30 more days until I leave for Austria

The day I have been awaiting is quickly approaching... August 18th has been on my mind since the day that I got home from school this year.  Don't get me wrong, I love being at home and I absolutely love spending time with my family. But so much anticipation, planning, excitement, fear, and joy has gone into this trip.

On August 18th I will head oversees to Ireland where I will be for a week before leaving for the beautiful country of Austria, where I will spend my entire semester. I'm the kind of person that loves to be sentimental and remember everything about special moments in life. However, it seems that if I don't write things down my memory quickly fails me and it's hard for me to recall all the special memories and lessons learned along the way. Thus, this blog was created! The blogging world is definitely new to me. I have a blog that I use to post my photography on but I never write anything personal on it. I normally keep all of my thoughts to myself as I write them in my journals. However, I know that my family (and whoever else decides to follow me on this journey) will appreciate hearing about my adventures in Europe and I'm sure I will be happy that I made this years down the road and I want to look back on my semester abroad.

I named this blog "The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive." This is a quote by St. Iranaeus. I had heard this quote a few times in the past but I kept seeing it different places last semester and it really got me thinking. I think lots of people have the misconception that Catholics are "boring people that go to Church on Sunday and follow a strict set of rules." Something that I quickly discovered once I turned my heart back to the Lord and started living out my faith is that these "strict set of rules" are absolutely beautiful. Because they aren't a "strict set of rules" at all,  they are gifts from God that He has given us to help set us free. I realized that once I started following the "rules" of the Catholic Church, I felt a freedom and joy that I had never before known. I realized that the reason the Church teaches what She does is "So that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (John 15:11) Once we start living our lives for the Lord, these "rules" are not rules at all, but rather the key to our happiness. Jesus didn't tell us that we should follow the Ten Commandments because he wanted us to miss out on all the fun and be party poopers, Jesus told us that we should follow the Ten Commandments because by following them, we are given joy and thus we can be fully alive!

So I started thinking about what it meant to be fully alive. I think someone who is fully alive is living a life of service for the Lord. Someone who has completely surrendered their life to the Lord and trusts Him in all things. Someone who is not afraid of the future or what is to come but rather relies on the Lord and has confidence that He will be with them always. I think someone who is fully alive doesn't walk through this earth shuffling their feet with their head down but rather seizes every moment and opportunity they can, to give to the Lord and to others. I think it's someone who seeks the interests of others before them self and makes the most of their precious life. I think it's someone who smiles at everyone they pass along their journey, whether it be friend or foe. I think it's someone who can be joyful through suffering and hard times. I think someone who is fully alive does not let fear paralyze them or hold them back but rather they face their fear head on and continue on their journey. For courage is the ability to face that which we are afraid of. I think someone who is fully alive is someone who does not wallow in misery or feel sorry for themselves; they make the most of the bad situations and thank God everything He has given them. I think someone who is fully alive searches for the beauty in every soul, rather then focusing on other's faults. They see the sunshine that follows the storm and they see the magnificence in the little gifts of life. They inhale the sweet fragrance of this life and carry it with them everywhere they go. They realize that although they are weak, that the Lord is strong. For "My power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) I think that someone who is fully alive see's everyday as an opportunity to serve, to help someone, to experience beauty. I think it's someone that knows that this earth is not their home and that they were made for eternity. I think I could write for a few days on this but if anyone has read this far I'll stop for your sake.

In other words, I want to be fully alive. And as I make this journey to Austria I pray that instead of just a semester abroad, it will be a pilgrimage. I pray that as I journey to amazing churches where the saints are buried, and different towns where they lived; that as I  walk through the Vatican and serve in Lourdes I will not just visit these places but truly experience the Lord there. I pray that this time abroad will change me. I pray that it will help me to be fully alive and to become the person that I was truly meant to be.
Pax Christi
-Meg