Mary Magdalene: The Face of Faithfulness

What was considered to be a mega big insurmountable project in August is finally approaching the end. We talked about the face of faithfulness on Friday. Leana was a very convincing Mary Magdalene. She actually managed to cry during the whole interview. I wonder whether she ever considered using this skill to get what she wants with people. Anyway the Friday session was good for a number of reasons:

1) Friday's news item was the only one I did not manage to take care of compiling myself. Tutzi wrote the script. Not that she didn't do a good job and that I am some decedent of Shakespeare, but it did help me appreciate my budding talent as a writer just a wee bit more. Anyways, good job Tutzi! I know it's not easy to write a play from scratch.

2) More importantly, a real lot of youths made the step to give their lives to Jesus. That is what made all the sweat and tears to put up these Lenten sermons all worth while. The 'funny thing' is, we spent so much money to promote the event and, yet, the people that came to the sermons where there thanks to their friends and not thanks to our adverts. Poor Martine was thinking of retiring when she found out. (Martine deserves a big well done for all her hard work and dedication. When you see her, tell her, "Prosit!" And Martine if you're reading this...Well done!)

3) The theme song was played twice for the first time throughout the whole week. Couldn't help not being flattered...but...all for God's glory, all for God's glory. I'm glad they were able to worship Him with it.

Friday ended with fellowship at McDonald's in St. Julian's. Whilst everyone was looking at the menu, my eyes went straight on this big poster "Recruitment Day" that gave me something to chew on other than an extra value meal. They want summer workers...and I desperately want a summer job. I filled out an application form to work with EF and they still didn't get back to me. So...Marquita is still on the hunt to do something useful with herself during the holidays...

The Thief: The Face of Forgiveness

Thursday brought with it "my first harvest"...my long essay is hard bound and ready to be handed in! All I have left is Behavioural Science assignments were we have to stay writing about our feelings. It's not enough going to the Halland Hotel for three days talking about your feelings and trying to associate your mood with particular colours. You have to write everything down and stay processing everything in three 1, 000 word essays to see whether you managed to show significant personality improvements during those three days. You obviously all know how I'm going to write those 1, 000 words: 5% decency and 95% crap. Amazingly enough, that is how you do well in behavioural assignments.

Despite all the nonsense I still have left to do, I went to the forth session of Let's Face It!. Thursday sessions are usually dedicated to encouraging people to go to confession. In fact, we even provide priests for confession. So...what better face to discuss than the face of the "good" thief? (Quite paradoxical isn't it? I mean...how can a thief be 'good'?) This created a tiny problem when featuring our usual interviews - you cannot interview a thief dying on a cross can you? So, we just imagined that this guy had Robert Rizzo as a kid brother that witnessed everything at the foot of the cross.

Fortunately, Fr. Ray's talk was pretty short! Not because it was boring but because we had long ques for confession. Ushering all those youths was quite a headache that made me land on my bed stoned when I got home. But I won't complain. After all, we were just getting exactly what we prayed for!

Peter: The Face of Failure

On Wednesday, I had lectures at Medical School at St. Luke's. What better time to have a tiny heart-to-heart with Joelle? She impressively managed to give me a few minutes of her time just moments after I messaged her (she had duty on that day i.e. a long shift last for approx. 36-48 hours). The thing is, new feelings of failure keep cropping up from time to time i.e. I need to be scheduled for open heart surgery again.


Keeping with the general theme of that day, we discussed Peter as representing us all in our moments of failure. Stephan acted out the part of Peter in the Y4J News interview really well. I saw some real good (unexpected) talent which could be explained by either of the following possibilities:
1) He's a brilliant actor
2) He's been in Peter's shoes many times before
3) Both of the above


In any case, he deserves a real big well done for delivering so well. Fr. Ray also gave a good talk, which I found particularly encouraging, and Sam is getting better and better at animating meetings together with the rest of the band.

Hence, generally, Wednesday was a reminder that hard work does pay off some time or another, despite our failures and mishaps.

Judas: The Face of Betrayal

So, Tuesday was all about betrayal, represented by the face of Judas. The part of Judas was well acted out by Steve on the left during the Y4J News interview. And Fr. Ray surely dissected the interview very well during the talk. The turn out was good, the sound was better than Monday...can't wait for the rest. Me thinks that I'm going to end up with a huge empty feeling when all this will be over. Still, the 'unofficial' exam time table came out and I'm not happy with it at all. The most important exams are crammed within the first two weeks of the exam month. Although it is still unofficial and changes are possible, they're very unlikely. By the way, don't tell anyone about this...I've been told that we suppose to be totally oblivious to how are exam time table is going to be for now.

Barabbas: The Face of Fortune

I was supposed to have typed this post yesterday but I was too tired to do anything when I got back home. I didn't do the desired amount of studying but a lot went on yesterday...

Long Essay Done!
I officially finished my long essay and I took it to Copy Club for it to be hard bound today. Alleluia! That's one assignment I'm very glad to get rid of!

The Kekoo Experience
I went to buy a new text book (yep...towards the end of this scholastic year) at Kekoo in Naxxar just before going to St. Julian's for the 1st Lenten sermon. I must admit it was a "unique experience" with the kisses on the cheek (which he apparently gives to every customer), the free biro plus a ten minute autobiography of how his unbeatable prices and numerous amount of friends are taking the piss out of Mireva, Agenda and Indigo bookshops (with the latter shop being, today, non existent).

The 1st Lenten Sermon
The 1st Lenten Sermon was a pretty good start. The sound system was a bit disappointing (we're used to far better I guess). Otherwise, everything was simply great; from the drums and the dances to the talk given by Fr. Ray. Yesterday we talked about Barabbas representing the Face of Fortune. We introduced him through a "Y4J News Item", where he was interviewed by Martine "live from Jerusalem". Then there were the vox pops...lol...Matthew and Ian looked so good on the screen. :) The Archbishop came (fashionably late) and he led the adoration at the very end. Andrew took a few photos that can be found on the y4j website. They're not so clear but I don't have any pictures of my own so I'll have to make do with these...

This is the Day...

Decided to wake up early to do a bit of studying (to compensate for this evening). Today... (drum roll please) "Let's Face It!" Lenten sermons start.

Must admit, I'm not exactly looking forward to them, which is pretty sad as the whole team tried to contribute as much as possible to reach out to youngsters this Lent. Yesterday Youth Team had to be at St. Julian's to set up the place. Obviously I didn't go; my books require to much of my attention for me to be too generous with my time. Maybe that's the reason why I'm not so enthusiastic about these sermons at the moment...because of this fun sucking course I'm in! Not that I didn't know what I was going in for when I applied for it but anyways, I'm sure the rest of the Youth Team did a fantastic job at decorating the church. Maybe it will help me get into it a bit more. Seeing everything come together always feels good!

So...see you people at St. Julian's Parish church between 8pm-9pm. For those of you who cannot come or simply do not even bother to be bothered, I'll post daily updates on this blog...hopefully add some photos too. That's it for today. I'll post again later today.

"Spring Shower"

Time for a now post. Yesterday wasn't one of my most fruitful days. It must have been the weather. The very, very bad weather. I had a lecture at 10am and turned out to be pretty important i.e. I wasn't able to stay at home just because outside happened to be drizzling. So, I went out, walking it all the way from home to University without an umbrella. Since it hadn't rained for a while, I simply forgot where I left it and I had no time to stay looking for it. So, you can imagine how I ended up after 15 minutes walking in the rain. Apparently though, the Heavens thought I wasn't soaked enough. While trying to cross the road I was waiting for the cars to stop, and along comes a Maltese bus. It just had to drive into a huge puddle with an inappropriate speed that, basically, got me soaked. I went for the lecture dripping. One of my lecturers saw my hair, my face and all my clothes drenched, gave me her umbrella and suggested I should go back home and change...to avoid catching a cold! :S Catching a cold? With wet hair and clothes? ...

I must admit, there was one time where I lived with that misconception till one fine day I was given a life home by Joelle (M.D.) and said that I, as a medical student, should know better. So, let me try do something useful and pass on the same enlightenment I was given (by the way, I hope that this will not be the cause of any arguments with your parents at home).

1. The climate is only an enabler and not the cause of the cold
In simpler English, you need the "cold virus" to get the cold. You do not pick up infections from cold weather. You get germs from other people who sneeze or cough in your face or transmit germs with their hands to objects that you touch. A little detail for those who can take it...research shows that the most common way to get a cold is from someone who has a cold, sneezes on his hands, and then shakes yours.

2. But doesn't cold weather make the immune system weaker, or something of the sort?
For the anti-science individuals who are surprisingly reading this post, the immune system is a defence system found in the body that fights germs and infections all the time. But chilling does not really weaken your immunity (body defences). In 1958, some guys who had very little interesting things to do wrote a paper in the American Journal of Hygiene, (Vol. 68, pp. 659-65): "Transmission of the Common Cold to Volunteers Under Controlled Conditions". More than 400 volunteers were exposed to viruses that cause colds. Some were exposed to very cold temperatures while wearing heavy coats, some to 60 degree temperatures while wearing underwear, and some to a very warm 80 degrees. All had the same rate of infection. This shows that the crucial factor that determine whether you get a cold is being exposed to the virus that causes the cold.

Nevertheless here are a few No Nos that will remain despite the research:
1. When you're late for school/work and you're unable to find your umbrella, don't take your sister's! (Oh! A bit of rain won't hurt anyone.)
2. When your parents tell you that you cannot leave the house without being warmly dressed, don't print this blog post and scoff it down their throats. If you really want to make your point make sure you remain civil throughout. Also, there are more reliable educational sites out there written by some doctors and professors that can never be phoned by your concerned, feel-like-they've-been-disrespected parents.