Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Madonna and Child

In St. Paul's Outside of the Walls:



Awakened from his nap, and a new friend sitting by the doorway (near the Colisseum, on our way to San Clemente):



A chance meeting with another blogger at San Clemente:



He's detailing his Roman experience and Assisi at his blog...

Sunday Audience Feb. 26th

That's me, before I walked 2,500 miles:



Joseph with me, yawning before he realizes that a "superhero" is about to appear:



Yes, that little white spec, is the pope!



And to give you the feel for it, this is what you first hear booming across the St. Peter's, leading to Joseph to say that the pope has a very loud voice:

Cari fratelli e sorelle!

Il Vangelo di Marco, che costituisce il filo conduttore delle celebrazioni domenicali di questo anno liturgico, offre un itinerario catecumenale, che guida il discepolo a riconoscere in Gesù il Figlio di Dio. Per una felice coincidenza, il brano odierno tocca il tema del digiuno: come sapete, mercoledì prossimo inizierà il tempo quaresimale con il Rito delle Ceneri e il digiuno penitenziale.

Which means:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Gospel of Mark, which is the theme of the Sunday celebrations of this liturgical year, offers a catechumenal programme which guides the disciple to recognize Jesus as the Son of God. By a fortunate coincidence, today's Gospel passage touches on the topic of fasting: as you know, next Wednesday the Lenten season begins, with the Rite of Ashes and penitential fasting. For this reason, the Gospel is particularly appropriate.

Ash Wednesday Audience

The long wait begins...

Amy with Michael:

Pope Benedict says, "Heil Amy, I'm over here."



"O'kay, well I kiss this baby instead."

Much to Come!

I have to organize all of my thoughts on this trip in some kind of orderly fashion and hopefully provide some photographic evidence along with it. For now, thanks to Amy's quick work, here is Joseph and I at the Colisseum:

Monday, February 27, 2006

Pope...The Marriage of Christ

I was there....(Joseph spent the time picking at grass between the rock pavement of the Vatican)

From Pope Benedict's Angelus message;

"With these words, Christ reveals His identity as the Messiah, Bridegroom of Israel, Who has come for the wedding with His people. Those who recognize Him and welcome Him with faith celebrate. However, He must be rejected and killed by His own people: at that moment, during His passion and His death, will come the time of mourning and fasting."

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Can You See Me?

Off to Roma (in imitation of NBC) Vatican City Web Cam

Indiana nun moves closer to sainthood

From the Journal Gazette :

The 19th century foundress of a community of nuns in western Indiana has edged closer to Roman Catholic sainthood with the Vatican’s approval of a second miracle – the reputed curing of a man’s damaged eyesight.

Mother Theodore Guerin, who founded the Sisters of Providence community near Terre Haute, is credited with helping restore the eyesight of Phil McCord, an employee at the order’s mother house, Sister Ann Margaret O’Hara, the community’s general superior, said Wednesday.

“The Sisters of Providence have received the joyous news from the Vatican that the way is now open for the canonization of our foundress,” O’Hara said at a news conference. Guerin started the order in 1840.