The Angelus

     We got to see, hear, and be BLESSED by the pope at his praying the Angelus on Sunday in St. Peter's Square.

Annie began saying, almost incessantly: "See pope!  See pope!"  

We finally said, "The pope is taking a nap."  

Now she seems to think he is ALWAYS taking a nap, as her new refrain is: "Pope is take a nap!" 

We love you, Benedict!

We pray for your intentions.  

Thank you for your prayers for us!  

Living Cruciform

     One of the richest treasures of late is the way Ron's and my thoughts have converged on the same topic without realizing it.
     Ron's class, Faith and Culture, emphasizes the writings of Pope Benedict XVI, one of Ron's heroes. Ron chokes up just talking about the pope, sometimes.  To Ron, he is a misunderstood saint, a man whose take on Western culture is unsurpassable, and yet he is burdened with an inability to "advertise" himself well.  Benedict, in Ron's opinion, suffers from underwhelming his audiences, and his personality does not have what it takes to compensate for the deliberate undermining of his credibility by the secular media.
     At any rate, one of the messages Ron has taught most forcefully this summer is that the Christian life is about being Cruciform: conforming one's life with the Cross of Christ.  Culminating in martyrdom, true Christianity is incompatible with "prosperity theology" and all attempts to idolize comfort, indulgence,  and self-preservation.  Ron has ruminated over his generation and the one he is teaching: we do not know war or poverty or hunger.  His students write things like, "The martyrs are examples of great faith, but the time is past that there would ever be martyrs anymore."  Our generations fail to realize how recently WWII was, and how soon we will likely see such tortures again.
     As Ron has become concerned about how far the pendulum has swung away from Christianity that knows how to suffer, I piped up: "It is really the faithful Catholic family that continuously reminds the faithful how to life a life outside of oneself."  To be open to life through the duration of one's marriage is to be constantly ready to give, to serve, to think about and love someone else.  It is to give up being at the center of one's own life.
     I have a friend who says that she had not come to a close relationship with Jesus until she married and lived out the Church's teaching of Humanae Vitae.  Only then, she said, did she have to give up her self-reliance, and in her new found dependence, had to become more intimate with the one on whom she was dependent.
     The faithful Catholic married life is a life of self-donation, of giving up one's life for another (or in some cases, MANY others!).  This is one of the ways that contemporary Americans, despite the selfishness of the culture, can get back to the heart of the Christian faith, a life lived in the spirit of Christ Crucified.

Mom's Scarf!

    I'm working on Mom's scarf every day!  I just LOVE it (and LOVE her!!)!

Chin Chin! (That's Italian for "Cheers!")

      After not cooking a lick for 6 weeks, I have exploded in a cooking craze--I have made lunch and dinner every day this week at the outdoor kitchen here on campus.  We use the outdoor grill and bread/pizza oven.  I am whipping up things I have only dreamed of in years past (thanks to the little cookbook I picked up in Florence).
     Last night, we made the best homemade pizzas I've ever had (again, not talent, just a good recipe!), AND a homemade lasagna for the next day.  Ron is AMAZING in his wielding the outdoor oven and grill with charisma!  The director of the program said that even he, in all these years, has not mastered the bread oven.  My husband HAS THE GIFT!!!!

Jake getting a College Education

This summer, Jake is absorbing lots of the college lectures he is hearing!

He mentioned to me that "Dr. Hansen and I love history."  (Well, Dr. Hansen is the history professor!) 

It's a Grand Night for Singing

Here is little Annie singing, "It's a Grand Night for Singing," from State Fair:

"It's a grand night for singing, the stars are bright above,
The earth is aglow and to add to the show,
I think I am falling in love--
falling, falling in love."

Lots of Blood

   The only real problem has been all the BLOOD!  So many accidents!
   While Ron and older kids were in Assisi, I got glass in my toe.  It took me 3 days and a grueling self-surgery to get it out.  A true, bloody mess.
    Then, when the girls and I were in Siena, I had a sense that there was about to be lots of blood.  So I gave them a big, "No bleeding!" speech--no running down hills, no dashing across gravel roads, etc.
    Then, on the sixth leg of our journey home, Mary got a deep gash in her leg.  None of us knows exactly what she got cut by--some thorn or glass as we walked to the campus from the last bus station.  When I saw it, I knew it was worthy of stitches.  I cried there on the street, so upset I could not help her.  We just had to keep walking to get onto the safety of the campus.  Some sweet local ladies helped us with our bags, since now Mary could not carry hers, and Annie was dangerously close to the cars on the street.  We were sort of vomited onto the perimeter of the campus--bags, purses, dress up masks, water bottles, dumped onto the private property of UD.  The ladies left us, and I got Mary some wipes to stem the blood flow until we got up to the room.  I got nauseous, dealing with all the blood.  I disinfected and butterflied it with my well-worn First Aid kit (ransacked during the glass-in-toe episode).  I had nightmares that she was not up to date on her tetnus and that she was permanently brain-damaged.  I woke her in the night several times, to check on her.
     In the morning, I determined that she was not responding to the butterfly, and should take her to the ER.  So Randy I. who was thankfully here on campus, fluent in Italian, had a car at his disposal, and a daughter who could babysit my other daughters (Yes, a MIRACLE!), took me to the hospital.
    Two hours later, we had returned Mary to the campus with one stitch--given without anesthesia (MEAN Italian doctors!!!).  While the gash warranted about 5, the doctor chose to give one stitch so that pus could drain from either end.
    The doctor acted as though I should have come in the night before.  I felt like it was overkill to go in at all.  It is all so hard to discern!  It was as stressful as anything I have been through in quite a while!

   Just to top it off, Clare has a bloody knee; Leigh dropped a glass jar; Annie grabbed a knife (that she could not have reached one month ago--growing before my eyes!) and slit Clare's finger.  Gosh, I'm on my second First Aid kit, and both are ransacked!

    I did throw a true fit when Clare picked Annie up to let her see out the second story window.  We have had a firm "Feet on the floor" rule for all heights.  Somehow, this rule just could not get through Clare's head.  It is like Aristotle's description of our minds being like wax, sometimes soft, and sometimes hard so that it does not receive impressions.  Her head was hard as stone on this topic, and she has been reprimanded over and over.  So yesterday, with all the other health and safety issues, I really made a scene.
   The strange thing about Clare was that, when we recovered, it was like she was happier and more relaxed than ever.  She responds so well to such harsh treatment!  Jake, on the other hand, shuts down. It is so strange that different children have such different brain chemistry.  Well, what ever it takes to keep these children alive and healthy!

A Holy Journey

    The trip home would be hard--so we offered it up for a special intention.  Each child was given strict instructions about what they could and could not do, and they were SAINTS.  A laborious trip wound up being a true blessing!

Girl Time in Siena--oh la la!

     Oh, the girls and I devoured Siena.  We walked every sleepy street.  We made our pilgrim way to the home of St. Catherine, and to her Dominican church.  Lounging around our pension room (a renovated 14th century town home--that is when St. Catherine of Siena lived!) we told all her stories.  Then, when walking through these sacred places, the girls practically jumped for joy as they noticed pictures of the stories they knew: Catherine choosing the crown of thorns rather than the crown of gold from the hands of Christ, the dove over her head for her skeptical father to see, Catherine receiving the stigmata.  We had the chapel in Catherine's home (built after her canonization) all to ourselves, and so I gave the girls a lesson (much needed by Clare) as to bowing, genuflecting, no running, etc.  We literally practiced walking past the altar and stopping to bow, one at a time.  I did this sort of thing with Jake, who taught Mary.  But the younger cohort was much in need!  It felt like such a luxury.
    Then we searched around for treasures.  The girls had an allotted 20 Euros each to spend on the 7 weeks abroad.  They gained more for services rendered, such as babysitting or folding clothes, and lost them for punishments, for such things as complaining or not keeping their feet on the floor when peering out of high balconies or windows.
     So each girl searched the shops of Siena for the little prizes they wanted: Mary got gifts for friends, an ink pen with an ink well; Clare got a feather ink pen and ink well; Leigh got a scarf and an ink pen and an ink well.  They all got a mask for dress up.

     Mary gave Clare 3 Euros to make what Clare needed to obtain the feather pen.  It was true generosity!  But I made Clare make the Euros back. She has done it: 1 Euro for not complaining even once, carrying her bag all the way from Siena back to the campus (a 5 hour trip with 6 legs of the journey, and then 2 for folding 3 piles of laundry.
    The tricky part was eating without spending too much of our precious few resources.  So we found a pizzeria that was 1 Euro per slice of kids pizza, and that went a long way.

  We also found a grocery store and managed to eat most meals, makeshift either on Il Campo, the town square, or in our room.  Devouring room temp gnocchi out of a tin casserole dish, the girls cried, "This is the best food I've ever eaten!"  I'm sure it WAS.

The Family in Tuscany

     Then we did a crazy thing--Ron and the 5 kids came up to Florence and met me there.  We spent a day--Leigh and I went to the Uffizi and saw most of the works of her art project!  My high point was walking into the Botticelli Room and Leigh gasping, "Botticelli!  It's Venus!  Oh Mom, this is the best day ever!!" as she grabbed me around the waist and hugged me.  We saw the Simone Martini Annunciation that Leigh did a replica of back home, we saw Giotto's Madonna and Child, we saw Michelangelo's Holy Family and Raphael's Madonna and Child with the Goldfinch.  We raided the gift shop, collecting some postcards and a little notebook with a Botticelli on it.   
     And of course, we ate gelato on the Uffizi steps!  Over and over, Leigh said it was the most exciting time ever.

    We saw the Duomo, had confessions there, and made our way through San Lorenzo's street market.  Jake and Ron found the perfect chess board (they had been searching for weeks for just the right one).
     Then we boarded a bus to Siena.
     We had a marvelous dinner in a trattoria--roasted chicken and roasted potatoes, lasagna, Tuscan white bean stew, and of course, a carafe of table wine.  It was truly glorious.
     We all had a day in Siena together--the Feast of the Body of Christ.  We were in the Duomo in Siena.  Truly magnificent, truly inspirational.
     The next day, the 2 boys left for a a week.  The program was going to Sicily, but the girls and I could not make the trip for many reasons.  So, we stayed in Siena for the better part of the week.  This had been the reason we were all in Tuscany in the first place: Ron situating the girls with me in a place I wanted to be, rather than on the campus for the week (where I have no car), before he and Jake took off.  And I'll tell you, it was a GREAT decision!!!!
 

Silent Retreat Weekend

    The I got the chance to go off by myself and have a silent retreat.  I took a train up to Florence, and had a weekend at a bed and breakfast there.  It was heaven.  I mean that most sincerely--heaven surely looks something like Florence!  I LOVED my little room--the windows and shutters, the bedspread, even the bathroom tiles were hand made--I just basked in this little celestial space!

     I read a biography of Catherine of Siena, wrote a lot, and most importantly, prayed.  I prayed and prayed and prayed.  Lots of good things were readjusted, let go of, obtained, and re-established.  It was a MUCH NEEDED time of healing and restoration.  I just LOVE my time with God!

. . . more adventures. . .

     After the Assisi trip, there were 4 short, but action packed days.  One was a day trip into Rome to go see Rome's most beloved museum, the Galleria Borghese.
     The next was a trip to Fossanova, the first and most important Cicerstian monastery in Europe.  All the other ones in the world, including the one next to University of Dallas in Irving, are built in the same, simple architectural style.  So beautiful!!
     Then we went to Anzio--for education and some beach time!
   
 

Assisi Weekend

     While Ron and the older kids went on pilgrimage (and work trip) to Assisi, I stayed back at the campus for three days with the little ones: Clare, Leigh and Annie.  We had lots of Uno, I Spy, swing time, and lovely walks through the vineyard.  We colored, drew--I gave them some art lessons (the blind leading the blind).

     I loved the time.  It was refreshing for me that all the students were gone--there is a perpetual pressure of being the professor's family, all on campus together.  We are in something of a fish bowl with everyone watching.  It was nice to have some breathing room.  I missed OUR people--but that was a fair price to pay for R and R--and everyone, including me, getting as much sleep as the 2 year old!  11 hours a night--now I could get used to that!!!
 

Mary and I in Rome

     Mary and I went into Rome for an afternoon.  Special time!

We first descended upon the Piazza Navona--what a gorgeous place!

Sue says it is "the living room of Rome," that is, where people go to lounge around after lunch and after dinner.

 Surely, it does have a beautiful but informal quality to it.

Years a go I took  philosophy classes in a school just a block away from the Piazza Navona so was there most days--I LOVE it! Mary and I had gelato there.

     We wandered up to the Pantheon--so much more magnificent than I remembered.

The dome is truly shocking, how huge it is versus the rest of the space.

A building whose entire ceiling is a dome--takes you by surprise!

     Then we walked through the streets, found a pizzeria, and then went to Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, perhaps my favorite church in Rome.  It is breathtaking.  The ceiling is blue, but it shimmers, and looks like the sky.  St. Catherine is buried there at the main altar, and Fra Angelico is buried right next to the main altar.  These are Christians that speak volumes to me--St. Catherine for being the little, uneducated girl who righted the wrongs of the pope, and Fra Angelico for being a blessed for using his artistic talent for the glory of God.  I love the celebration of God's people who give their ALL to God.
     We stopped in a few more churches, a few more shops, and ended our trip at the Piazza di Spagna.
     What I loved most about the time with Mary was that, although it is customary for me to buy a child a little something on our "special time" outings, we did not buy one thing.  She was so grateful to be getting the best that I had to offer, showing her things of such faith and beauty, that those things satisfied her.  When she was young, I realized she had come out of the womb, hard-wired for tangible, beautiful things--I thought, "Uh-Oh!!!!!"  I knew it would be a long, hard row, curbing her desire to possess beautiful things, curbing a tendency to all SORTS of vices that go along with that!  But there we were, surrounded by the most fabulous shops in the world, and she and I had long times, kneeling in churches, talking about who we were praying for, how we desire God's blessings in our lives, in the world, and in the lives of our loved ones.  It was such a "graduation day" of sorts for me, because this was how Mary TRULY wanted to spend the day!
     One shop we went into was a purfumerie.  Mary sampled half a dozen--the lady in the shop sprayed the perfumes onto little strips of thick paper.
     When Mary returned to the campus, she handed out the perfume sample papers as though they were great prizes, and all the girls swooned over the different scents.  Clare was given the great honor of keeping one, as something to bring with her next time we go to the nursing home to offset the smells.  
     Mary is a special, special girl--she shocks me, the person she is becoming.  Full of grace, full of charm, yet used in such a modest, conservative, disciplined way.  God bless this child!

Princess Clare

     It was Clare's turn for "special time."  I had planned it all out like a first date, and she was bubbling with excitement.
     We hopped on the bus going up to the mountain town of Albano.

    We had one hour before the shops closed for lunch.  She needed new shoes, and we found the PERFECT pair of navy flats with firm but padded soles.   The lady gave Clare a pink headband with a pink flower for free to which Clare responded, "Grazie."  As she walked out of the store, she had grown three inches: she was erect like a princess, and had assumed a royal gait.  

     Then we found an accessories shop.  She picked out a pink fan and some light pink lipstick.  As we strolled around the town looking for the perfect spot of a lunch date, she flicked open the fan with verve, and fanned herself.  She then collapsed it, re-flicked it, and then fanned again.  The tiny town was suddenly overcome with adoration of this petite mademoiselle.  

     We found a nice place that served hot lunches.  She saved us a table as I gathered our food.  When I found her, she was sitting peacefully in a covered taverna.  She was so content.  When I stay down, we prayed, and she bit into her pressed ham sandwich.  She said, "Mom, this is the happiest day I've had."  

     When we got home, all the girls LOVED their matching fans--she had gotten one in a different color for all of her sisters.  Sharing her royal wealth--a delightful act of magnanimity!  

The House Was Overcome With Joy

     The Feast of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth means to me many things, but most of all, it means that what matters most is bearing Christ to others.  Not what you do, not what you accomplish, not what you deliberately try to make happen, but whether you manifest Christ to others, the way these women bore the Son of God and His prophet to one another, is what is the highest.  

St. Francis de Sales on Luke 1:39-56

Indeed, the whole house was overcome with joy; the infant leapt with joy, the father recovered his speech, the mother was filled with the Holy Spirit and received the gift of prophecy. 

     Christian community is bearing God's tenderness, humility and compassion to one another.  Where would I be without this sort of atmosphere?  An environment filled with joy and the gifts of the Spirit--joy that defies all natural understanding and circumstance.  

     I praise God that He has called me to this sort of life.  He calls others to many things: to fight for justice, to teach the ignorant, to preach to the unbelieving.  But to me, He gave me the calling of bearing Christ in such a way that "the whole house is overcome with joy."   Hopefully, as I do this work, others throughout the Mystical Body of Christ will be strengthened in theirs.  After all, we are all members of one another, (Eph. 4:25).