a full heart

It has been much too long since I've returned to this humble cyberhome to share my incessant thoughts and endless ramblings with whoever it may be that stumbles onto this tiny blog.  Quite frankly, our life has been fairly regular and ordinary in these past weeks - days and weeks go by, we have our ups and downs in the spiritual life, we have our little joys and our little struggles in our married vocation, and life continues.  I'll admit, the "ordinary-ness" of married life used to slightly scare me, but now, it really is a tremendous gift for which I remain abundantly grateful.  So, long story short, there hasn't been much to write about in these past weeks.  

Until today.  :-)  

We traveled this weekend, to the Kansas City metro area, about 500 miles southwest of where we live.  We piled into the car with two friends early on Friday morning and headed out shortly after eight; arriving in KC, KS (or at least a suburb of it) right around 5:00 in the afternoon, after a good eight hours of driving.  It was there, in the heart of the Great Plains, that we witnessed the ordination of a dear, dear friend to the sacred order of deacons.  

The ordination itself - held on Saturday morning in a local parish church - was nothing short of completely beautiful.  We arrived about an hour before the Mass to pray and prepare; yet, I found it impossible to pray coherently in that time, as the choir was rehearsing and it was entirely heavenly.  The choir eventually began to rehearse "Lift High the Cross" - one of my most favorite hymns - and the beauty of that moment, of what was about to happen to five men (four to be ordained priests, our friend to be ordained deacon), was all too much and tears stung my eyes.  All I could do was smile at B as I tried to choke down what almost became a sob.  The occasion of this ordination was truly providential -the four men ordained to the priesthood are the first priests of the male branch of a relatively new religious order; and our friend, ordained to the diaconate, would then be just a step away from joining his brothers in God's holy priesthood.  The process to ordain these men has been very long - many different steps needed to happen, all in God's time, in order for this blessed day to come.  As I wiped away my tears - the first of many that day - I think I realized the magnitude of the ceremony about to happen, and the gratitude owed to our good God for truly blessing this work done for His Kingdom.  

There really are no adequate words to describe what then transpired - an almost transcendent ordination Mass, where the joy felt among the faithful was palpable.  We smiled proudly as we watched our dear friend join his fellow brothers in the community, to make promises of obedience and respect to the ordaining bishop and to, more importantly, make eternal promises to God as His ordained ministers.  Next to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, the Rite of Ordination may have been the most beautiful part of the day - watching these five young men literally lay down their lives in service to God's holy people and make solemn promises to both Christ Jesus and a successor to Christ's apostles.  Another moment where the tears flowed freely was watching our friend - now a deacon - be welcomed by his fellow deacons into this sacred, beautiful order.  My heart was full of joy at that moment - a joy that could only be expressed by a shower of happy tears. 

Two hours and 45 minutes later, Mass concluded - really, it felt like just minutes had passed.  We attended a lovely luncheon and caught up with many old friends - sisters from the female branch of the order that we knew from our time in college, other college friends, even some priests from back home who had made the trip for the ordination.  A priest friend summed it up well - "It's a small world when it comes to our family in the Church."  Really, it couldn't have been said better.  While we didn't know many people at the ordination, by day's end we had gotten to know many more, and it was that much closer to feeling like a family.  

In the evening we attended a lovely dinner reception - not unlike a wedding celebration.  We ate delicious food, indulged in an open bar, and even took to the dance floor at one point and spun around to a merengue.  Many members of the order are from Italy (our friend included), so the reception offered me a truly precious moment to practice la bella lingua, which I haven't spoken consistently in what seems like years!  The most special moment of the evening was by far our little private moment with our friend when he was able to offer us his blessing.  In heavily accented Italian, he prayed with us and over us, and it was a great gift to us, so special, in fact, that I can't possibly attempt to describe how wonderful it was.  Following his blessing, we were able to share a few more words, where we again reiterated our great joy at his "yes" to God and humbly asked for his prayers for us.  And, before long, sadly, it was time to depart, and bid our goodbyes - as the gears in our heads began to crank along as we started to brainstorm ways of, God willing, getting to Rome for his presbyteral ordination (the likely location in about a year).  


The prevailing sentiments we took away from his weekend was a sense of great joy as we watched these five men resoundingly answer "yes" to God's call.  I shared with our friend how happy it made us to watch him say "yes" to God, and how beautiful it was to pray with him as he discovered his vocation and committed to it.  There is something uniquely special in witnessing a resounding "yes" to God's call to His holy priesthood, and I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to witness these fine young men make these solemn promises to God this weekend.  


We also remain sincerely grateful to God for our friendship with "Don Ale" (that's what we'll call him now) and his prayers for us.  He blessed us with his presence at our wedding almost two years ago, and it was an honor and a privilege to return the favor.  (And we only hope that it might be God's will that at least one, if not both, of us somehow make it to Rome to see him ordained a priest!)  God willing, he'll be the godfather to our firstborn daughter (or second-born son) someday.  We remain convinced that it is truly this friendship with God's chosen priests that will encourage and inspire us in our own pursuit of holiness for years to come. 


Thank you, Father God, for the gift of these priests (and deacon) to us!  May you bless and sustain them all the years of their faithful service to you.  


a presto.

pensando d'italia

 I can't sleep.  This is sometimes a problem for me - I'll find myself nodding off during the afternoon every once in awhile, and then a 20-minute catnap in the middle of the afternoon becomes a couple extra hours of awake time at night.  Ay me!  

Thinking a lot about il bel paese tonight - missing it especially for some reason.  I think a few weeks ago I realized that this summer will mark five whole years since I went there.  And I think a part of me hoped I would have returned by now, to experience bell'Italia in all of her beauty yet again.  Yet, in the midst of my selfishness and my needy desire to be back there, I remain so thankful that I was even able to be there in the first place.

"You may have the universe, if I may have Italy."

~ Giuseppe Verdi

 Admittedly, there are times Verdi and I are definitely of like minds.  

a presto

poh, poh, poh, poh, poh, poh - pooooooh

I just had to make that the title of this post - it's my feeble attempt at phonetically spelling out one of the many victory chants of the Italian tifosi - soccer fans - that I heard during the World Cup mania of 2006, when I was a student in that sleepy mountain town a couple hours north of bellissima Roma, the year that the Italian national team - the beloved Azzurri - won the Mondiale against the hated French.  It's supposed to be the opening bass line of the song "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes - to this day, when I hear that melody, I'm transported to a piazza in Perugia, where I heard that riff chanted over and over again, as the Italians waved the tricolore and lit smokebombs and celebrated that marvelous run by their national team. 

All of the frenzy of the World Cup - which begins tomorrow! - has had me reminiscing on that amazing summer, the most influential summer that I've ever lived (with the exception of last summer, when we were married).  I learned so much about my feeble self that summer - about my strongest desires, about my dignity as a woman, about the ability to love.  That summer that the Azzurri won the World Cup was completely life-changing for me - and it prepared my heart for the man I would begin to date just a year later, and, eventually, marry.  Funny how something that seems so innocuous - a five-week study-abroad opportunity in Italy - would become so momentous for the course of my life.  I remain so grateful for the chance to travel there, to experience Italy in all her splendor, and for the experiences I had in that country, that would help to form me into the woman (and wife!) that I am today.  

And as for the Mondiale of 2010?  World Cup fever has struck our house, and is often a point of conversation for us.  I learned several months ago that I married a man very dedicated to watching every waking moment of the tournament, a pastime that dates back ten, fourteen years.  While the Americans are on our short list, we're also backing our favorite European teams (that are, thankfully, not in the same group as the United States!).  My dear husband is rooting for Espana, the favorite, and his favorite team for many years (he claims it's a pick to honor his Spanish heritage).  

As for me?  I will don my Francesco Totti #10 jersey from the most recent Mondiale with pride, and cheer for "my" boys, my beloved Azzurri, a squad so integral, and so popular, in that summer of 2006.  As the defending champions, I know their chances of a repeat performance are slim, yet, it will be so wonderful to watch them once more, and to be transported back to that beautiful summer - the summer I learned to love.  


forza Azzurri!!  :-)

bell'italia

"Even now I miss Italy; I dream about it every night."

~ Eila Hiltunen

 "You may have the universe, if I may have Italy."  

~ Giuseppe Verdi

 "Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life."

~ Anna Akhmatova

 

 "A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority."

~ Samuel Johnson

Pictures from top: Historical Center of Perugia (Umbria); celebrating the semifinal World Cup victory of gli Azzuri (the Italian National Soccer Team) against Germany, Perugia; "The Glory of St. Dominic", the Basilica of St. Dominic, Bologna; Sunset over the Mediterranean, taken from Riomaggiore (Cinque Terre, Liguria)