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I Have Seen Miracles .............. << previous // next >>
Well...it is time to type another diary entry. The other one seems to be getting somewhat stale (at least in my own mind). So, out with the old and in with the new. This entry might not be half as thought-provoking as my old one, but hey...I needed to update this. So...I have to be getting to work in about an hour, so perhaps this entry will seem rushed and mindless. This is just another day in the life of Mary Shaw...a 19-year-old girl who enjoys scribbling in her diary from time to time. Yesterday I went to what is called a healing mass. It was about 20 minutes from where I live and it was a very enlightening experience like I've never felt before. The cathedral was absolutely breath-taking, standing upright infront of the watercoloured-sunset. It was sheer beauty and the thing was that it was located literally in the midst of nowhere! This area was more suburban than anything else. Everywhere I looked, I saw farmland and only two-lane roads. It was really simplistic and somewhere that I'd consider living in the future. There's something about a homely place like that which makes my blood trickle through my veins with delight. It's not only the simplicity, but it's this feeling of contemplative reflection. I can't really explain it, but it's soothing and it really does calm your nerves (not to mention relieves any stress/tension you might have had prior to coming). So, the cathedral was like nothing I had seen before. It looked more like a castle than anything else and the steeple at the top had this gold little ball which shone brightly (even in the evening). The area surrounding the cathedral was just a natural vast field on either side. There was so much space. It was just incredible! The sky was washed with hues of lavender, cotton candy pink and orange. Absolute beauty. When I went inside, I had this calm and collected feeling like I hadn't experienced often before this. The cathedral was so spacious and at the front, right behind the altar, there was this glorious painting on the dome-like back wall, of Our Lady. The background was gold and sparkled enchantingly. Our Lady had her arms out to her side with her palms up. There were paintings of other saints (one on either side of her). I think one of them was Saint Michael the Archangel. The sides of the cathedral also were dome-shaped and they had places where you could kneel down to pray and meditate. Anyway...so...aside from the physical beauty of this old cathedral, the special healing mass was also interesting. I'm sure that you've seen healing masses on television. Let me tell you something....they are NOTHING compared to this place. Besides, most of those healing masses on television are fake, pretentious and even blasphamous. This one was genuine. After everyone received special prayers from the priest and the bishop, a lady had a blessed medallion and made the sign of the cross on each person. We lined up for this. Then, you were supposed to kiss the medallion and after that, she prayed. It looked like some people fainted, but actually, the Lord was healing them. At first, I was kinda scared (as I was lining up), seeing a couple of people just fall right down like that. I've never seen something so dramatic before. I'm telling you, if you have any doubts about religion or faith or the existence of God, if you go to a healing mass, that will all change (if you're not stubborn to ignore the obvious). I really do believe that these people were getting direct healing from God. Wow...I had always heard about this kind of thing before, but it never hit me like it should have. Wow....I witnessed a few miracles! It's very miraculous indeed. That kind of dramatic healing didn't happen to me (I didn't fall down or faint), but I know that the Lord is healing me in other ways. I felt this calm presence when I was being prayed over. It was an interesting experience and one that I'll never forget. For those of you who are skeptical or cynical, rest assured, there were no hypnotists (if that's what you call them) or anything to do with black magic or any of that evil nonsense. I am a Catholic. All of my recollections may sound very bizarre to the light-hearted among you, but they are all true. I never used to believe in this sort of thing before (fainting from a healing mass and such), but I saw it happen last night. Miracles do exist in everyday life. I was priviledged to have seen it through my own eyes at the age of nineteen. So, after the healing mass was over, we all said the Rosary. When I left the cathedral that night and looked at the sky, it was so beautiful. It had gotten darker and because of the great fields to the left and right of the cathedral, the sky seemed almost endless. I'm going to take pictures of the place the next time that I visit it. Perhaps I'll even post them up sometime. You really cannot understand the true beauty of which I speak, until you see it. I found out recently that one of the courses I had enrolled in for my first year at university, was cancelled. The reason? The professor no longer teaches that course. Well...shouldn't they have told me before when I was enrolling? I enrolled in the beginning of June and they're just telling me now. At this time, most courses are full or are cancelled. Anyway...the natural science course that was a requirement for me was the one that was cancelled (*sarcastic remark* GREAT!). This is how it goes: You have to choose a 1000-level 9.0 credit course in either the natural sciences or the humanities. Whatever course (of the two) that you didn't take in the first year, you have to take in your second year. By the second year, you must have completed both in order to continue in your major. I was planning to take the natural science course about biomedical ethics in first year, just to clear it out of the way, but since it was cancelled, I took this other course (which is in the humanities) and is Science and Human Thought. That's also quite interesting. I'm still going to have to call the Student Services tomorrow (today they're closed) about my tuition fee. Apparently, they messed up my Pay-At-The-Bank stub and I have to clarify and rectify the problem before I re-calulate the amount due and pay them. *sigh* The annoyance of beginning university for the first time. Everything is so new and I feel raw and exposed. You know what? I'm so addicted to this group's songs. They're called Lifehouse and I swear, I love them to death. My favourites are "Breathing", "Sick Cycle Carousel", "Quasimodo" and "Hanging By A Moment". Their songs are so deep and meaningful. I've gotten to the point in my life where I've become sick of shallow lyrics that just talk about the average girl crushing on a boy. That's right....goodbye Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears (not that I was ever a huge fan of them anyways to begin with). Lifehouse offers lyrics with much more depth and I notice that they can be interpreted in so many ways. Their music is beautiful and catchy to me. They aren't classified as "pop". I think that they're more under alternative and I'm finding that I'm liking more raw, edgy, demanding songs over giddy, hyper tunes. I enjoy a wide variety of music, but this kind seems to appeal the most to me. My Dad doesn't care for Lifehouse, nor does my mother. My boyfriend says that it's 'okay'. Oh well...I enjoy it and I think that I've been overplaying it way too much...haha...I hope that I don't make myself sick of them (although I have been known to do that from time to time). Last night when I was talking to my boyfriend, he was being really sweet. He made me smile so much. I'm just the luckiest girl in the world to have a boyfriend like Danny. He's the best. He calls me so often and he's not like your typical guy who tries to cover up his emotions (which I absolutely hate). He's so open and believe me, he's asked me some really blatant questions......haha........*grin*...tsk tsk, Danny! Haha....Oh yeah...last night I 'scared' his friend, "Ricky Dicky" off.(<--inside joke) I think that this is the fastest summer ever. I hardly even feel like I'm on vacation, even though the calendar reminds me of it. I can hardly believe that July is almost over and then there's only one more month before I start classes at university for the first time. Oh yeah...speaking of the end of this month, the 31st is my boyfriend and my 6th month anniversary. Oh...and before you go rolling your eyes out of their sockets, I'll have you know that I'm the kind of girl who goes crazy for each month anniversary. I really believe that it's all the days inbetween that count. I know that it's not possible to spend time with my honey for our 6th month anniversary because his university exams are going on that week (poor baby). He'll be in my thoughts (as he always is) and as long as I know that he's thinking about me (amidst his computer science and calculus...haha), then I'm okay with that. I've never been the superficial materialist and I pray to God that I'll never be one. I swear, I can be the cheapest date in the world. I thrive more on going to the park rather than buying stuff. I'm not a cheapskate either though. I spend in moderation and only on what is absolutely necessary. Of course, once in a while, I'll splurge and indulge myself in frivalous fun stuff (who doesn't?). I know my budget though. Right now I've got to save up for university and the long years ahead of me. Right now, from my part-time job, I've saved up enough money to cover the first two years of university. I'm hoping to get an on-campus job in first year or second year. I'm also hoping to meet some really interesting people with diverse thoughts and personalities. I want to make friends of all kinds and not just hang around in one definite clique. Now that university has the larger social aspect, I want to utilize it and branch out even more. High school was too exclusive, I think. Still, back then, I did have lots of different kinds of friends. I think the coolest thing about my group of friends is that we all came from different cultures/races/backgrounds and we all had different tastes in music, clothing, etc., but there was something that glued all those differences together. That was the difference itself. We bonded through our differences and none of us were closed-minded when it came to something new. We respected each other and knew how to have a good time. It was really interesting how if you came into the highschool's cafeteria at lunch, you'd see all the groups hanging out and it was like a racial division. All the Filipinos were together. All the Africans were together. All the Italians were together. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying that I prefer more diversity. My group didn't eat lunch in the cafeteria often. We more or less hung around in the hallways or outside in the field or parking lot. We had all races ranging from Polish to Italian to Chinese to Filipino to African to English. It was very cool and I'm hoping that I can find the same kind of mix in university. At least there will be more choices. Oh...and don't think that I choose my friends according to race. It just so happened that everyone came from a different background (which was a bonus). I learned so much about other ethnicities through them. We're all Catholic though, as we attended a Catholic highschool. When I go to university, I know that not everyone will be a Catholic and that's A-OK with me. I do not hold biases against other religions (hey...my boyfriend isn't a Catholic and I care about him to pieces). I DO value mine though and will hang on to the faith until the day I die. Well....I'll have to start getting ready to go to work soon, so I'll have to cut this diary entry shorter than I would have wanted. Sooo....take care and always remember to SPREAD THE SUNSHINE!!!!!! ~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-. ME: RIGHT NOW ---> Trivial little tidbits which you didn't need to know, but I'm telling you anyway *smirk* ~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-.~.*-. EYES: Bonne Bell "Black Shimmer" eyeliner, black thickening mascara on top and bottom eyelashes, white eyeshadow on browbone NAILS: natural and kind of gross LIPS: Natural, but I'll be putting some purple lip gloss on before I go to work. HAIR: Blowdried straight and made into 2 braided ponytails....(very different from the usual curliness) THINKING ABOUT: Ice cream. I'm going to have some before I head off for work. *oink oink* WISHING: I had more time to write a better entry. SONG STUCK IN MY HEAD: " Breathing " - sung by Lifehouse SONG I'M LISTENING TO NOW: " Quasimodo " - sung by Lifehouse NOTE TO SELF - this is a section where I write about something that happened to me, whether funny, insightful or not (everyone else ignore this): " You should see how my girlfriend talks to ME! " Haha.... 
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Thursday July 26th, 2001. - 4:13 PM