weekend graduation

Well this weekend was graduation for my roommate. It was a long ceremony but enjoyable in the summer sun with some other newly promoted seniors. Despite the awkward hugs between me and some "I kind of know you, and want to wish you luck in life but am not sure how to do it because we are not close" friends, I was very happy to see so many seniors off as they embark on the adventure of life.

Today I was thinking over the good byes to the senior class, my exciting summer away from the environment that has been home for over two decades, and the general nerve-racking excitement and nauseating experience of growing up and the changes that come with it.

God is so funny, and for many reasons. (This may seem like it is out of the blue, but just wait)

So, I'm sitting in the Chapel today during my lunch break, with all of the above thoughts swimming through my head. I am there praying and what scripture comes in front of me? Well let me tell you (I'll be quoting only the important lines)

Psalm 33:
"He frustrates the designs of the Nations, He defeats the plans of the peoples.
His own design shall stand forever, the plans of his heart from age to age.
...
The king is not saved by his army, nor a warrior preserved by his strength.
...
The Lord looks on those who revere him, on those who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine."

A small smile creeps across my face as a shake my head towards the Tabernacle. "Oh Lord," I whisper, "you know just what to say."

While it is important to get an education, to have somewhat of a "plan" for your life, the important thing is to keep it centered in Christ. For all the graduates who think they know exactly where they will be in 5 years, the Lord probably will "frustrate the designs" they have for their lives. He "defeats the plans of the peoples." But, not in a way that is malicious. God doesn't have the plan of a dictator, but the plan of a lover.

He is the Lover of our souls, our creator, and our sustenance. In the scriptures they use a word with a harsh connotation, "defeats." But they counter that in the next line. God may defeat our plans, but doesn't leave us alone holding onto our defeated human agenda. Since He is lover, He gives us "the plans of His heart." He gives us the deepest desires of His heart and trusts us to carry them out.

Nothing can resist the plans of the Lord. The king is defenseless and the warrior is weak. However, that is only the case when they go against the plan of the Lord. When we say no to the gift of God's plan from His heart, it is only an uphill losing battle.

Trust me, I'm the first one to admit that this is not easy. I'm a pack-rat when it comes to old bad habits. But once again, God reads the skeptics mind that thinks their human agenda isn't worth giving up. With His plan He "rescues the souls from death" as long as the souls revere Him.


Needless to say my short 20ish minutes of prayer time today began this nugget of thought. God is still working on me. And I always need to be reminded to calm down and trust Him. He's got a plan, and it's from the heart. All I have to do is follow.

overlooking the greatest beauty

I wrote this when I was studying abroad in Rome during the Fall of 2008. The pictures were taken while I was hiking with the group in the northern-ish area of Italy.

A traveler goes and sees a mountain for the first time. Coming upon it he is brought to silence and awe. His mind ponders, “How did this piece of earth become so tall? How did God create something so beautiful?” For certain he will sit and watch, taking in every detail and line, beauty and color of the mountain. And once the traveler is sure that he has seen all aspects of the mountain and its beauty, the mountain will reveal more. It will say to its forests and its faces “Let us show the weary traveler our beauty” and all of the nature will work together and the mountain’s splendor will ring out like a song.



The patient man will surely see more.

There is a man who lives in the town at the foot of the mountain. He passes the mountain every day, but it is nothing but a mountain. In his younger days he played in its forests and climbed its faces, touching its beauty and discovering its secrets. But as it always happens, the boy grew up and the mountain became simply a part of everyday life. Its beauty was still there, its secrets are waiting, but now the man is busy; his mind is filled up. It is only a mountain and there is no time for things like that.

Time and familiarity make us forget what we know.

It is amazing how a person can live amidst greatness and overlook it. To be in the presence of something bold, something radical, something scandalous, and not look twice.

If a person only encounters miracles then are they still miraculous? If the extraordinary becomes the ordinary, then how will we live when we witness them? It is when we become “familiar” with the divine that we become forgetful of its divinity.

For it is that way with our faith. A God whose love for us is that of a scandal, a radical love that does not, will not, and could not ever make sense to us – a divine love. It is with this love that he sent his son – a perfect sacrifice – to die for us. It is with this bold love that he claims us as his own and constantly pines for us. And it is with this same radical love that he gives us the choice to turn away from his beauty and love living our lives rejecting him.

How often do we sit at mass and forget what we are partaking in. Like the man and the mountain we once could hear the secrets of Christ’s love, we were discovering and exploring Love’s endlessness. But then we became content with what we knew. We stopped going deeper, we became “familiar.” We were satisfied with our place and stayed where we were. We forgot how radical God’s Love was, the scandal of his sacrifice, the boldness of his hand, and the deepness of his heart. In our familiarity we became blind. Our faith – once a radical love story was now familiar. What a tragedy that something so great is reduced to that of habit.

The man who lives on the mountain saw the traveler gazing up. He did not understand the visitors wonder, and so he takes a second look. He remembers the mountain’s friendship and his beauty – realizing what he has overlooked so many years of his life. Silently he thanks the traveler for gazing because it took the awe of a visitor for the man to remember the reality.



Let us not wait for a visitor to push us to forget our familiarity and rediscover the radical.

hindsight is 20/20

You are responsible for the consequences that come from the choices you make. Also, hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes that leads to being responsible for things you sometimes wish you didn’t choose.

I guess we have all been there. When all of a sudden you have bit off more than you intended to chew. Or you made a decision not knowing what other choices there were. It happens for insignificant things, like when you are at a restaurant and you order pizza for no other reason except that they are known for their pizza. Then when your famous pizza arrives you sit there envying your friend who ordered the burger, or salad, or pasta because that is what you actually wanted.

But you made a choice. So, you are left to eat a pizza and envision eating a juicy burger, crispy salad, or delicious pasta. And suddenly it doesn't matter if the pizza is famous. You didn't want it in the first place.

Hindsight is 20/20. For-sight, however, is not.

What to expect

I've never really blogged before. All I can hope is that I can do it right. I guess I should start by telling everyone what to expect. (This post serves a double purpose, it will also remind me to stay on topic for my blog posts.)

I was going to have a longer title for my blog. It was a good one too, like the kind you get excited about when you are done typing up a 15 page research paper and you just came up with the best title, with a semicolon and everything. Yeah. I had a good title like that, but it seemed too long. So, I'll just have to put it here. You ready? ahem.. "Could be randoms or reflections: Alexa's humble thought collection." Cute right? And a bit witty? The rhyming was a nice touch – turned it into a couplet which is poetry, albeit the simplest. But, alas, you cannot have everything in the world. I settled for the second half, “Humble thought collection.”

So why call it humble? And what is this bit about randoms and reflections? Let me tell you.

I call it humble because most of the time, the thoughts don’t come from me. They are usually triggered from something else and then as I mull them around in my head I don’t get anywhere with them, but when I share them with someone the magic happens. I can’t take full credit for these thoughts. They just kind of happen and then develop. I figure that I should put them somewhere though.

Random. These thoughts are usually random things that no one in particular would find interesting. But, then again, I think they are interesting, so maybe someone would. There probably won’t be a logical flow, or a building of ideas from post to post. Just an idea here, a rant there, perhaps a poetically phrased post thrown in, you know just to keep you guessing. Perhaps I will tag those posts with a “random.”

Reflection. These are things that have a spiritual or faith based nature to them. As I mentioned before a lot of my thinking doesn’t start with me. And I believe that it is the Holy Spirit who is a main catalyst for my thought process. Christ and Catholicism is such a central part of my life. It has formed so much of my life, my way of thinking, my actions, and my vision of the world. It is impossible to imagine my life without it. So, to make a long story short, there will be posts that have a reflective tone and subject.

So there you have it. What I hope to post in the blog. Some things thoughts I’ve stumbled upon throughout my young life that have made me stop and think. I hope whoever is reading this isn’t disappointed in what comes out of this experience. As for comments, I will try to respond to them quickly. Apologies if I am tardy though!

Cheers