birthday miracles

Happy Feast of Christ the King!!!

I will *never* be able to think of my birthday again without thinking also of Christ the King.

Mom says it's a good problem to have.

It was a wonderful day for a sixteenth birthday.

...I cantored at mass

...and my mom took me and my sis to "go get jeans" at Old Navy, where there were *akshully* friends waiting there to go to lunch with us (sometimes I just feel really gullible)

...and my friend offered a mass for me (he gets the prize for 1st-person-to-give-me-a-mass-as-a-birthday-present)

...and *tons* of people wished me a Happy Birthday throughout the day

...and then I went to a rehearsal for our Christmas Eve Midnight Mass and sang my heart out.

I secretly know that part of the wonderfulness of today is because God showered down extra grace since it is the Feast of Christ the King.

But don't tell anyone I said that.

'Cause they'll think of the times I believe that angels light the votive candles in our living room.

Or how I prayed yesterday that God would heal me enough so that I could cantor at mass this morning, and how he DID.

Or how I believe that every time I go up to the altar, God gives me a special grace to be able to sing in front of all those hundreds of people--because normally in a situation like that, I would get so nervous I would start shaking.

Akshully, tell them this: I believe in miracles--*especially* on the Feast of Christ the King.

because my heart is in Rome...

Let's just say I'm a little bit tired of "Ordinary Time"--that is, the time between Easter and Advent/Christmas.

It's been SEVEN MONTHS since Easter! SEVEN! (Well, technically, *almost* seven)
I've watched the seasons go by--spring, summer, fall--and still no Christmas.

Is it quite obvious yet? I have Christmas fever.

And I'm homesick for Easter.

But yesterday was the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran in Rome (the mother church). I found myself researching it when I *should* have been doing school; this basilica has been around since the Emperor Constantine (I know--I thought I was done with this guy), and it's *gorgeous*!

I'm not sure when this was drawn, but isn't it so cool to think of this basilica standing there through all the ages, for thousands of years? Although I believe it had to be rebuilt around the 1600's, it's the same church.

Time for a field trip? I think yes.

Guess what? My birthday this year (the 20th) falls on the Feast of Christ the King--the feast in which we celebrate Christ's royalty. It's the last Sunday of the liturgical year....which meeeeans....that the Sunday right after is the 1st Sunday of Advent!

I'm hangin' onto that thought right now 'cause I'm practically *starving* for the smell of incense, the Advent candles, the beautiful music, the purple vestments...

I'm counting on the Christmas Midnight Mass to keep me alive until the Easter Vigil next April.
But I have a friend who, of course, has to torture me by sending me videos of songs we'll be singing before the midnight mass.
"Sing lullaby! Lullaby, is the babe awaking?
Sing lullaby! Hush, do not stir the Infant King, dreaming of Easter, gladsome morning; conquering death, its bondage breaking...
sing lullaby."

My school workload is really starting to get heavy, but it's hard to keep my mind on school...

...when my heart is in Rome.