Don't look back

(a really cool photo taken of me by Holly when she was here this past week!)

Genesis 19: 16-17,26

16

When he hesitated, the men, by the LORD'S mercy, seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and led them to safety outside the city.

17

As soon as they had been brought outside, he was told: "Flee for your life! Don't look back or stop anywhere on the Plain. Get off to the hills at once, or you will be swept away."

26

But Lot's wife looked back, and she was turned into a pillar of salt.

How often is looking back a bad idea? Often I look back at "my city" the places I used to spiritually reside and those I used to be intimately involved with, wondering how I can help my brother or sister, how I failed, or how comfortable it was... Just as Lot must have wanted to do when he was told to not look back... he was probably wondering about his sons-in-law whom he had warned. Probably always hoping that at the last minute they left...

14

So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had contracted marriage with his daughters. "Get up and leave this place," he told them; "the LORD is about to destroy the city." But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

This weekend I made a mask for a masquerade, Michelle, her roommate Michelle, and I are going to in Connecticut this friday. We also took time out for prayer and cooked several meals together, with Marine providing a nice french meal on Sunday night. And somewhere in all of the excitement, we took time to review St. Ignatius' first six rules as a group. ( http://cfpeople.org/Books/Exercise/EXERCISEp15.htm )

It's incredible, the wisdom in these rules. They remind you how much one needs to focus on God and God alone, how when you look to "earthly things" you begin to fall away from peace, joy, hope and everything that makes life a beautiful symphony.

It's like riding a bike on mountainous trails or on slick roads... point the head wheel in the direction you want to go, the rest will follow. Regardless of how out of control the rest of the frame feels, if you focus on this one thing (and the small things that support keeping the wheel pointed to where you want to go) you'll be riding smoothly soon enough. You just have to trust.

Sometimes I forget to keep my eyes on the Cross. I forget to do the small things, the quick exclamations of prayer, the moments of meditation, the daily reflections, the minor acts of penance (i.e., not eating ice cream after every meal or waiting ten minutes before I do). And in these times I find my feet moving away from the Cross and I find myself becoming the saviour, "how can I.."? Instead of realising that there is only one who can save someone, only one who's prescence can move mountains, can bring hope to desolations dark, can bring joy to someone considering suicide, can bring meaning to a life devoid.

And He bore a cross, I can't even bear discomfort.

A bit of ketchup or is that fried tomato...

So this is stuff from last week...

Two weekends ago I was trying to head to Iowa for a visit with friends... but turns out I got snowed into Minneapolis/St. Paul... luckily a week prior to that, on my community's retreat in Connecticut, I had felt the prompting of the holy spirit tell me that I was going to get snowed into MSP... so I asked Fr. Joseph for his info. (Mind you I was pretty sure I was flying through Detroit and not MSP, and I also hadn't looked at weather reports since early January... and those were for Paris.) Fr. Joseph is the only priest in the US part of the community right now, and also happens to be living in MSP.



When I got to MSP I discovered I was in one of the worst blizzards in 5 years... Almost complete white out conditions at times.

But we enjoyed our time, and prayed/praised/adored God together so it was quite fantastic...

(Fr. Joseph)

(Fr. Jay)

Fr. Jay is Fr. Joseph's house mate (Each of them serve two separate parishes in the surrounding area. And they are both fantastic men.)

Marine, Michelle (Kafel) and Michelle (Thibodeau aka. the beautiful girl I'm dating.) This is on the subway after adoration/drinks... we were heading back to my place to cook a dinner with my roommate (this was around 10pm... and an hour away from my place... late night late night.)

And this would be me on the same train ride... go fig.

This is the Michelles and Brooks (my roomie) in our dining room eating the first meal I had in the house...

It was a pasta with sautéed veggies, and goat cheese... followed by yogurt with wine, sugar and fruit. Tastey!

so the world seems oh so right

I'm sitting listening to someone I once had lunch with in Alexandria,
LA sing to the catholic underground in nyc... While a saxaphonist who
toured with Hendrix across the world plays percussion in a franciscan
habit... And the world for the first time in months seems so amazing.
So beautiful. I've been incredibly blessed this past week and
month... I now have a place to eat cereal every morning when I wake
up, a bed that will always be mine and a room that is quiet and
peaceful where I can rest from the world and recjoice in God my
creator. And I have been blessed with an amazing gift, a holy,
beautiful, loving and giving woman of God who has entrusted me with
her heart... My life has been reenchanted... And all it took was hours
and hours of prayer from myself and from every soul I begged from and
a turn in my heart.

My life is amazing and as I told Michelle, it looks as if it is only
going to get so so much better!

--
God bless and keep you,
Edward
Are you a Catholic interested in going to India this summer? Tell me!

http://sirhair.blogspot.com/
http://faithorbust.blogspot.com/
Mortem tuam annuntiamus. Domine, et tuam resurrectionem confitemur,
donec venias.

Negative Model Space

So we had a model in class the other day, and these are the paintings I made (all on forms of paper)... they are from first to last painted...