It was Day 3, if the 9th was the first full day in Rome. Ah, Roma. There is a bit of secretiveness about these reports simply because I was traveling to Rome alone. Here I was making connections with various members of my community who wish to remain off my blog, and also visiting some connections in the Vatican Dicasteries. Much is made of the secretiveness of the Vatican, but all that is descendant from a singular belief in human dignity and the rights of individuals whose cases are before these dicasteries. So none of these personages will be revealed; but only my own personal activities as a pilgrim.
This morning, a Friday, we chanted Lauds in English, and then Mass in Latin, ordinary form. There was a simplicity and a beauty to these liturgies during the weeks I was in Rome. Not much else could be said.
This morning after a Roman breakfast, I walked back across the Tiber and purchased that leather journal I had seen on the previous day. There has been nothing close to what was taken from me. My old leather Journal had been with me for more than 20 years. It was a part of me as a layman, and then a seminarian and then a priest. It had been around the world with me, to the top of Clouds rest in Yosemite National Park all the way to the top of Mt. Sinai. It was the singular stain on the leather left by a camel in the Sinai desert that made the journal particularly dear to me. All of this is memory, and I guess, after nearly two years I am still mourning the loss of that treasure. The journal inserts now fill two full file drawers, and there is a three month period in those journals that is lost because it was part of that robbery in December of 2006.
At any rate, there is a new leather journal. This one was purchased in a little shop in Rome. The former one was purchased in the 80's in San Francisco when I worked for an Insurance Company. It fits the little notebooks quite well and even has a few extra pockets for notes.
Couple more of God's creatures crossing the Tiber:
Today I started looking for Ostensoria, the small kind for small chapels. We now have a very nice monstrance for the Church, but I had the idea of acquiring a small ostensoria in Rome for the small chapel, so that in the Fall we could promote longer periods of Eucharistic Adoration in the Small chapel, without tying up the church calendar. Well the first shops were not fruitful. This question kept popping into my head: Is this worthy to bear and present the Eucharist for adoration? Well, no! Most of what I saw was so cheaply made, and the prices proved it. So nothing else was purchased today.
I had a lovely and gracious tour of one of these Vatican Offices. Most of what I saw will remain on the hard drive, but I thought I could show you the fountain in the courtyard without giving too much away.
After another delightful Roman Pranzo and a long nap, we then took a long walk. One of the sights was the Church of St. Charles Borromeo on the Corso. The back of the church was an inspiration, all those pamphlets on various articles of faith in Italian, English and other languages. This is a place that has adult faith formation as a priority. It picked up several examples and may make use of them here.
Dinner was delightful. The company was delightful. The food, well... The Aglio e Olio was too hot to eat, and for the secundo I had little pieces of grilled fat with a bite of lamb attached. The dessert was lovely, but it is not a restaurant I am inclined to return to on my next trip.
Long walk home, Compline chanted in the darkness, early to bed.
