St. Cecilia's Feast Day; Giveaway.

In honor of my confirmation saint, St. Cecilia (now you know where my middle name comes from :D), I am doing a quick blog before I go study for my Philosophy exam. I will try not to repeat what I wrote last year.

A little background info on St. Cecilia courtesy of the "Saint of the Day" application on Facebook.

"ST. CECILIA
This patroness of music lived in early times. What we know about her goes back to the fourth century. Cecilia was a Roman noblewoman who had given her heart to Christ. Beneath the rich clothes worn by women of her class, Cecilia wore a rough shirt that caused her suffering. She wanted to be able to offer this sacrifice to Jesus, whose bride she intended to be. But Cecilia's father gave her in marriage to a young pagan noble. It is said that during the wedding celebration, the lovely bride sat apart. She was singing to God in her heart and praying for his help. When she and Valerian, her husband, were alone, she gathered up courage and said to him: "I have a secret to tell you. You must know that I have an angel of God watching over me. If you let me keep my promise to be Christ's bride only, my angel will love you as he loves me."

Valerian was surprised and said kindly, "Show me this angel. If he comes from God, I will do as you wish."

Cecilia said, "If you believe in the one true God and receive the waters of Baptism, then you will see my angel." Valerian went to Bishop Urban and was received with joy. After he had professed his belief in the Christian religion, he was baptized and returned to St. Cecilia. There by the saint's side, the young man saw the splendid angel.

Valerian's brother, Tiburtius, learned of the Christian faith from Cecilia. She spoke so beautifully of Jesus that before long, he too was baptized. Together the two brothers performed many works of charity. When they were arrested for being Christians, they went bravely to death rather than give up their new faith in Jesus. St. Cecilia lovingly buried their bodies, before she too was arrested. She converted the very officers who tried to make her sacrifice to false gods. When she was put into a fire, it did not harm her. At last, a man was sent to behead her. He struck her neck three times, but Cecilia did not die right away. She lay on the floor of her own home unable to move. Yet by holding out three fingers of one hand, and one of the other, she still professed her belief in the Blessed Trinity.

On this feast of the patroness of music, let us consider the words of St. Augustine: "Words cannot express the things that are sung by the heart..And if so happy that words can no longer express what they feel, people discard the restricting syllables. They burst out into a simple sound of joy, of jubilation.'"

I've always said that she choose me, not the other way around... and I couldn't be happier about that. Reading her story, about how on her wedding day she heard music in heart, because she'd be given it to God, sort of reminds me of the lovely (yet kinda weird) experience I had at Mass nearly 2 years ago. I often pray that God sends me a good man, like He did to St. Cecilia.

Oh, btw, that experiment I mentioned a couple of entries ago about using music to help me study? Totally helped... and I owe that idea to St. Cecilia. :) I'm pretty sure I passed the latest math exam, and he'll allow me to retake the last exam because he noticed that most (if not all) of us weren't passing the exams. I'll be alright. I owe part of that to Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, but I'll leave that for another entry. :)

Oh, btw, I'm giving away two The Priests CDs in honor of St. Cecilia's feast day. Yeah, I left that until the end. lol. Just send me an email, twitter DM, or leave me a comment with your name and e-mail address and let me know that you'd like to enter the random drawing. I'll choose the winner on Monday (for Music Monday). (side note: The winners of the St. Dymphna chaplet and prayer card, the items are on their way. Sorry I couldn't get them sent sooner.)

I will try to write as often as I can but I don't know if I will for the rest of the week. I have two more exams to do before Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday through Sunday I will be spending time exploring my beloved England (particularly London and Bath -- squee! lol) as I do a little bit more research for the novel (the last piece of the novel writing puzzle). I will be back (without too much stress... I hope ;)) on Monday. :)

I hope everyone had a great, blessed weekend. :) As always, thanks for reading and God Bless. :)