Buona Sera, or good afternoon/evening, as they say in Italy at this time of day. I think the jet lag is beginning to give way to days of my usual energy and ability to stay awake past 9:00 at night! One good practice that came out of going to Italy - besides searching for and finding real Italian gelato at the local Harris Teeter grocery - is to walk every day again. I had stopped running after chemo and walking had ceased being a pleasure any more. But once you go to Tuscany and Umbria, you learn to walk cobblestone streets - that literally go up both ways - and I can feel that I am stronger than before we left the United States. So walking has become part of my (almost) daily routine again.
Sometimes I picture myself walking the holy ground that we hearty pilgrims walked during the trip, instead of the rolling hills where I live. I picture again standing for Mass in the Basilica of St. Francis, just feet away from his tomb. We walked parts of the small monastery (built in 1224) on an island, off the City of Venice, where Francis spent 40 days in prayer after making a pilgrimage himself to the Holy Land. I walked up and down the simple, narrow stairs that St. Clare and her order of nuns, the Poor Clares, walked every day of their cloistered lives and looked out the windows at the peaceful views that had to bring them closer to God. We walked through the streets of Assisi to the Basilica of St. Clare where she is buried and where the Cross of San Damiano hangs. I still have to pinch myself to be sure I was really there! Sometimes I feel like getting on a plane to go back and see it all again, on my own, without a tour guide and without restrictions of time that great tours and well-laid plans require. I'm glad to be home, but I want to go back.
I promised myself that I would journal every day on this trip. I journaled just twice. And then I only had enough energy to write where we'd gone and what we'd seen. I never did write about what all of these sights and experiences meant to me, to my faith, and to my life. It was a beautifully tiring whirlwind of awe-inspiring art, deeply spiritual places, and examples of profound love of the Trinity.
I also promised myself to come home with a new attitude of even deeper gratitude for all my many blessings. The most important being my gift of faith, and being able to get to know the saintly men and women of faith that devoted their lives to Christ and His teachings. They have set such keen examples! And I want my life to be changed as theirs were changed: Toward a relationship with God that becomes palpable to me, that changes not only my actions but also my heart and my thoughts and my words. As I write this, I see that this trip to Italy has done far more than show me some of the most beautiful sights I ever could hope to see. Assisi, in particular, will live in my heart forever. May it be so! 💙
