Palm Sunday, March 24, 2013

Who knew that there was so much to see in Rome?  Lately, I have been able to take advantage of our location in Rome to really explore and take in all that Rome has to offer.  This is partly due to the fact that a bus strike caused us to postpone our trip to Castel Gandolfo.  Instead I spent the day "roaming" Rome.  It was great!  The weather here has been gorgeous lately - sunny and warm!  Perfect weather for biking through the Villa Borghese (a large and beautiful park in the middle of Rome).  It was one of the most fun afternoons I have spent in Rome! 

Villa Borghese

Then yesterday we had a fun trip outside of Rome to the nearby town of Subiaco.  This is the town in which St. Benedict famously established his monastery.  So we went on a hike up to the monastery.  I loved the chance to escape city-living and go to the mountains - it was gorgeous.  The monastery itself was impressive - literally built into the side of a cliff - so it had stunning scenery and vistas of the valley, town, and river below.  It was also filled with stunning frescoes, including the oldest painting of St. Francis (made during his lifetime on the occasion of his visit to the monastery at Subiaco).  So it was really a treasure trove hidden away up in the mountains.  We had another beautiful day, and so we took time to explore the beautiful scenery and horse around in the clear blue waters of the Aniene River.  We had such a fun day!

Subiaco

Palm Sunday

Finally, today was another great day!  We had tickets to the Papal Palm Sunday Mass.  It was fantastic!  The Palm Sunday readings are some of my favorite of the entire Church year, so it was really special hearing them in St. Peter's square.  Pope Francis' homily was another good one - his three key words were joy, cross, and youth (I would encourage you to read the whole thing at http://www.news.va/en/news/palm-sunday-homily-we-must-live-the-faith-with-a-y).  We all left invigorated to begin this Holy Week.  We really have been able to get it off to a good start today, because not only did we attend the Mass, but we came back to our home here at the Villa Serenella and were greeted by a giant Palm Sunday party that the Maronite priests here hold annually.  It was a great time with lots of good Lebanese food, and fun soccer games with the Italian kids.  I am ready to begin this Holy Week, may you all have a holy Holy Week as well!