I’ve decided to do 365 days of joy this year (inspired by the wonderful Raquel Kato. You can find her 365 days of Presence here). Some posts my be long, some may be only a sentence, but the important thing is finding joy in your everyday life, because there are so many things to be joyful about, but I tend to forget that. I’ll be posting one every Wednesday, and hopefully I can stay consistent with this. So here we go, week 5!
This quote was on replay in my mind when I was in Rome. I don’t know how anyone can go to the city and not come out of it with a yearning desire to do great things for Christ. All the beauty you see in Rome is for the Lord and it is so splendid that I can’t help but want to be apart of it.
01.29.15
Day one in Rome! There were so many things that brought me joy today, it’s hard to narrow it down, but I will try. I’ll be putting up a travel blog with all the details, but I’ll just list my top three favorites.
1.The Pantheon: I like old things, so this was top of my list of things to see in Rome. Also, I was unaware of how huge it is on the inside, it’s like the TARDIS in there!
2. Seeing the City of Angels. Angels are the bomb, and this massive stone structure with St. Michael on top of it is a great depiction of how powerful they are.
3. Finding a little church dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene.
01.30.15
Day two in Rome was even better than day one, although I’m pretty sure I ended up walking dang near 20 miles, but that’s being in Europe for you. My joy came from everything and anything I saw that was roughly over 1,500 years old. Here are my top three.
1. The Colosseum: I’m sure this doesn’t come to a shock to anyone, but I was quoting Gladiator the entire time I was in here. It was like a dream come true.
2. The Roman Forum: Just old buildings and pillars everywhere. Also, the place where Julius Caesar was buried. Here I was quoting Shakespeare a little too much.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears!
…and then I went back at night, and I went in this back way which I don’t think was technically legal, so I didn’t stay long…but it was beautiful.
3. Ok, so this isn’t 1,500 years old, but my third favorite thing was the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. It was stunning and huge and when you walked in you just felt like you were in Rome…that probably doesn’t make sense, but it’s true.
01.31.15
Today I went to Vatican City, and, most importantly, St. Peter’s Basilica.
It was amazing. My favorite part was actually when I got to escape the crowd and go into a side chapel and pray before a St. Joseph painting (if you didn’t know, he’s my favorite saint and he is awesome). It was crazy because there were hundreds of people in the Basilica, but for about 15 minutes I was the only one in this chapel and it was very peaceful.
The rest of the Basilica was completely magnificent and wonderful. The Church is just amazing. After wandering around the Basilica for a good, long while, I climbed to the top of the dome (551 stairs, to be precise) and I saw the greatest view in the world.
02.01.15
Today I left the Eternal City and went to Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. Also it is where the monastery that Bryan works for is located. Therefore, I got to see a couple great monks and I got to eat at Bryan’s Italian family restaurant–and let me tell you, it is the greatest feeling to walk into a restaurant in a small Italian city and have everyone working there exclaim “Magdalena! Ciao!” when you walk in..it made me feel so welcome and at home–it was wonderful. Also, Norcia is wonderful…I will have a much longer post about it on my travel blog…coming soon…or sometime in November.
02.02.15
Sadly I had to leave Rome today, but the view from the plane was spectacular.
02.03.15
Today I had the realization that within a month I would have a new niece or nephew very soon and that made me so incredibly happy!
02.04.15
Today I went to a Bible study at the military base in a town nearby. Yes, I was the only person who isn’t in a military family and I was the only person who isn’t married, but it was still really great! I joined the study on the book of Esther, so that’s awesome.
And there is my week of joy. Hope you all had amazing weeks as well and I love you all. Pax Ex.
Well, since this is a blog about finding Joy in your everyday experiences, I think this is an appropriate quote for the week. I will say, however, this was a pretty good week and it was not very difficult to find Joy everyday–God is beautiful all the time, and it’s so wonderful when we actually open our eyes and see His beauty all around us!
The Words in My Life 