Musings

How High is the Ceiling?

| A Musing Writer
St. Peter’s Basilica. April 2018. Because it is so large and never fails to strike me with awe.

Dearest family, friends, acquaintances, and all other brothers and sisters in Christ,

Hello! Yes, I am still alive, and yes, I am still trying to publish somewhat of a blog. I feel like every post always starts off with an apology for the long wait…so I won’t waste too much space here to do that today.

This musing will be short. I do have to go to bed soon for an early rise. I am now a teacher, and I teach 13 year olds about the faith. There are so many lessons I have learned over the past month, and I will save those for another time…if I ever get to write them down. However, today’s story encompasses the idea of wonder.

Eighth graders are at a weird point in their lives. I certainly remember eighth grade being weird. Last week, I showed them a video from the Franciscan Friars of Renewal about Guardian Angels for the Feast of the Guardian Angels. At one point in the video, one of the priests was recounting a story of how he fell from a 25-foot tree and lived to tell the tale (spoiler: Guardian Angel). One student raised his hand and asked me how high the ceiling was in the classroom.

It took me a minute to figure out what he was asking. I looked up at the ceiling. I could not tell for sure, but I figured it was about 8 or 9 feet. Maybe even 10. But I think the reason it took me a minute to figure out his question was not so much the search for an answer, but the reasoning behind the question. He was asking to figure out how tall the tree was. Once we figured that the ceiling was at the most 10 feet, he sat back in his chair, amazed. “He fell two stories, and he was ok. I need to pray to my Guardian Angel more.”

I was floored and, quite frankly, honored to have witnessed his awe. His wonder and awe at the power of the protection of Guardian Angels was so visible. And unfortunately, it is something I see a major lack of, even in adults. It was inspiring to me not just as a teacher, but as a Catholic adult.

I think that if we hold on to the wonder we have for the spiritual life, we can grow closer to God. Keeping a sense of awe at the beautiful world we live in is without a doubt a much happier way to live than being jaded and familiar with things.

I wish I had more time and more energy to really dig deeper, but for today, that is all I have!

Clean Your Mirror

| A Musing Writer

Mirror_Blog

Quick Welcome Back from Hiatus

Hello everyone!

Well the summer is coming to a close, and that means that my summer hiatus is also concluding. It has been an interesting summer with the United States still in its abnormal state. Nonetheless, I am happy to have been able to relax for a few months.

Since I last wrote, I was a fresh graduate. Two months later, I am still a pretty new graduate, but I think I have had some time to just rest and think about what I want my life to look like now that school is over. Rest is so important for everyone, including writers like me. On my Instagram a few weeks ago (@amusingwriter), I explained a little bit about why the hiatus is necessary. I also participated in a photo challenge, so feel free to check that out!

The first reason is writers’ block. I know many writers who make lists during their period of inspiration to look back on when they hit the dreaded period of no inspiration, but unfortunately, I have yet to put this into practice.

The second reason is that I want to be able to ensure that what I write on this blog is inspired by prayer. Truly, prayer is what should drive us to do the things we do. Can we do things without prayer? Technically, yes. But the things we do that don’t come from prayer tend to stray towards a road of sin.

With that long introduction, I come to the topic I want to write on today: mirrors. Continue reading →

Patience in the Fire

| A Musing Writer

Holy Spirit
An Autumn Sunset. Taken by me on my way home from work one evening. October 2017.

A Reflection on Pentecost Sunday

I was in Third Grade, and my teacher was a lady who hated the word “stuff.” She said that there was always a better word to replace it with, and that was why we should learn and memorize our vocabulary.

A little later on in life, in sixth grade, I had a Reading teacher who would explain to us why cursing was bad. It wasn’t your typical “it’s taking the name of the Lord in vain,” although that was emphasized. She said that whenever you curse, there was always a better way to express yourself, and that cursing actually limits your vocabulary because you tend to stick to what is comfortable, and when you are comfortable cursing, it becomes a part of  your speech that is difficult to remove as you grow older.

Continue reading →

Head Above Water

| A Musing Writer

Clearing the Fog

don't let me drown
The Verazzano Bridge. Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Photo taken by my sister, Annie Vogel.

Dearest readers,

It has been quite some time since my last blog post, so I’m sorry about that! Once classes moved online, I was really overwhelmed and was adjusting to quarantine life. Since school has ended, I kind of have just been decompressing. But alas, I have a pretty intense experience to share with you all! And buckle in, it’s a long one this time (to be expected, since I must make-up for lack of content somehow!)

Today, my family and I were driving back to New York from Washington D.C. after moving my sister out of her dorm room. It was a hot, humid, and sunny day today, and we were outside for about an hour doing a photo shoot for her graduation. It was a relatively enjoyable day, save the humidity, but it’s D.C. … what should I expect.

Continue reading →

What Do You Love?

| A Musing Writer

What do you love_
July 2019. Little Italy, Manhattan, NY. (The warmest day of the year)

Hello everyone,

Although it’s actually been fairly recently since my last blog post, I have come to the conclusion that I will never truly be able to have a regular posting schedule, and I am perfectly okay with that.

Anyway, I think it would be safe to say that I am officially old because I am now listening to podcasts in my car on the way to school. Well, not old, but it definitely makes me an adult. And not a young one.

All kidding aside, the podcast I listen to is called the Abiding Together Podcast (no, they are not paying me to write about their podcast). In particular, I listened to their episode on St. Catherine of Sienna, which is part of a 4 part series on the Women Doctors of the Church (amazing!). I have been craving the knowledge about the Church Fathers and Doctors since the beginning of my time in college. Parched and almost dead from the lack of education on these matters, the

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Stop Playing Tug-of-War With God: A Lesson on Surrender

| A Musing Writer

Hello everyone!

Surrender-A Musing Writer
Self-timed photo from Nov 2018. Me and my doggy, who I lost almost a year ago

As per usual, I am issuing an apology regarding the irregularity of my posts. It’s funny because I was speaking with a classmate and a professor this morning about how terrible I have been at posting regularly on this blog (even though I have to post regularly on my academic blog). And here I am, a few hours later, revved up with inspiration and insight! God is amazing.

So, today, I tried playing tug-of-war with God. And yes, I know you are probably retorting something like, “Well, I’m sure THAT’S going to go well.” And you would honestly be justified in the judgement.

Continue reading →

Forever

| A Musing Writer

To those who have been hurt

Forever - Blog Post.png
March 2018. Marseilles, France.

Hello everyone!

Well, it certainly has been a while, hasn’t it, my friends? Schoolwork weighed me down quite a bit this semester, and to be honest, I haven’t had much inspiration to write. My life has been going swimmingly, if you were wondering.

Today, I wanted to reflect on the idea of “Forever.” Right now, I am in the midst of finals (so yes, I am procrastinating just by writing this), and I am listening to music while studying. I came across the song “Forever,” by Lewis Capaldi. It is a heart-wrenching song addressed to a former lover. It struck home when I first heard it, and that was before I saw my friend’s post. I would suggest taking a listen before you read the rest of the post (although, it isn’t necessary in order to understand the message).

Continue reading →

Don’t be Lukewarm

| A Musing Writer

Okay, yes. Hello everyone!

St. Paul blog graphic

I know I said I would publish something by the end of the week last week, but hey, life gets in the way. I will write a little about my enlightenment from St. Paul last week, as promised, but I also want to tie in a little about my general worldview by dipping my toes into the MBTI typing system. If you don’t really know what that is, you can click the link and take the test, or if you don’t want to do that, you can just click here to get a general idea of what it is or here to read about the different types.

Continue reading →