The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay." – Matthew 28: 5-6.
Hello my lovely readers. I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter celebration. Christ has risen, Alleluia!!! Let us rejoice and be glad! :) I'm so sorry for not posting on my blog during Holy Week. I really wanted to but I've been extremely busy with school, as it is my last semester of college. Also, I have been attending Mass non-stop. Our Holy Thursday Mass at St. Paul Catholic Church was so beautiful. The Mass of the Lord's Supper is always one of my favorite Masses of the year! Once the liturgy concluded the priest processed with Jesus around the church inside and out. Then the entire congregation followed the procession outside and everyone carried their own candle. It was so beautiful! Plus, we have an amazing choir!!! Our choir also sang during St. Paul's Passion service on Good Friday. They are just so good it gives me goosebumps thinking about their angelic voices.
This year I also attended the Easter Vigil Mass with my friend Rachel. I had never been to an Easter Vigil Mass before. It started out with the church in complete darkness. Then the Easter candle was lit and everyone received a small candle with the flame of the Easter candle. We all prayed together with our little candles in the church while the priests sang hymns of praise. It was so cool! Even though all the lights were off the candles were so bright that it illuminated the entire interior of the church. After, we blew out our candles and a few lights came on for the seven readings that followed. When the readings and psalms concluded the priests prepared for giving the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist to the catechumens and candidates. I was so happy to see all of those people become Catholic! It was so amazing!!! But, as you can tell, it was a very long Mass. It took nearly 4 hours to complete. We got there at 8:00pm and didn't leave until after midnight. However, it was a very joyous experience and I'm glad that I was able to go.
Then I went to Easter Sunday Mass the next morning with my family. The choir was amazing again! I kinda feel bad for our choir because they sing for all of the major services during Holy Week. That's a lot of time singing and practicing...but they do such a great job and it makes the Mass extra special. Yes, going to two Easter Masses was a lot for me, but just thinking about what Jesus did for us—it was nothing. He gave so much of Himself for us that He was willing to undergo such a tragic death to save our souls from eternal separation from God. I was so thankful to give my time to Him and thank Him for His Passion.
On Easter Sunday night my family watched the last episode of The Bible TV series. If you haven't watched it before you really should. It is such a great way to visually see the Bible unfold on the screen. The last episode was perfectly timed with Easter. We watched Jesus' Passion, death, and resurrection. It was pretty violent for a TV show. I was so horrified just thinking about how this really happened to my beloved Jesus in real life that I started to cry. I don't think it was as bad as watching the Passion of the Christ...but it was still really moving and emotional for me to watch.
I liked how this episode didn't just end with the resurrection. It continued beyond that point when the Apostles went to spread the message of Christ and it showed St. Paul's conversion. Of course I know the story of St. Paul, he is the patron saint of my home parish. But watching his story really made me not like him at first because he was persecuting Christians. I had totally forgot that he was responsible for the death of St. Steven until I watched the show the other night. But he truly became a new man in the light of Christ. He spread Christ's message far and wide. Plus, his writings make up about half of the New Testament. I personally love his writings to the Corinthians about "love." He describes it so well, just how love truly is. He was given such an amazing gift from the Holy Spirit to write like that. I'm very impressed!
Anyways, I wanted to say one more thing on this post. I want to thank my Lord Jesus Christ for answering a prayer of mine that I had been praying about for a long time. I have decided to take my education to the next level the following semester. I am going to be attending graduate school for a Master's degree in Catholic Studies. I had prayed a lot at the SEEK conference about going to graduate school. I was always thinking about going for Digital Media or Graphic Design to enhance my knowledge in the digital arts. But something in my heart didn't feel that it was right for me. When I went to confession at SEEK the priest said to "follow the desires of your heart" when discerning graduate school and God's will for my future. Well, my greatest desire is to be united with Christ for eternity and my greatest passion is living out the Catholic faith. I began to think of combining my artistic talent with my faith and using it to glorify God in Catholicism.
After much prayer I had received a letter in the mail that changed everything. I was accepted into the program with an award from the university that was overly generous. I'm thrilled to begin this new endeavor! But now I need to concentrate on my studies and projects for this semester so I can graduate. With that said, I will no longer be posting on my blog until the summer. But please feel free to keep following me on Twitter or Pinterest. Thanks for all of your prayers! I'm so grateful to everyone who has prayed for me. God is good! God is great!!! Alleluia!
