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After the experience of multiple liturgies with Benedict, I want to say something brief about His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. There is something so deep within Pope Benedict XVI that I could not stop staring into. It is his deep love for Jesus Christ. And he is an example of what it means to be Christian, an example of whom we can all learn. From the moment of his election, the Holy Father suffered persecution. Consistently, he has been dismissed, judged, and tormented. However, consistently, he proves to the be the better man, a man whose only focus is spreading the love of Jesus Christ, serving God and so serving others. His homilies were all touching, and his sincere appreciation for families, especially young children, was beautiful, to say the least. I would encourage all to read the following article on Pope Benedict XVI. It is quite touching: click here. It is about how he has been persecuted--why others have attacked him, and yet, how he has persevered and stood for truth throughout it all. Mary, Mother of God, pray for the Vicar of Christ, that his tears may be wiped, his efforts touched with grace, and his heart embraced by your Son. Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
In all, this Easter I will always remember. May the peace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, especially in this time of Easter joy!
2. Cerreto: Early Easter morning, Catherine and I made it to the train station to head to Isernia. We left Rome at 6:15 and arrived in Isnernia at 8:20 to be picked up by "Rimo da Roma", Elena's husband. He took us to Cerreto, the exciting city of dogs, abandoned houses, chickens, and cousins.
All kidding aside, I love the small, very small, town. Not to mention, Rimo and Elena treated Catherine and I so wonderfully. I probably gained a good 10 pounds. My God, they eat good food. I don't even understand. Heaven, I suppose, may be able to compare.
In Cerreto, I introduced myself as follows: "Sono Tommy, il figlio di Carla". This usually led to the following response: "Tommy! Il figlio di Carla! Ciao, sono il tuo cugino!" I didn't know my family was so big. It was so great meeting new family.
Cerreto itself is actualy incredibly beautiful. It is set in the mountains. Everywhere you look: moutains and hills. Beautiful Moliese (the region of Cerreto) is! I loved it. And it's also peaceful to walk the small and few streets of Cerreto. To a certain extent, actually, it's sad that one day, probably very soon, it will be completely abandoned. There is something to learn in that way of life. There is something peaceful about simplicity, about living as a fraternal network, about living a life of hard work that is centered on the family.
I thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets of my mother, and seeing some of the roots of my family. It's a very neat experience.
In all, I had a wonderful Easter and a great time in Cerreto. We left on Monday. I hope to visit it again before I return to my home.
3. Forgive me for not posting about Germany. I will re cap briefly the trip here, in this post. So, Morgan and I wake up early Friday morning and prepare to head to the airport to fly to Germany. As we are walking out of the Rome Center, she looks at me and says: "Tommy...our train tickets are for tomorrow". Now, this is not a good thing. Let me explain. We are flying into Frankfurt. The plan was that we would then get on a train to Munich, spend two nights in Munich, take a train back to Frankfurt, spend the day there, and then fly home. This means that we are kind of screwed. However, Morgan and I both share the same "adventure spirit", which I can't believe hasn't killed us yet, and so we simply laugh it off and figure it will be okay.
Arriving into the Frankfurt airport, we get on a bus and head into the city. Walking out of the central train station, within a mere five minutes, we see a sign to our left: "World of Sex". Yeah, we were in that part of town. We keep walking until we find a more, you know, sophisticated area. Frankfurt was a very neat city. I had my first German beer there, enjoyed a brat for dinner, and had a fun night in the pub area of the city. It was a really neat area, with a bunch of German pubs. Actually, we ended up smoking some Hookah. I mean, I guess when I am going to get the chance to smoke Hookah in Germany again?
Now, at some point in the night, we realize: hm... we have no where to sleep. To make a long story short: We walk into a Church just to see it, and we notice a nun there. As a joke, we brought up the possibility of staying at the convent. We took our joke seriously, as we literally were homeless, and asked her. She couldn't speak English though. But, we then noticed that there was a priest in the Confessional. So, I say to Morgan, "Should I ask him?" That's what I did. He was a Capuchin Franciscan priest, and an incredibly nice guy. Turns out that he was incredibly generous with us and helped us find a place for the night. Saint Francis, pray for that friar! We got lucky. It's so great to experience the charity and generosity that the media o so often forgets about within the Church.
Now let me tell you about Munich. That city is incredible. We had a great time there. First of all, the churches are stunning. Second of all, the overall lay out of the city is quite cool. I really don't know how to explain it. I do know that I would love to go back there. At night, we went to the haufbrahusoneldcoie. Yeah I have no idea how to spell it. Basically it's this huge beer hall in Munich, and it's supposedly very popular. Freaking awesome. We drank some beer, had some conversation, watched a lot of Germans drink beer and sing, danced to some traditional music of the Motherland, and had a fun night in Munich.
O, and for the record, yes, I did have brats in Germany (really tasty), and yes I did have a pretzel (tasty, too). And also, for the record, I never knew that Germany was such a beautiful country. It's gorgeous.
Well my friends and family, this post is titled "A Few Things", and that is exactly what it is. Pax et bonum!
All kidding aside, I love the small, very small, town. Not to mention, Rimo and Elena treated Catherine and I so wonderfully. I probably gained a good 10 pounds. My God, they eat good food. I don't even understand. Heaven, I suppose, may be able to compare.
In Cerreto, I introduced myself as follows: "Sono Tommy, il figlio di Carla". This usually led to the following response: "Tommy! Il figlio di Carla! Ciao, sono il tuo cugino!" I didn't know my family was so big. It was so great meeting new family.
Cerreto itself is actualy incredibly beautiful. It is set in the mountains. Everywhere you look: moutains and hills. Beautiful Moliese (the region of Cerreto) is! I loved it. And it's also peaceful to walk the small and few streets of Cerreto. To a certain extent, actually, it's sad that one day, probably very soon, it will be completely abandoned. There is something to learn in that way of life. There is something peaceful about simplicity, about living as a fraternal network, about living a life of hard work that is centered on the family.
I thoroughly enjoyed walking the streets of my mother, and seeing some of the roots of my family. It's a very neat experience.
In all, I had a wonderful Easter and a great time in Cerreto. We left on Monday. I hope to visit it again before I return to my home.
3. Forgive me for not posting about Germany. I will re cap briefly the trip here, in this post. So, Morgan and I wake up early Friday morning and prepare to head to the airport to fly to Germany. As we are walking out of the Rome Center, she looks at me and says: "Tommy...our train tickets are for tomorrow". Now, this is not a good thing. Let me explain. We are flying into Frankfurt. The plan was that we would then get on a train to Munich, spend two nights in Munich, take a train back to Frankfurt, spend the day there, and then fly home. This means that we are kind of screwed. However, Morgan and I both share the same "adventure spirit", which I can't believe hasn't killed us yet, and so we simply laugh it off and figure it will be okay.
Arriving into the Frankfurt airport, we get on a bus and head into the city. Walking out of the central train station, within a mere five minutes, we see a sign to our left: "World of Sex". Yeah, we were in that part of town. We keep walking until we find a more, you know, sophisticated area. Frankfurt was a very neat city. I had my first German beer there, enjoyed a brat for dinner, and had a fun night in the pub area of the city. It was a really neat area, with a bunch of German pubs. Actually, we ended up smoking some Hookah. I mean, I guess when I am going to get the chance to smoke Hookah in Germany again?
Now, at some point in the night, we realize: hm... we have no where to sleep. To make a long story short: We walk into a Church just to see it, and we notice a nun there. As a joke, we brought up the possibility of staying at the convent. We took our joke seriously, as we literally were homeless, and asked her. She couldn't speak English though. But, we then noticed that there was a priest in the Confessional. So, I say to Morgan, "Should I ask him?" That's what I did. He was a Capuchin Franciscan priest, and an incredibly nice guy. Turns out that he was incredibly generous with us and helped us find a place for the night. Saint Francis, pray for that friar! We got lucky. It's so great to experience the charity and generosity that the media o so often forgets about within the Church.
Now let me tell you about Munich. That city is incredible. We had a great time there. First of all, the churches are stunning. Second of all, the overall lay out of the city is quite cool. I really don't know how to explain it. I do know that I would love to go back there. At night, we went to the haufbrahusoneldcoie. Yeah I have no idea how to spell it. Basically it's this huge beer hall in Munich, and it's supposedly very popular. Freaking awesome. We drank some beer, had some conversation, watched a lot of Germans drink beer and sing, danced to some traditional music of the Motherland, and had a fun night in Munich.
O, and for the record, yes, I did have brats in Germany (really tasty), and yes I did have a pretzel (tasty, too). And also, for the record, I never knew that Germany was such a beautiful country. It's gorgeous.
Well my friends and family, this post is titled "A Few Things", and that is exactly what it is. Pax et bonum!
"You were PASSED OUT!" :):):)
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