Joy and Exaltation

Good Sunday Morning! I hope you're all doing well since last I posted (I'll assume you are, since I probably see most of you lovely readers a few times a week). I find it tough to write very much when I come back after a long time away from here, so this post will be short and sweet, but full of happiness and excitement about Jesus. Sound good? Great! On we go.

So, as a junior in college now, I know I should be looking for jobs that will actually add something to my resume other than words, but I do not have one of those jobs this semester. Instead, I've taken a job at the university's Hillel (Jewish student center, for those who don't know) heating, serving, and cleaning up food for the Shabbas dinner on Friday nights. It's not a particularly labor intensive job, and the students seem to appreciate the Shabbas goys (non-Jews who do our job) being there for them. You might wonder, then (or I'm going to assume you might wonder), why I took the job if it doesn't do anything for my resume and it eats up five hours of my Friday nights. The short answer is that I think it's cool. The long answer is that already I've learned about the Jewish tradition, and been able to observe people my own age living out their faith in a serious way. Also, they encourage me to eat and take leftovers home, and I don't know of anyone else who gets paid to do almost nothing, gain interesting knowledge, and eat for free.

Speaking of Friday and tradition, this past Friday was the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and one of the most awesome feasts on the liturgical calendar. I didn't know it until I came to college, but I've loved this weekend in September for a long time, and that is tied to my love for a particular hymn, "Lift High the Cross". When I was a little girl, I latched onto this hymn as a personal favorite for a reason as yet unknown to me or to anyone else. As I was wont to do then, I memorized the hymn and would sing it or hum it for a few weeks after whichever Sunday was closest to the Feast of the Exaltation. For the past three years since being here in Washington, my father, who always remembers to send little things to cheer me up, has sent me an email with the music for the hymn attached whenever his parish's choir sings it at Mass. I received that email this morning, and played the hymn as I always do, and I realized for a second that I'd forgotten how much I like it, especially now being a particular devotee of the Cross.

I guess it's weeks like this when I'm truly thankful for being here at my school, where I'm constantly learning about the world, my faith, and myself. I forget occasionally how good God is to me, and then He goes and reveals it in the start of Adoration, a job learning about His chosen people as predecessors to His covenant with all people, and the simple joy of a little music telling of His goodness. It's a good morning indeed when I can look around and behold God in everything I see.

Here's a little "Lift High the Cross" for you. Fair warning: This version is pretty epic.  :)