"Love without limit"

July 3, 2015

Nevers, France

“Jesus gives everything to the one who has left everything.”

I am still in the process of figuring out how I can leave everything. How I can deny myself and create room in my heart for God to enter more deeply. I am still in the process of letting go of worldly things and committing myself to Christ and virtue. I have a ways to go before I have “left everything,” but I know that as I let go of what keeps me from Christ, He is able to give me His everything, His Love.

As I left Düsseldorf, I sent away some of my luggage and felt my life being simplified. I still have everything I need, and I am able to live a pretty comfortable life out of a backpack and little carry on, but letting go of my luggage has been so freeing.

St. Bernadette lived such a simple life. Her example truly has moved me. The town of Nevers, France was so quaint. It felt wonderful to be in such a quiet, still place after being in a city for so long. The quietness was freeing.

Yesterday afternoon, I had the opportunity to visit the church where St. Bernadette’s body is still fully intact. Being present in the church where Bernadette lived, and seeing her lying there reminded me of all that I have learned through the stories of her life.

Her story contains too many details for me to possibly explain them all, but I’ll try to give you a little summary. St. Bernadette was not born poor, but her family became poor when she was only a child. She lived in poverty, with many health issues, without complaint. When she was a young teenager, the Virgin Mary appeared to her in a Grotto in Lourdes. Bernadette was not well educated due to her poor health. She struggled with persecution since she was not viewed as intelligent, but she always held firm to the truth of her experiences. Many people questioned Bernadette’s story and she always courageously and simply responded with the details of her experience. At the age of 22, St. Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, France and committed her life to Jesus and her vocation as a religious sister. She passed away in Nevers and was canonized as a saint in 1933. During the process of her canonization, her body was exhumed and found to be intact. Her body remains miraculously preserved in Nevers.

I heard St. Bernadette’s name for the first time at a conference for Catholic University students called SEEK in 2013. There were over 6,000 students at the conference and we had the opportunity to receive confession. During my confession, the priest told me to ask St. Bernadette to pray for me to have courage. I jotted her name down since I hadn’t heard of her before, and I left to pray.

As the years have gone by, I have slowly learned about St. Bernadette and the parallels of our two lives. Her continuous trust in God and willingness to be courageous in sharing His truth has inspired. The experiences and stories of her life have taught me so much about my life and have opened my eyes to ways that I can come to know God more and follow His will more closely.

Don't take a single moment for granted.

July 3, 2015

As I’m writing this, I’m riding on a train through France. It is crazy to think that I am no longer in Germany, but I know I will return again someday. I have fallen in love all over again with the German language, and I am so grateful for the opportunities and the experiences I had in Dusseldorf. The town truly has left footprints on my heart.

While I was living in Düsseldorf, I took the tram a lot to get downtown or to get to school. As I rode by various shops, I always thought: “Oh! I should stop there sometime.” As time tends to do, it went by quickly, and in a flash my study abroad trip had come to an end. I didn’t get to see all of the shops I wanted, or attend all of the events I wanted, but I had so many other experiences.

As I approached the end of my stay in Düsseldorf, I realized how important it is to appreciate each moment. I walked down the street to St. Margareta, the church I attended during my trip, and felt fully present as I realized it was my last time making that walk. On my last night in Düsseldorf, I hung out by the Rhine River with Sammie and William. It was so great to just sit and relax and recognize the beauty of the city that I called home for six weeks.

My time in Düsseldorf felt so normal. I went to school and church. I hung out with my friends and my host family. I did my homework. I practiced piano. I cooked. I read. I did so many things that are normal for my life, that I was able to concentrate on being fully present and grateful each day. While traveling, it is so easy to get caught up in the blur of things. Everything goes by so fast and so much happens that it is easy to lose track of what is happening while it is happening. I am so grateful that I had six weeks in Düsseldorf. The comfort I experienced there allowed me to really soak up everything that I was learning as the trip progressed.

My advice for you: don’t take a single moment for granted.

Six weeks was a great length of time to be in Düsseldorf. I was able to experience so much. On the other hand, I also had a lot more that I could have done. Looking back, I don’t have regrets about what I did or didn’t do. That being said, I realized how important it is to truly be present and embrace the moment that we are living in.

In a blink of an eye, I said goodbye to a beautiful city and the wonderful people I met there. In a blink of an eye, my train drove out of the station and onto my next great adventure. In less than two weeks I will be home, where I can continue my journey with new eyes that have learned how to see things through a multitude of lenses. My moments here in Europe have not been taken for granted, and I have a duty to the knowledge that I have gained through my experiences to continue to learn and grow after I return home.