I will have to travel back in time a bit to fill you in on the rest of my travels...Our second big Spring Break trip was a beautiful jaunt in the Emerald Isle. It was incredible to experience another part of my heritage...the 25% of me that is Fitzgerald! We flew to Dublin on the East coast of Ireland and three hours later were on the opposite coast in the seaside college town of Galway. We loved everything about this place...the cuisine (brown bread is my favorite), the live music (Riverdance in a pub one night was a treat), and speaking the language. We took a fabulous day trip to Inishmore, the largest (about 8 by 4 miles large) of the three Aran Islands, off the coast of Galway. Here Irish Gaelic is still spoken, stone fences are plentiful, and the mail only comes once a week. The naked beauty of the cliffs took my breath away...there was nothing holding us back from the crashing waves below. And standing at the waterfront at one point, watching the lobster fishermen out at sea, we were told that this was the last point of land until Boston! We even saw a colony of seals, and plenty of sheep and cows! In Dublin we got the chance to visit the famous Book of Kells at Trinity College and to see John Henry Newman's university church. There were beautiful gardens and lots of large colorful doors in this historic city. The people that we met in Ireland, including a young lady from Grand Forks who happened to get the other bed in our hostel, will forever stay in our hearts and prayers! God is good!
Here it is...the final three days here in the Eternal City. We are Roman Catholics, studying the Catholic Faith IN ROME! We just spent four months in a foreign country, in the heart of the Church, with an incredible community of young men and women that have truly become family. I cannot count all the blessings God has given me this semester...it will take a lifetime to unpack them all.
Last night we went to people-watch in Piazza Navona one last time. We just went to St. Peter's for the last time, saw Papa Bene and received his blessing once more at the Angelus, and ate our last smorgasbord meal downstairs (pooling our resources to have lunch). Tomorrow we will make our last trek to the Ang where we will take our last final exam. Yes, so many "lasts." It is always difficult for good things to come to an end, but this is necessary. We live in a finite world, where everything good that we experience is only passing. It is only a taste, a fragment of the goodness we will experience for all eternity when we come face to face with Goodness Itself!
Yes, we have climbed this mountain...it was an arduous climb of preparations for this semester...and the mountaintop experience was very sweet. But just like Christ at the Transfiguration, we too must come down from this peak, back to the "real world." We are not the same as when we stepped on that plane four months ago...we are changed persons and we must return home to change our world! It will not be easy, for life in the States has more or less remained constant while we are very different. But through God's grace we will get back in the swing of things and our semester here will continue to bear fruit there!
You are probably wondering about the title of this entry...the lights are out in Bankok. It is largely a Bernardi inside-joke that I will try to explain a bit. The word for bathroom here is "bagno" but we jokingly call it "bango" instead. One of our Bernardians wrote a note to Thanos telling him that "the lights are out in bango K" but apparently the last two words got mushed together and someone else read it to be "the lights are out in Bankok!" Why we would be telling Thanos this tidbit about Thailand is beyond me! ;-)
It is a funny story though and even was one of the words in our game of melt-down (combination of Catch Phrase, Password, and Charades) the other night. But I also think it can be a metaphor for our current situation. Very soon, the lights will be going out for Bernardi 2011...we will all be moving out of the house on Wednesday and going our separate ways. It will be hard to say goodbye to those members of our Bernardi family who don't go to UST or are graduating, and it will never be the same since we will never all live under the same roof again. But God allows our hearts to be torn so as to make room to love more... Yes, though the lights are going out here, they will be going on wherever we end up. We will all go and be lights to our St. Thomas campus and the other universities we represent. We will go and be lights in our future careers and vocations. Together we will journey toward the Light of the World, Christ himself! Praise God!
Last night we went to people-watch in Piazza Navona one last time. We just went to St. Peter's for the last time, saw Papa Bene and received his blessing once more at the Angelus, and ate our last smorgasbord meal downstairs (pooling our resources to have lunch). Tomorrow we will make our last trek to the Ang where we will take our last final exam. Yes, so many "lasts." It is always difficult for good things to come to an end, but this is necessary. We live in a finite world, where everything good that we experience is only passing. It is only a taste, a fragment of the goodness we will experience for all eternity when we come face to face with Goodness Itself!
Yes, we have climbed this mountain...it was an arduous climb of preparations for this semester...and the mountaintop experience was very sweet. But just like Christ at the Transfiguration, we too must come down from this peak, back to the "real world." We are not the same as when we stepped on that plane four months ago...we are changed persons and we must return home to change our world! It will not be easy, for life in the States has more or less remained constant while we are very different. But through God's grace we will get back in the swing of things and our semester here will continue to bear fruit there!
You are probably wondering about the title of this entry...the lights are out in Bankok. It is largely a Bernardi inside-joke that I will try to explain a bit. The word for bathroom here is "bagno" but we jokingly call it "bango" instead. One of our Bernardians wrote a note to Thanos telling him that "the lights are out in bango K" but apparently the last two words got mushed together and someone else read it to be "the lights are out in Bankok!" Why we would be telling Thanos this tidbit about Thailand is beyond me! ;-)
It is a funny story though and even was one of the words in our game of melt-down (combination of Catch Phrase, Password, and Charades) the other night. But I also think it can be a metaphor for our current situation. Very soon, the lights will be going out for Bernardi 2011...we will all be moving out of the house on Wednesday and going our separate ways. It will be hard to say goodbye to those members of our Bernardi family who don't go to UST or are graduating, and it will never be the same since we will never all live under the same roof again. But God allows our hearts to be torn so as to make room to love more... Yes, though the lights are going out here, they will be going on wherever we end up. We will all go and be lights to our St. Thomas campus and the other universities we represent. We will go and be lights in our future careers and vocations. Together we will journey toward the Light of the World, Christ himself! Praise God!
Czesc! That is, "hello" in Polish. By the way, Polish is a very difficult language to speak because there are about a bagillion consonants all put together, so we were lucky to find English speakers! I did pick up a couple of words!
I realize that I am almost a month behind on my blogging so you must forgive me. The weather is gorgeous and finals are just around the corner so it has been hard for me to take the time to sit down and blog! There is SO MUCH I could say but I will just give you the highlights.
First of all, it was simply incredible to visit this land of my ancestors. I am 50% Polish, so everywhere I went I felt like I was looking at my family members! My great great grandparents came to America in 1890 from Poznan, a town between Warsaw and Berlin. It was cool to meet a few people from Poznan, who said it was a truly beautiful place. I was also very PROUD of my heritage because Polish culture is so incredible! The people are reserved and quiet yet have such strength. One can look into their eyes and see deep faith and true hope. If any country in Europe is still authentically Catholic and not post-Catholic, I would say it is Poland! The lines for confession were out the door and the churches were full of young people at liturgy! Amazing! Plus Polish music (we heard many polkas being played on the street corner and even went to a Chopin concert) and cuisine (so many great piergoies and kielbaasa!) are phenomenal.
Our home base for the trip was Krakow, an ancient city with so much history. It has one of the largest medieval market squares in all of Europe, and since we were there for Palm Sunday they were having their spectacular Easter market. Our trip centered on John Paul II, who would soon become blessed, and the WWII history of Poland.
We traveled to Wadowice, JPII's hometown, where we got to attend Mass at the beautiful basilica where he was baptized and was an altar server. We got to visit museums containing so many relics, including his skis and vestments. And we got to eat his favorite cream cake - cremuvka - on the street corner near his boyhood home! So good! Krakow was the city where he studied at university and served as Archbishop, so we got to see this beautiful Cathedral and the window from which he would often address the people, a small prefigurement of his becoming pope and addressing the world on Sundays.
We also traveled to Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkeneau, two of the worst concentration and later death camps of the Holocaust. Words cannot even describe this experience - it was sombering and powerful. I learned so many things about the horrors that took place here. I was truly struck by looking at the photos of the inmates at these camps...normal men and women whose lives would be cut prematurely short. Seeing piles of shoes of the prisoners and mounds of their hair were simply striking. We stood at the platform where they would be sorted after getting off the train. We visited the place where they would relieve themselves, just twice a day, with no privacy. We saw what was left of the gas chambers and the execution area. One of the most moving parts was our quick peek into the tomb of St. Maximilian Kolbe - a Polish priest who volunteered to be killed instead of a pleading married man with children. I am not the same after visiting these camps.
We also got to visit the Schindler's Factory Museum (know the movie "Schindler's List"?) to learn about life in Nazi-occupied Krakow. It was an incredible museum and I gained so many insights into life in this period both in the Jewish ghetto and for non-Jews outside. I never fully realized the extent to which people's lives were taken over by the Nazis...postage stamps had Hitler's face on them, at schools children were force-fed Nazi propaganda. There were so many stories of little-known heroes that surfaced too, such as the hairdresser who would die the hair of Jews to try to make them look more Aryan or the little school girl helping her Jewish friend escape from the ghetto. Just think if you were a parent during this time...what would you say when your small child asks about the situation. "Why does Anne have to live in that place?" What do you tell them?
There were so many other great points of this trip...climbing an ancient mound to get an incredible view of the city, attending a Chopin concert in a fancy hotel (wine included!), and eating dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant (Maria's ethnicity!). The overall consensus was that Poland is an amazing place and we loved this trip! Then seeing all the Poles in Rome for the beatification was truly exciting!
I realize that I am almost a month behind on my blogging so you must forgive me. The weather is gorgeous and finals are just around the corner so it has been hard for me to take the time to sit down and blog! There is SO MUCH I could say but I will just give you the highlights.
First of all, it was simply incredible to visit this land of my ancestors. I am 50% Polish, so everywhere I went I felt like I was looking at my family members! My great great grandparents came to America in 1890 from Poznan, a town between Warsaw and Berlin. It was cool to meet a few people from Poznan, who said it was a truly beautiful place. I was also very PROUD of my heritage because Polish culture is so incredible! The people are reserved and quiet yet have such strength. One can look into their eyes and see deep faith and true hope. If any country in Europe is still authentically Catholic and not post-Catholic, I would say it is Poland! The lines for confession were out the door and the churches were full of young people at liturgy! Amazing! Plus Polish music (we heard many polkas being played on the street corner and even went to a Chopin concert) and cuisine (so many great piergoies and kielbaasa!) are phenomenal.
Our home base for the trip was Krakow, an ancient city with so much history. It has one of the largest medieval market squares in all of Europe, and since we were there for Palm Sunday they were having their spectacular Easter market. Our trip centered on John Paul II, who would soon become blessed, and the WWII history of Poland.
We traveled to Wadowice, JPII's hometown, where we got to attend Mass at the beautiful basilica where he was baptized and was an altar server. We got to visit museums containing so many relics, including his skis and vestments. And we got to eat his favorite cream cake - cremuvka - on the street corner near his boyhood home! So good! Krakow was the city where he studied at university and served as Archbishop, so we got to see this beautiful Cathedral and the window from which he would often address the people, a small prefigurement of his becoming pope and addressing the world on Sundays.
We also traveled to Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkeneau, two of the worst concentration and later death camps of the Holocaust. Words cannot even describe this experience - it was sombering and powerful. I learned so many things about the horrors that took place here. I was truly struck by looking at the photos of the inmates at these camps...normal men and women whose lives would be cut prematurely short. Seeing piles of shoes of the prisoners and mounds of their hair were simply striking. We stood at the platform where they would be sorted after getting off the train. We visited the place where they would relieve themselves, just twice a day, with no privacy. We saw what was left of the gas chambers and the execution area. One of the most moving parts was our quick peek into the tomb of St. Maximilian Kolbe - a Polish priest who volunteered to be killed instead of a pleading married man with children. I am not the same after visiting these camps.
We also got to visit the Schindler's Factory Museum (know the movie "Schindler's List"?) to learn about life in Nazi-occupied Krakow. It was an incredible museum and I gained so many insights into life in this period both in the Jewish ghetto and for non-Jews outside. I never fully realized the extent to which people's lives were taken over by the Nazis...postage stamps had Hitler's face on them, at schools children were force-fed Nazi propaganda. There were so many stories of little-known heroes that surfaced too, such as the hairdresser who would die the hair of Jews to try to make them look more Aryan or the little school girl helping her Jewish friend escape from the ghetto. Just think if you were a parent during this time...what would you say when your small child asks about the situation. "Why does Anne have to live in that place?" What do you tell them?
There were so many other great points of this trip...climbing an ancient mound to get an incredible view of the city, attending a Chopin concert in a fancy hotel (wine included!), and eating dinner at a Ukrainian restaurant (Maria's ethnicity!). The overall consensus was that Poland is an amazing place and we loved this trip! Then seeing all the Poles in Rome for the beatification was truly exciting!
Papa Bene! The real deal! Right in front of me!
Well, after two fabulous weeks, our Spring Break is finally coming to a close. This "holiday" as they call it here in Europe has been absolutely phenomenal and I have so many stories and photos to share! But for now I will tell you a bit about the Triduum and Beatification - two Church events I was able to experience in the heart of it all, here in Rome!Let me preface this by saying that papal liturgies are AMAZING because they are celebrated by the Holy Father, the direct successor of St. Peter himself, but they are CRAZY for the same reason. Lots of people want to see Papa Bene and since Rome typically lacks order and cohesion, that just makes for quite a mess! You need to obtain tickets for papal events a long time in advance and once you have a ticket you must basically push and shove your way in to get a seat! You come early to wait (for example, Easter Vigil Mass was at 9 pm, doors opened at 7:30 pm, and we arrived in line at 3 pm), however the "lines" really don't get longer, they get wider toward the front. Doors open a couple of hours before the event, and when they do, it is a mad rush! I was honestly worried that someone would get trampled - it reminded me a lot of Black Friday shopping actually!
But again, papal liturgies are amazing and it was SO COOL to be at St. Peter's to celebrate the highest feast of the liturgical year with our Holy Father and so many other Catholics. A first highlight of the Triduum was definitely being about FIVE FEET AWAY FROM PAPA BENE!!! At the end of the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday morning, where the holy oils to be used in sacraments throughout the diocese that year, I was able to get to the very edge of the barricade and see Papa up close!!! See the photo above!! I was filled with joy to be able to gaze into our Holy Father's eyes!! And the cheering and shouts of "Papa!" that filled the air as he processed were simply phenomenal!! I attended the Mass of the Lord's Supper at Trinita del Monti, the church at the top of the Spanish Steps with a beautiful French religious community. It was a fabulous French chanted Mass - a taste of the angels singing! After dinner, we did some "church hopping" - a Roman Holy Thursday tradition is that churches open up for Eucharistic Adoration at night, often until Midnight or later, and decorate their altars with flowers and candles for the occasion. It was kind of like trick-or-treating for Catholics! We would run into people we knew on the streets who would tell us, "This church has a beautiful altar" or "At this church you can see so and so's relics!" So many goodies! It was an absolutely beautiful way to see some more Roman churches and ring in the Triduum with prayer.
On Good Friday I got to climb the Sacred Steps (the steps that led up to Pilate's Palace, that Christ himself walked up and down) on my knees, as the tradition has it. Such a beautiful experience where I could unite my suffering with our Lord! Then at the Good Friday Service, our seminarians got to SERVE!!! Yes, they got to hold Papa Bene's chasuble and wash his HANDS!! AND Sarah DeCock, one of our Bernardi sisters, got to proclaim the FIRST READING!!! She was the only female up on the altar the whole time, so she was essentially representing half of the world's population!! It was in English, of course, and she did a great job!!
I must say that one of my favorite moments of the Triduum was during the Vigil was when St. Peter's went totally DARK, except for a few lights shining on saint statues, while the Easter Candle was being processed in. SO COOL!!! The worship aids were literally books - they were each at least 40 pages. The music was phenomenal, with a wonderful choir and for Easter Vigil, a full orchestra! And there were a handful of baptisms and confirmations. Imagine getting BAPTIZED or CONFIRMED by PAPA BENE!!! Wow!! We celebrated with gelato at about 1 am when the Vigil was done!! Easter Sunday we went to St. Peter's Square to receive a papal blessing and hear him wish the world "Happy Easter" in dozens of different languages!! Then we had a fabulous brunch at Bernardi, exchanged gifts with our Lenten prayer partners, had our own candy hunt, and even concluded with a dance party!! Christ is Risen!! Alleluia!!
After a trip to Ireland (which was PHENOMENAL!) we returned to Rome for the Beatification of John Paul II. We could tell as soon as we arrived here that something was different - the whole city was abuzz with excitement! Security was increased, vendors had set up shops in new locations, the metros and buses were running more frequently, little information stands had sprung up, signs with JPII's picture on it were all over the place, and the pilgrims were all over, especially those wearing the red and white of Poland!
Last night we had a fabulous dinner with two of the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, a beautiful religious community that was just recently founded in the New Ulm Diocese of Minnesota. One of them was Mother Mary Clare, the foundress, and the other was Sister Miriam Rose, the biological sister of Ephrem, one of our Bernardi seminarians! It was so good to pray with them and speak to them! Then many of us hopped on the metro (it was a squishy ride) and headed to Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman chariot racing stadium, for a prayer vigil before the Beatification. The whole circus was FULL of pilgrims waving flags to represent their homelands and holding candles. It was absolutely phenomenal!
We got seats on a steep hill that was a bit slippery, so maintaining our balance was a bit of a challenge. But we were THERE and we got to take it all in (with the help of huge TV screens). The emcee seemed to be some kind of Italian pop star, and she interviewed several people to give testimonies about JPII, including the French nun whose miraculous cure from Parkinsons was the miracle necessary for the beatification, and the current Archbishop of Krakow (which JPII once was). There was a fabulous live choir and orchestra, directed by a bishop! And TV screens showed us the celebrations that were being held all across the world in honor of JPII, including at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow where we had just gone! At the end the whole crowd prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary (which JPII gave the world) together. Each decade was led by the faithful in a different country. It was so fun to see them on the screen in their homeland, wearing traditional dress, and singing traditional music. Then we all responded to the prayers in Latin, the language of the universal church! It was a late night, but so worth it!
Many pilgrims camped out near St. Peter's Square, awaiting its opening this morning, to attempt a spot in the square for the Beatification Mass. There were tents and blankets and pilgrims could purchase boxed meals. However, after getting only four hours of sleep a couple nights before (we had a 6:30 am flight back from Dublin) and a bit tired of the crowds from the Triduum liturgies (people can get pushy and rude) I decided to go back to Bernardi to sleep. This morning we awoke early and made our way to St. Peter's, only to find immense crowds. There was no hope of getting into the square and the mob in front of the nearest viewing screen at Castel Sant'Angelo was enormous, so after spending a while in the thick of it, we decided to head back to Bernardi. It is so incredible though to think that I am here in this city and that people have literally come from all across the world for this historic event!! So many pilgrims!! I proudly wore my Polska sweatshirt that I got in Poland yesterday and today!! I was able to go to Mass at St. Joachim, one of my favorite local parishes, and caught a bit of the Mass live on my computer. It is a gorgeous sunny day in Rome right now. I cannot help thinking that our beloved JPII is looking down on us all from heaven with a big smile. Praise God!! School starts up again tomorrow and it is simply unreal to think that we fly back to the states one month from today (June 1st)! I will do my best to soak up each and every moment I have left!
BLESSED JOHN PAUL II, PRAY FOR US!!!
But again, papal liturgies are amazing and it was SO COOL to be at St. Peter's to celebrate the highest feast of the liturgical year with our Holy Father and so many other Catholics. A first highlight of the Triduum was definitely being about FIVE FEET AWAY FROM PAPA BENE!!! At the end of the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday morning, where the holy oils to be used in sacraments throughout the diocese that year, I was able to get to the very edge of the barricade and see Papa up close!!! See the photo above!! I was filled with joy to be able to gaze into our Holy Father's eyes!! And the cheering and shouts of "Papa!" that filled the air as he processed were simply phenomenal!! I attended the Mass of the Lord's Supper at Trinita del Monti, the church at the top of the Spanish Steps with a beautiful French religious community. It was a fabulous French chanted Mass - a taste of the angels singing! After dinner, we did some "church hopping" - a Roman Holy Thursday tradition is that churches open up for Eucharistic Adoration at night, often until Midnight or later, and decorate their altars with flowers and candles for the occasion. It was kind of like trick-or-treating for Catholics! We would run into people we knew on the streets who would tell us, "This church has a beautiful altar" or "At this church you can see so and so's relics!" So many goodies! It was an absolutely beautiful way to see some more Roman churches and ring in the Triduum with prayer.
On Good Friday I got to climb the Sacred Steps (the steps that led up to Pilate's Palace, that Christ himself walked up and down) on my knees, as the tradition has it. Such a beautiful experience where I could unite my suffering with our Lord! Then at the Good Friday Service, our seminarians got to SERVE!!! Yes, they got to hold Papa Bene's chasuble and wash his HANDS!! AND Sarah DeCock, one of our Bernardi sisters, got to proclaim the FIRST READING!!! She was the only female up on the altar the whole time, so she was essentially representing half of the world's population!! It was in English, of course, and she did a great job!!
I must say that one of my favorite moments of the Triduum was during the Vigil was when St. Peter's went totally DARK, except for a few lights shining on saint statues, while the Easter Candle was being processed in. SO COOL!!! The worship aids were literally books - they were each at least 40 pages. The music was phenomenal, with a wonderful choir and for Easter Vigil, a full orchestra! And there were a handful of baptisms and confirmations. Imagine getting BAPTIZED or CONFIRMED by PAPA BENE!!! Wow!! We celebrated with gelato at about 1 am when the Vigil was done!! Easter Sunday we went to St. Peter's Square to receive a papal blessing and hear him wish the world "Happy Easter" in dozens of different languages!! Then we had a fabulous brunch at Bernardi, exchanged gifts with our Lenten prayer partners, had our own candy hunt, and even concluded with a dance party!! Christ is Risen!! Alleluia!!
After a trip to Ireland (which was PHENOMENAL!) we returned to Rome for the Beatification of John Paul II. We could tell as soon as we arrived here that something was different - the whole city was abuzz with excitement! Security was increased, vendors had set up shops in new locations, the metros and buses were running more frequently, little information stands had sprung up, signs with JPII's picture on it were all over the place, and the pilgrims were all over, especially those wearing the red and white of Poland!
Last night we had a fabulous dinner with two of the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus, a beautiful religious community that was just recently founded in the New Ulm Diocese of Minnesota. One of them was Mother Mary Clare, the foundress, and the other was Sister Miriam Rose, the biological sister of Ephrem, one of our Bernardi seminarians! It was so good to pray with them and speak to them! Then many of us hopped on the metro (it was a squishy ride) and headed to Circus Maximus, the ancient Roman chariot racing stadium, for a prayer vigil before the Beatification. The whole circus was FULL of pilgrims waving flags to represent their homelands and holding candles. It was absolutely phenomenal!
We got seats on a steep hill that was a bit slippery, so maintaining our balance was a bit of a challenge. But we were THERE and we got to take it all in (with the help of huge TV screens). The emcee seemed to be some kind of Italian pop star, and she interviewed several people to give testimonies about JPII, including the French nun whose miraculous cure from Parkinsons was the miracle necessary for the beatification, and the current Archbishop of Krakow (which JPII once was). There was a fabulous live choir and orchestra, directed by a bishop! And TV screens showed us the celebrations that were being held all across the world in honor of JPII, including at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy in Krakow where we had just gone! At the end the whole crowd prayed the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary (which JPII gave the world) together. Each decade was led by the faithful in a different country. It was so fun to see them on the screen in their homeland, wearing traditional dress, and singing traditional music. Then we all responded to the prayers in Latin, the language of the universal church! It was a late night, but so worth it!
Many pilgrims camped out near St. Peter's Square, awaiting its opening this morning, to attempt a spot in the square for the Beatification Mass. There were tents and blankets and pilgrims could purchase boxed meals. However, after getting only four hours of sleep a couple nights before (we had a 6:30 am flight back from Dublin) and a bit tired of the crowds from the Triduum liturgies (people can get pushy and rude) I decided to go back to Bernardi to sleep. This morning we awoke early and made our way to St. Peter's, only to find immense crowds. There was no hope of getting into the square and the mob in front of the nearest viewing screen at Castel Sant'Angelo was enormous, so after spending a while in the thick of it, we decided to head back to Bernardi. It is so incredible though to think that I am here in this city and that people have literally come from all across the world for this historic event!! So many pilgrims!! I proudly wore my Polska sweatshirt that I got in Poland yesterday and today!! I was able to go to Mass at St. Joachim, one of my favorite local parishes, and caught a bit of the Mass live on my computer. It is a gorgeous sunny day in Rome right now. I cannot help thinking that our beloved JPII is looking down on us all from heaven with a big smile. Praise God!! School starts up again tomorrow and it is simply unreal to think that we fly back to the states one month from today (June 1st)! I will do my best to soak up each and every moment I have left!
BLESSED JOHN PAUL II, PRAY FOR US!!!