Blog Archives

A God moment

4/25/2018

     The other day I visited a mother and daughter in rehab facility. (That’s all you need to know for this story; the details aren’t necessary and in all my posts I do my best to protect peoples privacy and keep their confidences.)
     At the end of my visits we always pray. I ask them what we should pray about and the mother suggested all the caregivers in the world and especially the ones helping them. I put the words to prayer and we ended with The Lord’s Prayer.
     As I was leaving the mother said to me, “Now, you take care of yourself.”
I was moved to reply, “Thank you so much for mothering me.” We looked at each other; the moment was complete.
    What a God moment for me! I felt my own mother’s mothering. My mother wouldn’t have said it exactly like that, but the spirit was similar. Very grateful.

The English Cemetery in Florence

4/18/2018

   I’m attracted to cemeteries; I feel peaceful as I wander about and read the headstones and look at the sculpture. Today at the English Cemetery I felt that those resting there were experiencing a special peace.
     Elizabeth Barrett Browning is the most famous resident, and yet her memorial is not well marked and even some of the letters of her name are missing.
    The English Cemetery is located on a little piece of land stuck in the middle of a major road outside the city center, but within easy walking distance.

This from Wikapedia:
The English Cemetery in Florence, Italy is at Piazzale Donatello. Its names, 'Cimitero Inglese' and 'Cimitero Protestante' are somewhat misleading, as the cemetery holds bodies of Orthodox Christiansas well as those of many Reformed Churches; but the majority of those buried here were of the Anglophone British and American communities of Florence.

Another visit to San Marco

4/16/2018

Every time I come to Florence I promise I won’t take pictures of the frescoes that Fra Angelica painted in the monk cells at the Convent of San Marco. I never keep that promise. Here they are again. Pace e bene.

Praying at St. Trinita in Florence

4/15/2018

One of my go-to prayer churches in Florence is St. Trinita, a small, gothic style church on Piazza Trinita, and near Ponte Trinita. A trinity in itself.
I sit in a pew that gives me a view of Christ’s life through art.

God with me in the rain

4/13/2018

Here is some further comments on yesterday’s post on www.acottagebythesea.net about an act of kindness by a monk who gave me an umbrella when he saw that I was caught in a rainstorm at the Sanctuary of St. Margharita, the highest point in Cortona.
This was a God moment, not an answer to a specific prayer. I wasn’t praying for the rain to stop; I was calm, knowing that I would get back down the mountain, that I would get dry and have a good meal. I was with God and God was with me.

April 11th, 2018

4/11/2018

If I were a nun I would join the Order of the Poor Clare’s and live at San Damiano, where Clare lived for some time before Francis’s death in 1226 to her death in 1260. It was in this rundown monastery that Francis, while praying in front of a crucifix, heard: “Go Francis and repair my house, which as you can see is falling into ruin.”. Francis rebuilt San Damiano for Clare and her sisters. Today the complex is inhabited by the Order of Friars Minor.
My pilgrim’s walk began as I began the steep descent from the town at the top of the hill to San Damiano nestled among the olive groves in the valley. The section open to the public is self-contained, sparse, offering only what one needs to lead a prayerful life, which is what Clare embodied.

I plan to write more extensively about San Damiano, but for now I want to give you a visual tour of my prayerful time there.

Runners and churches in Rome

4/9/2018

A beautiful day yesterday for the half-marathon run throughout Rome. So many runners, so many groups, running for autism and cancer, supporting causes and individuals. I am called to the Christian story, but clearly the Christ was in every person I passed, in every runner and spectator, in every person selling bottles of water. God shows no partiality.
Rome is a city of many churches, most built in the 16th century as Rome responded to the Protestant Reformation. Baroque, baroque, baroque. Here are some I passed on my walk around the city. Sorry I can't give you the names.

Some paintings from the Vatican Museum

4/7/2018

Here is a link to my cottage by the sea blog where you can take a tour of the Vatican Museum with me.
On this prayer diary blog I offer some of the prayerful painting I saw. Yes, my favorite topic, the Annunciation and a few others.
www.acottagebythesea.net/on-my-mind