catholic

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

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 →

A Knowing in Not Knowing

| A Musing Writer

A musing on the end of the world, eschatology, and egoism

Yesterday, an acquaintance/friend of mine asked me about how I think the world is going to end.

img_4849.jpg
I searched for this picture in particular because the friend I was speaking with took it, so it is to prove that we as good friends are able to have somewhat civil discussion about faith.

As a Catholic, I don’t think about this topic much, if at all. This young man is not Catholic, and he was raised in the Lutheran Church. However, now he considers himself non-denominational. He did go to the Catholic Mass on campus pretty much every week, so that was good to see (although he received the Holy Eucharist, even after we discussed why he cannot), and he has asserted that he is not against the Catholic Church, and this fact should be well remembered as you go through this musing. There are many things I can say on that matter, but for today, I want to write about the specific topic of an impending doom that many, like my compatriot, sense.

Continue reading →

Music Mends, Language Loves

| A Musing Writer
img_6014
The beautiful basilicas at the candlelit Rosary Procession

3 months. A quarter of a year. And I still hurt. It has been about 90 days without our dog. I can’t say that it has been easy. The house is still full of silence, but occasionally, I will sit and play the piano. Now that the semester has finished, I have time to play the piano without feeling guilty about it. I usually warm up with some hymns from a hymnal my 7th grade religion teacher gave me, and then I’ll play some classical music or Broadway music. It is always a much-needed catharsis, and it always has been in times of trial.

I meant to post this last week, but as the way of writers go, nothing ever works out as planned.  Continue reading →

Corpus Christi and the Veil

| A Musing Writer

And also a little about Lourdes…at last.

To put it upfront, it was a difficult decision for me to write this post. Well, at least the second half of that title.

Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi in the Catholic Faith, and it was providence that had me work on a graphic on the Feast of Corpus Christi this week at my internship. This feast day celebrates the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and it is the total essence of the Catholic Church. The Eucharist is the physical presence of God in our lives. The moment of consecration is the moment where Heaven and earth come together, and a miracle happens. I started feeling something in my heart when I was sixteen years old. This was around the time when I started going to Adoration on a monthly basis at my high school. At first I only went for the social aspect. But as I kept going and going, it was something I realized I couldn’t live without. I needed to lay at the feet of Jesus for that hour and pray. I continued going until I graduated from high school.

Continue reading →