Another star in the sky tonight.

In ancient times the Greeks and Roman thought that the stars where holes in the sky in which the heavenly light showed through. So that is why they looked to the sky to study the stars since at that moment they were glimpsing bits of heaven. By extension than it is easy to believe that in this scheme when our souls and the souls the our loved ones go to heaven that a new star is added to the celestial beauty. Tonight look up and you will see one more star, since the sweetest old lady that you ever have met is know looking down toward us and blessing us from heaven. My grandmother, Dolores Caroline Schmidt, died suddenly Sunday, October 28, 2007. Her long good-bye to her husband Jerome is now over, as he preceded her to prepare a spot in heaven for the both of them. She now has all the time to chat with Michael and Shirely, her two children who also were called back to God before her, and Michael her grandchild. We miss, and love her, but also know that she is supremely happy with those who love her in heaven and God who loved her so much that he shared her with us for eighty good years.

Some Silence and Wild Boar Sausage

To prepare for the start of lectures at the Greg a few of us headed out to the little town of Norcia in Umbria for some nice rest and relaxation. Umbria is the region that Assisi is in, so if you can imagine the landscape you can imagine the surrondings of Norcia. I think Norcia is prettier though since there is less development, less touristy, and it is greener. It is famous as the birth place of Saint Benedict, and also for its wild boar sausage.

WHY DID I TAKE A PICTURE OF BENEDICT'S BACK? To show that he leads me and many others in prayer. As someone leads you, you see their back, hence the imagine of the priest facing the same way as the people during Mass, it is the priest leading his people to heaven.

Norcia has everything you would imagine a little Italian town to have. More churches than you could possibly visit, a nice example of a medieval town wall, beautiful little narrow streets, good food, friendly people (almost no one knows English), and at least this weekend Oktoberfest (wait, Oktoberfest in an Italian town?). This is my friend Jeff from Portland and I enjoying some nice tasting German style leg of pork.

This is the main church in Norcia, the Basilica of Saints Benedict and Scholastica, they are twins. It is built above their place of birth. Even though it is one of the most important places for the Benedictines, for a long time they had no monastery here in Norcia. Recently a group of American Benedictines re-founded the monastery here. They hosted us, and taught us what Benedictine hospitality was all about. They also sing real-real-good. You can check out some of their music on their website: http://www.osbnorcia.org/
As I said Norcia is famous for its wild-boar sausage. Now a little ITALIAN LESSON: If you want to know where to buy something in Italian, find the same for the item in Italian, and add -eria at the end, and you got the name of the store. Example: gelato + eria = gelateria. As you can see this is a Norin-eria. They sell a little bit of NORCIA! These are all products typical of Norica that we can bring home, and it shows how proud they are of their community and really I think this can be an example to the US, which well each town seems like the next one. Be proud of what makes your little town unique. Perhaps when I get pack to the US of A, I will see a Green Bay-eria, or a Manitowoc-eria?

THE FOLLOWING ARE PICTURES FROM MY RETREAT AT THE

VENERABLE ENGLISH VILLA

WHICH IS ACROSS THE LAKE FROM CASTLE-GONDOLFO, THE POPE'S SUMMER HOUSE

The Apostolic Palace from the front door of the villa.
During the retreat I did a lot of hiking. The retreat house was half way up the mountain from the Lake Alban, so there was some very scenic hikes on the way down to the lake. The land is so steep that is slides down the side of the mountain, taking trees with it. This creates a "hanging-forest" appearance that I really liked. This area also includes some Roman ruins.

Sorry Two Months (Can we say B*U*S*Y)

Sorry to all for taking so long to update this. After two months perhaps I have lost some or all loyal readers. It has been a busy two months. But very active and spiritually moving. I cannot really put into words what has all happened within my heart, but I feel much closer to God in the end of it.
The transition to seminary abroad, to NAC, to being in Italy. Well it has been much more difficult than I thought it would be. I went for a little emotional roller coaster ride, but what is very much consoling is that I have felt myself growing ever closer to God in all of this. Reflecting on the Gospel passage: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it shall never bare fruit," it has all become more real to me. It is something I understood before in some over superficial way, but know much more into the heart.
How do I update over two months? I really cannot say I know how to. I have a lot of pictures though so perhaps that will help.

This is from a day trip while I was in language school in Verbania. It is a giant statue of Saint Charles Borromeo. He is the patron saint of seminaries, so of course is close to my heart. I will devote a separate post to the beauties of Verbania and Lago Maggiore.

This is a view of the Pope's gardens at Castelgondolfo. Very beautiful. They are usually not open to the public, but it was a special favor to us when we were there to receive the blessing of His Holiness.

The whole class of new men took a two night trip to Assisi. It moved me spiritually more than I thought it would, since I never had a large devotion to Saint Francis. I loved taking walks in the country side around the town. There are olive trees for those who have never seen olive trees before. The shimmer like silver under the Umbrian sun.

The basic skyline of Siena. I spent two weeks here for language school. The Cathedral is on the left with the tower and the dome. It was very beautiful, but there is sadly a charge to enter. It is treated more like a museum, rather than the House of God. Did not Jesus act on this some how?