FIVE QUESTIONS

These are the questions given to me by Aussie Therese over at Aussie Coffee shop. Here are the rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me".
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5.When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

So it is now over to ME to interview YOU- if you want to be interviewed by ME just pop a comment in the comment box. Hope my answers are not too long and dull.

Thanks!

Please continue to pray the NOVENA of LIFE or whatever prayer you feel most potent that FOCA will not be passed later this month (see earlier post WITH A LITTLE BIT OF GRACE - FOCA for more information and pro-life poem) Thanks to all those who have read this earlier post and commented -I have replied to all of you. May we continue to unite in prayer for the chorus of tiny beating hearts which are being threatened in the one place they should be assured of safety.

1. What is the best place you have traveled to?

Apart from Lourdes and Nevers- which would be obvious- I think it has to be Tanzania in East Africa. It is a beautiful country and I got to see incredible things and meet incredible people. I went to Ngororo crater which is a natural wonder of the world and marvelled at the amazing expanse of the world and God. I also saw how much of a struggle life is for some people- how they accept it with great joy and a sense of perseverance- obviously not all of them but many of them. Most of all I got to meet the children and I don't think a day passes when I don't think about the kids in the orphanage I visited- about leaving them standing at the gate as we drove away. I think about them standing in the T-shirts that went down to their ankles and I think about how wet their cheeks were with tears when they were sitting on my lap. I think about how easily they came to us and how they didn't want to let go. The orphanage was run by nuns, the superior herself was disabled- they had lots of help but also lots of kids and they seemed loving but exhausted.

The most uplifting part of the trip was when I visited the school run by the order of St. Francis De Sales. I saw how close the priests and nuns were to the community, how much they were relied upon and loved. They ran two schools and a hospital- providing glasses- they were making a HUGE difference to the lives of the people. I realised very quickly that they were really living the Gospels.

I also had a great time with my friends. My best friend (and current flat mate) was living there at the time and there was a lot of laughing like maniacs and winding each other up. It was perfectly balanced trip.

2. If you could go anywhere in the world for free where would you go and why?

Hmmmmmm I think I would go to the Holy Land and try to get a sense of where Christ walked, the land that surrounded him and the sky he looked at. I would like to be in Jerusalem where the three major world religions meet. I would like to talk to lots of people and get their perspective on things.

3. Why did you start blogging?

This is a hard one- it started when I was looking up action I could take over the FOCA bill from abroad- what I could do to support Catholics in the States. I started googling and came across a couple of great blogs. I had never even seen a blog before- just heard about them. Suddenly this whole world opened up. I am one of those people who writes to live. Writing is like breathing and I guess I thought- why don't I share what I love most; my writing and my faith? I tend to write mostly about my faith in my journal and I wondered if what I had written over time might appeal to people. I wanted to tell people about why I love Catholicism and what brings me to my knees. I wanted to tell them that they are loved. I wanted to defend the life of unborn children.

I was utterly uncertain anyone would want to read it- after all I am not a philosopher or a priest or a specialist. People seem to be reading and I seem to learning so much from others I don' t think I will ever be able to give up now that I've started.

4. Do you have a favourite saint story?

Well I am going to go with the obvious one I am afraid. Bernadette of Lourdes. She never ceases to amaze, inspire and speak to me. Bernadette was like a window, through which you can see across the divide between this world and the other. She had a beautiful privilege and grace but always remained so humble and aware of her own flaws- she was not someone who floated around cloisterswith her mind on great concepts (although this is important too). She was someone who got down in the dirt with the rest of us and tried to be holy every day. What impresses me most is the sheer purity of her truth "I have nothing to fear because I have always told the truth" "I am not here to make you believe me but simply tell you what I have seen" and the wisdom which came from her simplicity "God speaks to the heart without the noise of words".

Finally to look upon her body. What more can I say? From Lourdes to Nevers

5. Do you like to eat seafood?

I love the stuff!