A day of rest

My plans changed a bit this morning.  I had wanted to go to one of the local churches for Mass but my stomach has been a bit upset so I decided to go to Mass in the house.  I've restarted taking a probiotic which seems to have helped.

The rest of the day was just a time to rest and relax.  The meals today were on a modified schedule as the seminarians have brunch after Mass on Sunday morning.  I decided to forgo that and later in the day headed down the hill for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants when I was a student - Sor'Eva.  It is literally at the bottom of the hill.  I had a nice, typical Roman lunch - Spaghetti all"Amatriciana (tomato sauce with onions and pancetta) and a breaded veal cutlet.  Every bit as good as I remember.  I made it up the hill, once again without getting too winded.  Always feels like a bit of a victory.

Tomorrow we start the program in earnest.  The last few days have been getting acclimated to Rome and to the house.  It is a great group of guys.  The last of them arrived today.  On Friday we had an opportunity to introduce ourselves a little more fully and it was interesting to hear the wide variety of experiences and places we are in our priesthood.  The youngest of the group are in their 40's and the oldest in their '70s.  We have participants from the U.S., Australia, England and New Zealand.  There are 29 of us in all.

This week we will have classes every day, mostly in moral theology and spirituality.   On Friday some of head to Vienna which should be fun.

I am praying in a special way for all of those suffering from the deep freeze that has settled over the mid-West.  It was 51 here today.  By midweek there are windchills of -50 forecast for Minnesota. That's a difference of 100 degrees.  Wow.

Several of the men are of Filipino descent.  I saw the reports of the bombing at the Cathedral in the Philippines.  Definitely holding them in prayer.

Tomorrow I turn 62.  Dinner is planned with Msgr. Tom Cook, a priest of our dioese, who is working at the Congregation for Clergy here.  It will be great to see him.  I have saved my first Spaghetti Carbonara for my birthday.  My mouth is watering already.

Comments

Mary lindberg said…
Thought of you as I know it’s your birthday. Hope you have a great day and enjoy your birthday meal. All is well here except for the temps. Just hanging out at the apt, not even sticking my nose out there.

Thanks for the updates on your daily doings. Really enjoy reading all the fun stuff you are up too.

Got the chair back from being uplostered. It looks great. So next time you are in town stop in and take a look.
January 27, 2019 at 5:45 PM
Fr. John Sauer said…
Mary - thanks for thinking of me. I will definitely have to check out the chair. I was hoping to stop by the house one more time before I left but couldn't make a trip to St. Cloud work. Steve promised pictures. I've been integrating the pieces I brought from the house into the rectory. Little by little.
January 29, 2019 at 2:06 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Underground

Image
Today we began, as always, with prayer.  My liturgy group (made up of 6 of us) was responsible for leading today.  I took on the role of presiding at Morning and Evening Prayer.  Heading down for the latter shortly. We then headed back to St. Peter's for a tour of the excavations under the basilica.  I had done this when I was a student but it was every bit as fascinating as I remembered.  Our tour guide was a seminarian from Seattle who did an excellent job.  They are required to a lot of study and are tested and certified by the Vatican to be official guides.  Some of the men at the College in my time did this as well so it seems to be a well established tradition.  We began in the area that once was the Circus of Nero.  It had been a marshy area that was unused and Nero wanted to build a circus.  Since there was no more room in Rome proper he built it on the unused Vatican hill.  In the Circus was an obelisk that was later moved to the center of St. Peter's Square where
Read more

A beautiful Roman winter day

I am praying for all my family and friends back home as they endure what looks to be brutal weather.  Deep cold on top of the recent snow in some spots.  Today finally dawned bright and clear.  Still crisp but a beautiful day. I had a great birthday yesterday.  We had our first presentations and then the afternoon free.  I spent some time reading with a short siesta.  Love that tradition.  In the evening I went out with Msgr. Tom Cook from our diocese who is working over here for a couple of years.  We went to a nice restaurant that he recommended and had a terrific meal.  I had been saving some of my Roman favorites for my birthday so started out with Spaghetti alla Carbonara which is my favorite.  I remember thinking, when I first came over for studies in 1981 (yikes!), that I wasn't sure how I would survive on spaghetti and meatballs every day for the next four years.  Little did I know.  Such a variety and so many new favorites.  Today, of course, there are many Italian resta
Read more

My Weekend

It is now Monday and I thought I would post a quick update on our doings. Classes start tomorrow so I don't know what my time will be like. On Saturday we took the train into Brussels for a guided tour of the city. It was nice since the lousy weather kind of dampened my spirits for a lot of running around when I first arrived. We visited the Cathedral, the Grand Place, and the Royal part of the city. Brussels has a long history and many chapters in it. I would like to find a good book that goes through the history of this area. What little I have learned has been fascinating. We had beautiful, sunny weather. Temperatures were in the 50s so I thought it was great. All weekend and today have also been sunny and pleasant. Cool at night but nice during the day. Folks say this is unusual weather so I suppose we will be in for more rain and cold in the next few weeks. On Sunday we had a tour by the son of a couple who works at the College. He has lived in Leuven all his life
Read more