Three

While I take a break from studying for the two huge exams I have to take next week, I wanted to share a few things I’ve been reflecting on ever since I woke up this beautiful morn.

Firstly, happy first of the month! Today marks the beginning of my third favorite month (yes…I have favorite months) of the year, the Month of the Holy Rosary. Being so blessed to grow up reciting the Rosary with my family every night at such a young age allowed me to memorize the prayers and the mysteries. Now that I’m older, I’ve rediscovered those prayers and mysteries on a whole different level. I’m gripping a more fervent understanding of the life of our Lord and the life of our Blessed Mother, and ultimately the power it has over our lives upon recitation of the Rosary.

“The rosary marks the rhythm of human life, bringing it into harmony with the rhythm of God’s own life.” – JPII

Isn’t that awesome?

Secondly, happy feast of the “Little Flower”,  St. Therese of Lisieux.

I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint…; I sought in Holy Scripture some idea of what this life I wanted would be, and I read these words: “Whosoever is a little one, come to me.” It is your arms, Jesus, that are the lift to carry me to heaven. And so there is no need for me to grow up: I must stay little and become less and less.

What a great example the “Little Flower” is for us, especially for the sisters. She encompassed the zeal to become a saint, despite her littleness, which she always offered up. Her vocation was simply to LOVE. Beautiful.

Thirdly, October also marks month of the 6th and final apparition of our Blessed Mother to the three children at Fatima (Bl. Lucia, Bl. Jacinta, and Bl. Francisco). The story of Fatima, and because ‘Fatima’ is my first name, always struck great desire in my heart to dig deeper into this story, to know more about the promises made and the miracles which took place within those six months. It was within this particular month almost a century ago on the 13th of October when tens of thousands of people witnessed the Miracle of The Sun.

I won’t go further into detail because I’d rather have you watch the movie, The 13th Day, which comes out on what better day than October 13th. Click for more details.

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I didn’t throw out these prolonged thoughts out on my blog for nothing. I knew there was a reason behind the Lord provoking my mind into thinking these thoughts throughout the day. This past month, I’ve been going through a period of distaste for the world. The atmosphere in a college classroom, the garbage I come across while flipping through channels on TV, materialism, vanity, trashy relationships, et cetera.  I’ve grown sick of it. In no way am I implying that I’m Miss Goody Two-Shoes here, I’m just saying that I’m tired of living “the” lifestyle norm to society.

Because of that distaste, I’ve realized how VITAL it is to pray the Rosary. How VITAL it is to consider ourselves “little” so that we may become saints and make it to Heaven. How VITAL it is to start fully believing in the promises made and living lives full of LOVE for God and others. When we learn to start praying more, not only because people ask us to or because catastrophic events are taking place in our homeland or tragedies anywhere else in the world, we’ll understand how vital it is for us to survive. It should get to the point where we can’t live a day without prayer.

We have things like the Month of the Rosary or a saint’s feast day, or movies about miraculous events that took place to remind us about the simplest things such as prayer. Everything always starts with prayer. We have a 40 Day for Life movement, praying to get rid of abortion and typhoons or other natural disasters in Southeast Asia to help bring people back to prayer. Now that we’ve been reminded yet again, how long can we go? Will we keep praying once these things come to pass?

Prayer is, for me, an outburst from the heart; it is a simple glance darted upwards to Heaven; it is a cry of gratitude and of love in the midst of trial as in the midst of joy! In a word, it is something exalted, supernatural, which dilates the soul and unites it to God. Sometimes when I find myself, spiritually, in dryness so great that I cannot produce a single good thought, I recite very slowly a Pater or an Ave Maria; these prayers alone console me, they suffice, they nourish my soul.

– St. Therese, Story of A Soul, Ch. 10

Through prayer, lives will transform.

(breathes out)
Thank You, Lord.