This past weekend, Massi and I woke up at 4am to board a bus to Assisi in the region of Umbria. This was my first church trip as we went with the other couples from our marriage course and our priest, Don Stefano. After having spent so many hours with these couples, we've slowly been building a relationship with each other that hopefully will endure past the course and continue as we build marriages and families. The region of Umbria is probably my second favorite after Tuscany, it is very similar, perhaps even more lush and green. We spent the Saturday visiting the Church of St. Francis, stopping just for a quick gelato (beer in our case!) in the afternoon and dinner, before heading to see the musical Chiara di Dio which spoke of the life of St. Clare. I have not been "officially" Catholic for long, I went through the RCIA process a few years ago but it's just such a soul-stirring experience to actually be following in the footsteps of the people I had learnt about and read about in books, to look out over the Umbrian hills and know that Francesco (St. Francis in English) once had the same view...To say a prayer in Clare's courtyard where she would have prayed in peace among flowers and under the bright blue sky. All I can say about Assisi is go. Go especially if you're contemplating God, or feeling a void in your heart, I guarantee you will find the former and fill the latter.
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Meg
4/4/2016 11:49:03 pm
I"m so glad you loved Assisi. When we were in Rome, we visited the 4 great basilicas - Maria Maggiore, Paul Outside the Walls, St. John Lateran, and St. Peter. St. Peter's was the ONLY place we were not allowed to kneel and pray - only tourist activities allowed. We'd waited an hour in line. We were devastated and so angry. I had bought a rosary at Maria Maggiore hoping to have it blessed at St. Peters, but no way.
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Jasmine
4/4/2016 11:51:20 pm
I absolutely agree about Assisi in comparison to Rome. I wasn't sure if it's because our priest came with us that made the trip extra special but something about Assisi really stuck with me! I much prefer it (church/religion wise) to Rome.
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