Welcome to our upgraded family site. We’ve added a few more features like an order form for prayer cards & a guestbook to digitally sign. Over the next few days, we’ll also be adding & cataloging other information like newsletters, recipes, biographical info, and overviews of Italy. So please check back regularly.
We also added 6 new photos in the Gallery into an album called “Polcenigo”. We took these shots the other day of a town near our home. You can find the album in our “Europe” section. We’ll add some more photos soon.
I received a few text messages on my cell phone similar to this one:
Stay away… An enormous influx, from Wednesday 10 p.m. access to the line to view the Pope will be closed. Friday all traffic will be stopped for the funeral. Saint Peter’s is full. There are screens in the piazza for viewing. It’s hot during the day and cold at night. Take public, collective transport if en route to Rome. — Civil Protection.
We’ve had many emails and calls wondering if we were going to Rome. But the police were kind enough to write to us and ask us not to come.
To many Italians (and news media personnel for that matter), the Pope was Jesus Christ. We just celebrated Christ’s resurrection the week before, but it was as if Jesus died all over again - five days later. This Jesus is the Jesus of Rome, not of Nazareth.
What many outside of Europe may not consider is that many people were praying “for the Pope” as they passed by. And, undoubtedly, many were probably praying “to the Pope” as well. The follow-up interviews of the multitudes on Italian television revealed that point clearly. None of this praying is in line with the Bible, of course. John Paul 2 can never receive or mediate prayers. He, nor any other man, can lay no claim on the delightful duty of Christ to mediate, intercede daily, and advocate with the Heavenly Father. Jesus Christ alone is Mediator, Atonement, Propitiation, & High Priest for His children.
While watching Italian news, the cries from around St. Peter’s were “Santo, Santo, Santo…” The word santo is the cry to make GP2 a saint in the Roman system. But the word santo also means “Holy” in Italian. As I heard the chants here on Earth, I couldn’t help but look to Heaven and cry “Santo, Santo, Santo.” Hannah cried it in 1 Samuel 2:2, “For there is none santo as the Lord, neither is there any rock like our God.” And the Bible tells us that the angels are incessant in their glorious praise crying before the Lamb of God, Christ Jesus, “Santo, Santo, Santo.” One day, I will join them. And while here on Earth, I’ll never cry that horizontally.
In Italy, they call “April Fool’s Day” — “April’s Fish” (”pesce d’Aprile”). The children guess which pocket or hand “the fish” is in and the idea is to trick them or give them a piece of candy if they’re right.
One thing we’ve learned is that Italians are serious about their practical jokes. They enjoy doing a lot of them. The newspapers will announce (& include photos) of fairs or markets happening in cities that won’t really be happening. Their “candid camera” is pretty fierce too. Sometimes, the more tears they can get somebody to shed, the funnier they think it is.
My secretary dropped me a one-line email announcing that her resignation was on my desk in capital letters. I didn’t sniff the fish. She had earlier cleaned my desk to spick & span so that I would tear it up again. About 3 hours later, a follow-up email came with the fish in it.
She said she was so nervous that it wouldn’t work and would backfire. She also said, “I know how you hate emails where people unload serious things.” (I do. Email is not a medium for weightier matters of the spiritual life and Body of Christ. Matters of importance should be handled in basic, caring Christian community.) She got me good.
So, I replied & accepted her resignation. (fish)
