(you may remember I was away from home for the last 4 weeks).
Although I did say the rosary every day by myself, it is just so much more infinitly wonderful to be able to go to Mass several times a week, and also to say the rosary with exposition of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (as happens daily in our Church.)
I really feel, in my soul, like I was missing something...some nourishment...a closeness...a friend....it's hard to put in to words.
It's not like I was drifting in my faith or anything serious like that, but by the end of the 4 weeks I was starting to feel like my roots were becoming a bit looser, and I didn't have that intimacy with God and our Lady as before (probably because I wasn't seeing Jesus as often, because I was only going to Mass on Saturday & Sunday, and not during the week).
I dunno, it's hard to describe.
Either way, I am over-joyed to be back home and able to go back to Mass several times a week and to pray the rosary actually in front of Jesus.
That reminds me....I really really really recommend praying the rosary daily.
From the bottom of my heart; pray it.
In fact, if I could give everyone one piece of life-advice, it would be to pray the rosary every single day.
I was thinking the other day just how much my life changed when I started praying the rosary every day ( a few yrs ago). I kid not, I changed SO MUCH when I started praying the rosary every day, in so many ways. My personality, my outlook, my temptations...I suddenly (over a few months) became so much more acutely aware of my habitual daily sins, my temptations, my weaknesses, and so much more aware of my need of God's grace to help.
I know that praying the rosary every day can be difficult, but just persevere, and don't give up.
Mary is such a sweet loving gentle mother, and Jesus loves her so so so so much, and she loves Him more purely and perfectly than we could ever hope to.
Let Mary take you by the hand, and show you her son, and teach you how to love Him as she does.
See the rosary like you are give Mary beautiful roses with every Hail Mary; roses which she will then give to Jesus Himself on behalf of you.
Yeh...so pray the rosary, it's the most beautiful prayer, and it will (beyond any doubt) help you to cultivate a relationship with Jesus which is so much richer than you can imagine.
anyway, hope you are all well! I should get going to bed!
lots of love to you all!
-x-x-x-
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10 comments:
Those STD nasties sound really gross. It's funny because even before I became a Catholic, I was really repulsed by sexual promiscuity and always really wanted to wait to have sex until I was married -- and although I tried not to judge others, I couldnt help but being grossed out when I heard of multiple sexual partners and "sex friends" and all those kind of ... things made me just wonder about their sexual health...
In other news, how fun @ the snow!! One day I would like to see snow :)
xoxox
God Bless you!!
What an interesting post to read ~ I enjoyed that!
I too love praying the Rosary...it has been such a comfort to me over the last few weeks.
Bless you today xx
Re Snowmen: In college we had the Cistercian monks on campus and a Dominican priory as well. One morning at 1 we had a freak snowfall. The students built two snowmen in front of the priory; one had dominican robes on and the other had Cistercian robes. Cute. Two little snowmonks.
Here's my testimony about cultivating the practice of saying a daily rosary:
I notice a difference in my temperament depending upon whether I can say the rosary first thing in the morning, or if I wait until quiet time before bed. I'm so much more pleasant of a person to be around when I've had my quiet morning time with God!
Why do you believe you cant talk to Jesus anytime you want to?
For any readers who think it is overwhelming to add the Rosary to their daily schedule, start with one decade, then move to two, then three etc. This is the way I did it, and the way I did it with my children. I always have to take baby steps in the spiritual life. Add one thing until I am faithful to it, then add the next.
The Rosary has been powerful in my life too. Our Lady has obtained SO MANY graces for me through praying the Rosary! There are days I have had to force myself to pray it, but I am always glad when I finish. I think it is the only thing which has helped me survive those really difficult and painful crosses in my life.
Hi everyone, thanks for your comments!
Karina I am sorry but I don't think I understand your question very well...
I agree with you, I do think I can talk to Jesus any time I want to....
you stated"Either way, I am over-joyed to be back home and able to go back to Mass several times a week and to pray the rosary actually in front of Jesus."
I dont understand that.
Hi Karina!
Thanks for the clarification! I apologies; I didn't understand the first time!
Right, well Catholics take Jesus literally when He said at the last supper "This is my body, This is my blood" referring to the bread and wine that He was holding.
He then told the apostles to "Do this is memory of me".
So His apostles were the first Priests, and by "laying hands" (book of Acts) on other holy men, these men too became Priests, and were also able to bless bread and wine and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, this bread and wine becomes the actual body and blood of Christ...i.e Jesus Himself!
This takes place at every Mass in every Catholic Church in the world!
We call the consecrated bread that becomes the body of Christ the Eucharist (it means 'thanksgiving')
In Catholic Churches the Eucharist is stored in the tabernacle, and can be taken out for worship and prayer.
and so when I go to my daily rosary prayer group the Priest takes the Eucharist out of the tabernacle and we pray the rosary in front of it.
as we believe that this is Jesus Himself, it is indeed very very very very special!
So yes, while I believe that I can pray to Jesus any time I want to by simply raising my heart and mind to Him; I am able to pray in a very tangible way to Him, by being in front of Him in the Eucharist.
I guess it's like speaking to someone on the phone and actually going to see them!
Hope that makes sense!
Thanks for asking!!
God Bless
xxx
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