Open Doors

It's fun living in Italy as a priest. All sorts of doors open that I didn't expect . . . Last weekend right after I had flown in I went down to visit friends in Nettuno before starting school. Sunday we walked to the nearby church, and asked the priest if I could concelebrate. Not only did he let me, but without my having sat through one lesson of Italian, he had me read the Gospel! Apparently only one or two words were off, so my prep work in the States is paying off.

Arriving in Florence I stopped in at a church to see if I could join in an evening Mass: the priest was overjoyed, because he had just heard of an urgent intention of a friend, and was able to give to me the assigned Mass intention of the parish, and he could then offer the Mass for his friend.

Wednesday I visited the church of Santa Croce for the first time, one of the many splendid churches in the city, and though it was past closing time, the guards let me in and once inside was able to concelebrate the evening Mass.

The same thing again yesterday--passing by the church of Saint Laurence, another Florentian masterpiece, I discovered that it was closed, but the guard invited me inside to spend some time in the church: where I also discovered its beautiful cloister and garden that I'll have to return to . . .