Caio! from Assisi. What a great place to be for four weeks. It is beautiful. It still hasn't rained since I've been here. Apparently that changes in the winter. I am in class from nine to one every day followed by an afternoon two hour session of small group conversation. My Italian is coming along slowly. For some reason I really enjoy learning languages although I wish I was better at it. The town is bookended with the basilica of Saint Claire on one side and the basilica of Saint Francis on another. I havent been to pray at San Chiara but each morning so far a group of us have prayed the office of readings and lauds and celebrated mass with the franciscans at the tomb of San Francesco. This is the mother convent of the Franciscans. Thats kind of cool when you think about it. As a gauge of my progess in italian, I'll use the homily that the priest speaks in italian.
Most of the guys are in the main hotel, but 10 of us are in a near by apartment run by the hotel. Our rooms are further from the noise at night and we have a beautiful porch that overlooks the city that we hang out on at night. It is about 10 degrees cooler at night here than at rome and thats just enough to make a difference between a wet pillow and a dry pillow in the morning.
Again, its great to visit first hand the places that saints and martyrs have walked and the tombs where their holy bodies await the ressurection of the dead. Because we are not just spiritual beings when we spend time at these sacred places we can more easily enter into the same kind of attitude they had. It makes real their being, they are not just a story. They are people who unreservedly gave themselves up to the will of God, whatever that may be. Granted, nothing beats spending time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, but with the saints we have fallen creatures like ourselves that can truly say:
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim 4:7).
I was praying and wondering why we don't have tombs of saints in our dioceses in the States. Its because we don't have any saints declared by the Church. Why can't we in a few hundred years have tombs of saints in our dioceses that others can be inspired to persevere in holiness? Obviously this shouldn't be our ultimate goal but it sure is a possilble result if all of you and me and many others...
"Run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." ( Heb 12:1-2)
Again, know that you are in my prayers. Don't be afraid to send me specific prayer requests to bring to these holy sites.
Nick
I too loved Assisi - I was able to go up on the mountain where God first spoke to St. Francis and told him to rebuild his church, where Sr. Clare died and where St. Francis slept and talked to the birds, telling them to be quiet so he could talk to God. The basilica is beautiful and so is the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels in Portiuncula. We stayed at the Hotel Gotto. You are in my prayers. Love, GC
ReplyDeletelucky dog! lucky dog! i sometimes catch myself thinking of my faith like a fictional story i'm trying to believe really happened,being right there where history was made must truly add a sense of reality you can reach out and touch. what a fund of knowledge/experience you're developing for your future that not to many can fall back on! take it all in with all your senses LUVYA dad
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