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Annie wrote a song capturing her 7 years of living in Rome, featuring the famous strikes. Enjoy!
Christmas 2025 in Dallas--our whole family was back in our home for our first Christmas there in 7 years. How poignant--it highlighted for me the sacrifice we have made to move to Italy, having had renters in our home until recently, and at the same time it was savory-sweet because we were finally back home on such a special day. Christmas is the feast day that simultaneously celebrates Christ's Incarnation and the choice of God to use family as his means of self-disclosure. Family life is elevated on the spiritual level because of the Incarnation and the reception by Mary and Joseph of the Christ Child. The mystery is beyond comprehension and I marvel more as the years go on--I am filled with praise and reverence.
We spent time with family as never before--Ronnie Sr. and Jane stayed with us all week; Kim, Ken and Jenna spent several days with us over Christmas, and we got to host Jenna for her first overnight on Christmas Eve/morning. We spent lots of great time with Mom and Dad. Aunt June was with us quite a bit; Uncle David joined us on the 24th; we spent great time with the Davilas. We enjoyed Midnight Mass at the University of Dallas chapel and I am still relishing in Fr. Geronimo's amazing homily. Adopting the tradition of our dear friends the Cronenwetts, we served homemade tomato soup on Christmas Eve before Mass, and then the next day, had a massive feast after the tree and presents. We partied late into the night. I have never felt so full, so joyful, perhaps in all my life. God has led me on a sure and steady path, one that I could not usually see or appreciate. Now I know that he has blessed me with a rich, gorgeous family life as well as a theological vocation to understand it more fully. How blessed is this small, fleeting life of mine.
I cannot believe how awesome Leigh's college application essay is! She has granted me permission to post it here. Go, Leigh!
Leigh Rombs College Essay
I could go on for hours about the frequent national strikes in Italy, doctors who don't show up to their appointments, or the lack of public bathrooms. I could also talk endlessly about the stunning architecture, the sheer volume of art and basilicas, and the birds chirping every morning. If, however, I had to tell you about just one thing, I would have to recount how I went from struggling socially and academically while attending a school where I didn’t speak the language, to loving it so much that I chose to do it all over again, learning two more languages. What an extraordinary high school experience: the absurd beauty of learning a fourth language in a foreign country.
At the age of twelve, I moved to Rome with my family. On the first day of seventh grade at an Italian school, I could confidently say “Ciao.” I had the rest of the Italian language to master, while adjusting to the completely new environment, on top of facing the already difficult aspects of middle school. Between teachers that taught by yelling at students, spontaneous oral quizzes, and a completely subjective grading system (let's just hope Signora Bellini is not having an extra surge of Italian emotion this morning), I was utterly overwhelmed. To make matters worse, I discovered that many kids were being either mean or vulgar, and I was unsure how to react. I had to learn when to fight for something and when to let it go, and furthermore how to stand up for myself in my second language.
I was determined to use this opportunity to become stronger. I pushed myself academically, spiritually and socially. At the end of eighth grade, after taking the Italian state exam required for promotion to high school and scoring almost perfectly, outperforming most of my peers, I had a moment of epiphany: I had discovered the joy of learning.
Acknowledging the extent of this accomplishment, I dared to ask my parents if I could do it again, but now with German. In my 13-year-old judgment, reading the great philosophers and theologians that my parents often talked about in the original sounded impressive but doable. Incredulously and reticently, they helped me search for high schools that serve German-speaking populations in Rome. Against all odds, the Swiss School of Rome accepted my application. Almost a déjà -vu, I walked into the building on the first day of high school, confidently able to say “Guten Morgen.”
Despite the inevitable hard work, I had the benefit of my epiphany behind me, reminding me of the joy and that it was my choice. I quickly made friends with daughters of Swiss guards and other international students. Academically, however, it was not so seamless. At the beginning, I sometimes actually wondered what class I was in (not joking), because one teacher would teach multiple subjects, and my German was so limited that I could not even identify the topic. My memorisation skills from Italian proved invaluable in those first months, as I needed to give presentations on topics ranging from the human circulatory system to Maslow’s pyramid. My parents and I stared in disbelief at each report card–I was passing. Three and a half years later, I took the C2 German exam, and incredibly, I passed the speaking module.
Meanwhile, French was part of the curriculum. My classmates were already at an intermediate level, and so I was expected to study on my own at home. Through diligent work I was later able to pass the B1 French exam.
Between studying the poetry of Goethe and the philosophy of Schopenhauer, my epiphany has not waned. As I travel Europe with my friends, sitting in coach on a TrenItalia train, we change our phones to Portuguese or Polish and see how long we can manage. I look at my life and see that it is absurd. And beautiful.
A quote that radically changed my life is by St. John of the Cross, whose feast day we celebrate today:
"In the eve of life, we will be judged on love."
When we really believe this message, everything changes! You give up all sorts of external goals and start spending time with the people whom you love and those who want to be loved by you. We might stop and think: Who desires my love? Who is craving being loved by me? Children crave their parent's love. Siblings crave the love and approval of their siblings. Aunts and uncles, cousins, close friends, grandchildren. . . the deep craving for love is essential to the human condition. What if we really gave our best selves, the first fruits of our energy and attention, to these relationships?
Imagine a world in which everyone stropped pursuing dreams about fame, fortune, achievements, reputation, etc., and prioritized as their absolute, number-one, essential, non-negotiable goal, that they love well and with the highest quality those closest to them, those whom their birthed, those whom they will bury, those whom they marry, those whom they accompany through life. What a different world it would be, a civilization of love.
This is what I believe, and why I started Mighty Is Her Call. It is a ministry seeking to elevate mothers by helping the world reimagine motherhood as a sacred and worthy life calling. Motherhood is not just a social or biological role. It is a spiritual one. It affords the chance to do the highest, loftiest, most important thing a human being can do: make yourself a gift to others. Be a living, breathing gift to your children and those closest to you. That is neither old-fashioned nor mundane. That is Christlike. That is divine.
Today, may we renew our commitment to those closest to us, to our immediate families, to our closest companions. May we pray for mended hearts, healed relationships, joyful communion. Holy Spirit, move in us! Holy Spirit, come!
Please join me for a pilgrimage to Italy June 20-29, 2026! We will be in Rome plus two nearby cities--Assisi (home of Saints Francis and Clare and Carlo Acutis) and Cascia (home of St. Rita)! Mighty Is Her Call has organized a marvelous trip, in which we will see all the main sites (the Vatican, the Colosseum, and so forth) with a special emphasis on the laity, women and mothers who contributed to the building of Christian Rome (spiritually and physically). The trip is for women, men, children, grandparents--all are welcome. Fr. Joshua Whitfield will be joining us offering daily Mass and chaplain support. Please see our brochure. Space is limited and it is filling up! https://mightyishercall.com/pilgrimage/
We've had the wildest time on the Rome campus in the past week! Ron threw a blow-out party for Thanksgiving, roasting 2 whole pigs and brewing 4 kegs of beer himself. Some students and Student Life guys helped with gutting the pigs, and tending to the outdoor fire on a homemade fire pit over a 24-hour period. Ron had dozens of guests plus the whole program--almost 200 people in all. This guy can throw a commercial-grade party!
What was I doing? Talking about the Trinity!!!
On a trip to Turkey to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, Pope Leo XIV said:
We must draw from this shared apostolic faith in order to recover the unity that existed in the early centuries between the Church of Rome and the ancient Oriental Churches. We must also take inspiration from the experience of the early Church in order to restore full communion, a communion which does not imply absorption or domination, but rather an exchange of the gifts received by our Churches from the Holy Spirit for the glory of God the Father and the edification of the body of Christ.
Leo's resolve to work diligently, deliberately and fervently toward reunification and reconciliation of the Christian Churches is captivating my heart. I am so hopeful that new steps will be taken and that his ambitions goals will be achieved. He wants the oriental and Roman Churches to celebrate the same date of Easter. He wants total accord between them.
I concur with his sentiment that communion does not involve either "absorption" or "domination," but rather "an exchange of gifts." This is how I see communion among any groups of persons. If there is absorption, it inhibits communion. If there is domination, it inhibits communion. Rather, when we have genuine communion, we receive the "otherness" of the other persons and enjoy the gift that they are and that they have to share. God gives us gifts, and God makes us gifts.
May we, too, make ourselves gifts to others, and may we not settle for anything less than divine communion in our lives.
Most school mornings, Annie, Leigh and I hop into the car at 6:40 am with a cup of coffee and our morning prayer app. We say morning prayer as I zip down the Appia, dodging rogue Roman drivers and motorcyclists whose standards of normalcy on the road defy the American imagination.
After we comment a bit on the prayers and readings of the day, we turn to small talk. What do Leigh and Annie have to say? It boggles the mind. For example, Leigh says:
"I like our new math teacher, Mrs. Giamaria. But her German is really hard on the ears. She lived in Switzerland for 10 years and just learned it incorrectly."
Annie interrupts from the backseat with an example of that teacher's bad German:
"Ab-LEIT-ung!" she says mockingly.
Leigh laughs so hard. They both repeat "Ab-LEIT-ung" several times. I ask what's the problem. They say, "It's supposed to be AB-leitung. But she stresses the second syllable. And boy, does she stress it!" They pretend to be her, saying "Ab-LEIT-ung" with exaggerated expression.
I ask them, "What does it mean?" They tell me it means "derivative." So, they are learning their math derivatives with this twist of the teacher's interesting pronunciation.
Annie then declares that Mrs. Giamaria says "funf" instead of "fünf," forgetting the umlaut. She continues, "Even the boys in the class imitate her saying 'funf!"
Leigh chimes in, "She also says, 'Naricht' instead of 'Nachricht,'" and Annie performs that one too with special intonation.
Once they settle down, I say to them: "You do hear yourselves, don't you? Can you believe that you know German well enough to be upset by her pronunciation? When you got to this school on the first day, just a few years ago, you could hardly formulate a complete, correct German sentence."
I also reminded them, "Be careful in imitating her. . . how do you think people talk about your German!?"
Let nothing disturb you, nothing frighten you.
All things are changing. God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
Whoever has God lacks nothing.
God alone suffices.
--St. Theresa of Avila
The Davilas threw a magnificent rehearsal dinner with a cocktail party to follow. I love their concept of the cocktail party where family who have not seen each other for a long time could reconnect, so that the wedding did not double as a family reunion. Brilliant!
