Bliss at the Trevi

   My good, good husband offered to stay home this weekend with our two youngest kids and our dog, while I went into Rome with our oldest girls plus one of their friends. Rome is on a "fire sale," with rock-bottom deals on hotels and such, since there is no one there. So we found an apartment on the piazza of the Trevi fountain--I mean, overlooking the fountain, for the price of a room at a La Quinta. 

   I insisted to the girls that I would be working the whole time getting my book edits finished. They were happy as clams with that, having a slumber party with a friend and singing late into the night. In the day, Clare had her electric guitar lesson (cooler than cool, right?!), while the others milled about Rome. We found a gorgeous little lunch place, Spaghetteria l'Archetto, and ate one meal together. 

I went really nuts over this bruschetta con carciofi, I almost ordered 5 more. 

 Other than that meal, I did not really see the girls until Sunday Mass--the first Sunday of Advent, my favorite! This little church right on the piazza of the Trevi fountain was so adorable. And they had a chapel devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, whom I have just included in my book. 

   Sitting at the little table of this humble (but well located) apartment late on Saturday night, eating peccorino and salami with some roasted chestnuts, drinking frizzante and a little Barbara d'Alba, listening to the rush of the fountain as I worked on my manuscript, I thought, "I don't have enough human gratitude in my heart for my husband who made this possible and nor for God who designed this night from before the beginning of time." Then I muttered, "Lord, thank you, thank you."

Quote of the Day

 "Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction." 

                              --Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, God is Love

Bizarre Thanksgiving Turkey

 Here's a short clip of our family Thanksgiving in Italy--as Ron said, "Party in a Box"

https://youtu.be/4QHqZP2klEM

New Favorite Thomas Aquinas Passage

    I am taking Christology at the Angelicum this semester. Right now we are reading Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae. One passage struck me as one of the most amazing texts I have had the privilege of seeing in a long time. 

     ST III. 8.3: Whether Christ is the head of all men? 

      Thomas is asking whether Christ is the head of the Church or all human beings. The objection runs that he is the head of the Church but not those outside of the Church, since they are not under his influence or sphere of influence. The unbaptized, for example, are not members of the body of Christ, and if Christ is the head of this body, how could they be related to them as having him as their head? And how could those who are baptized but living in sin, apart from the Church, have Christ as their head? 

    Personally this makes sense to me. Haven't some people removed themselves from Christ, explicitly expressing the wish that they not be under Christ's rule or headship? 

       But Aquinas answers: Christ is the head of all human beings, for as Scripture says, he came to propitiate for our sins, and the sins of the whole world (1 John  2:2). Thomas says to consider all human beings as potential members of the mystical body of Christ. Some are members now, some will be in the future; some never will be. Still, Christ came to be the head of all of them. Even those who will never be joined to Christ, Christ came for them. Hence, Aquinas says, Christ is the head of all human beings but diversely. He is the head of those who live in faith and love in a special way, but nevertheless of all people. 

    This is a very powerful text. Sometimes we lose hope for people. Sometimes we lose compassion for people who reject God with such vigor. But Aquinas reminds us: all people belong to him. And so all people ought to belong to each of us as well.  

Learning Cursive

     First grade in Italy is notoriously hard. I had not idea what to expect, but taught Sebastian all his letters and a little early reading this summer. I thought we might be adequately prepared. 

     Oh how I was wrong. The class is doing a cursive-intensive. They are not taking a letter a day; they are doing 4-5 letters a day. Now they are on two letter and even three letter combinations (eg. "bra, bre, bri, bro, bru"). 

   How is a little six-year-old supposed to be able to have the manual skills to do that?>??>>>>??>?????

   I have resorted to homeschool instruction. I am teaching him each letter at home. He had so much resistance at first that he would clam up and shut down. So I broke out the paints. We painted and painted different strokes and shapes and then finally turned them into letters. When he got the letter "h" it was so perfect, the whole family celebrated. 

   We have drawn letters (like the letter "a" below) in the gravel with our feet; we have used finger paints; we even took out Nutella yesterday and wrote huge letter "b's" with it. Then he licked his fingers clean. Now he is a master at "b's"!

   I don't know if he'll be able to keep up with his class, and he may fail first grade, but I dare say he will be great a cursive one day!