Difference between England and Italy?

Some Children Playing outside after the Conference Last Weekend

Dear Friends and Family,

If you were trying to describe the differences between Italian and English culture, what examples would you give? One thing that comes to mind right away for me is the food. Of course as an Italian I may be biased, but I think Italian food is much richer and more flavorful than English. But another comparison presented itself this weekend as I was walking around the English village here:

While being driven to Florence's train station last week in Italy, my Italian driver got stuck in a traffic jam. The street had turned into a parking lot. After a few minutes he said "let's do this the Italian way" and proceeded to hope into the lane on the opposite side of the street (which thankfully remained free of cars during the next minute), drive past a long line of cars we had been waiting behind, then force his way, somehow, through this line of cars, in order to turn right and... to arrive at the train station on time. While driving he explained, "In Italy everyone knows the police won't do anything... and so basically anything goes while driving." Which seems pretty true from what I have seen so far in Italy, and in Rome in particular. While I have yet to seen a car hop onto the sidewalk and drive I've seen about everything else. Rules in Italy are... very flexible.

With my train station adventure still fresh in my mind I was strolling around this little English village yesterday and came across a circle, with a man and a dog in the center, and a line through it. Below the sign it said (roughly translated here), "You must pick up all droppings left by your dog. Violators will be fined $700." Somehow this seemed to speak volumes about the way rules are viewed in Rome versus in England.

Having said that, I have been very warmly welcomed into this little English village where I am offering Mass for some sisters at a Carmel, and where I will be spending a whole lot of time studying. During these next two weeks I will be hoping to: complete an exam and a 6 page paper, follow six 2-hour courses. Complete a 6 page bibliography (harder than it sounds because of formatting questions) for my thesis, follow several hours of online courses to prepare for civil law studies, and hopefully begin preparing Holy Thursday evening's homily and studying the rubrics for that Mass (the FSSP priests in Ottawa Canada very graciously offered to have me be the main celebrant for their Holy Thursday evening liturgy and then to assist as subdeacon for the remainder of the Triduum). So I shouldn't be bored while here...

Rather than give you a description of the place, I'd like to show you some images. I was about to go take some photos in the sisters' chapel, however I discovered that they had just locked the doors for setting up for tomorrow's services (as cloistered sisters they only go in there when no one else can). So... I found the following video which will show you some images. It is largely the same group of sisters, though the foundation (previously sisters of the Franciscans of the Immaculate), has now become Carmelites. It's a 5 minute video that gives you a bit of a feel for the place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P-_25Y5Rjc

You all are in my daily prayers. Good night!
Fr. Moses of Jesus Pillari

What's in the Cupboard?

What do you think is inside?...

Dear Friends and Family,

First, thank you for your wonderful letters!!! They arrived in a package from my mother yesterday and I was so happy to read them! Please tell your children how happy I was to have news from them--to hear how they were doing and also to have the things that they drew for me. It was a nice taste of "home" from Texas.  I am praying for you all here.

Since this weekend might be extra-busy for me I'll go ahead and write this weekend's entry a bit early.  The above cabinet is in a priest's house that I'm staying at in Rome. It apparently used to be common in some places in Italy to have this for visiting priests, because when you open it up you have...

An Altar! It's a nice way to allow a room to be something else most of the time but then to turn it into a chapel. So if any of you are enterprising carpenters looking for a way to have a chapel in your house but without sacrificing a room, this might be something to look into.

Here are a few pictures from the balcony outside of this room (it's in an appartment building):

Though you can barely see it, off in the distance is a little tower peaking up over the rooftops. That is the tower of "Santa Croce in Jerusaleme" Church in Rome. And just 5 minutes from it is St. John Lateran. It's only a 10 minute walk to each. In fact in a few minutes I'll be heading out the door to pray vespers and make a Holy Hour in St. John Lateran.

Yesterday I made my Holy Hour at Santa Croce in Jerusaleme. It has first class relics of the Cross, one of the nails, etc. and was a nice quiet place to pray. I'm always amazed at how much good silence and prayer do for the soul! This morning I celebrated my Mass at 6:30AM in on the "cupboard altar" I showed you, and then stayed to pray during the quiet Mass of the next priest who celebrated at 7:30AM. Was a nice way to begin the morning.

Had an interesting dinner conversation with an Italian priest last night. He was speaking about the region of Italy that his family comes from and told some very colorful stories of the Mafia (most of which I won't repeat here). But I'll share one story. At one point a man was kidnapped for ransom. During his captivity some of the women members of the mafia family would always stay by his side praying their rosaries. At one point the ransom was not coming as it should so the Mafia decided to... cut off one of the man's ears and send it to his family with a promise that more would follow if the ransom wasn't paid. Apparently this took place, the women went back to praying their rosaries, and the ransom was then paid promptly. Interesting combination of faith and business...

These past few days were largely spent in my room for canon law studies. One paper and one test down, two tests and one more paper to go! Then of course more papers and tests, but it should all be doable.

In case you would like to see some photos of me, take a look here: http://seminairesaintvincent.fr/home.php?area=photos&evt=126&lang=fr   you will see me off and on in the photos (of 12 seminarians receiving "first tonsure").

Will be leaving early tomorrow morning for the conference in Florence. As always, you all will be in my heart and prayers.

In Corde Mariae,
Fr. Moses of Jesus Pillari

Avec Marie

Our Lady's Statue Just Outside my Room

Dear Friends and Family,

Happy Valentine's Day! Have been thinking about, and praying for, those of you in Texas putting on the men's Encounter with Jesus retreat this weekend. Hope it was full of blessings.

The above statue sits right outside my door at the seminary here in France and is very nice to see each time I come and go. The Virgin Mary has been taking care of me in so many different ways, and this statue has been just one sign of that. But since every week I could write about Our Lady, and that might get boring for you all, I'll turn to something else...

This past week was a quieter one, with lots of time for studies. So perhaps this is a good Sunday for me to give you a bit of an overview of some of my activities and travels, rather than telling you about one particular event.

Studies of course are ongoing for canon law. For example in the next three weeks I have two papers due and three exams. In addition I've begun the preparatory courses for the civil law degree. In addition to learning civil law those courses should push me to further develop analytical and rhetorical skills. Given all this going on in the U.S. today, and given the very real threats to our ability to live out our Faith, the courses could be particularly interesting and useful. Language studies these past two weeks have been mostly French, though with some Latin mixed in. Though that will change in two days...

...when I head back to Rome and return to Italian. If my train and plane schedule allows I'm hoping to visit the Rue du Bac in Paris (the chapel of the apparitions of Our Lady to St. Catherine Labouré for the miraculous medal), and to ask for Her intercession (and will carry you all in my heart there). I will then be back in Rome for a few days for some meetings and further study. Then next weekend I will be in Florence at a conference of Roberto De Mattei. He's essentially invited about 100 Catholic leaders in Italy to gather for a networking conference in order to support each other in the face of some current challenges. He asked another priest and myself to come offer Mass each day and assist with Confessions during the breaks. Could be an interesting conference, and interesting people to meet--and as a bonus will be helpful for learning Italian!

From there I will likely stay in Florence an additional few days with the family that hosted me last summer, for continued Italian immersion and to simply see how they are doing. Then, I will be heading out to... England. Now you may be wondering, "Is Fr. Moses simply trying to visit as many countries as possible on this trip?" Nope. I had planned to be in Italy this whole trip however the trip to France seemed to be what the Lord (though my spiritual director and also at Cardinal Burke's prompting), was asking for these past two weeks. The trip to England is also at Cardinal Burke's prompting. Among other things I will be spending two weeks at a Carmelite monastery, full of young sisters, in need of the Latin Mass each day. It is a community that Cardinal Burke knows well and highly encouraged me to spend some time at, and to help them if I could. Though it won't be a great situation for studying Italian it should be a very nice situation for prayer, and also for canon law study--which will come at a good time given the exams and papers that are coming due.

Jumping over some other events of the next few months I will mention one possibility for part of this summer that I am particularly excited about. I may be able to make the full 30-day Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola at a retreat center in Europe. This has always interested me--both for my own spiritual formation but also for the sake of learning from the Exercises in view of future retreat ministry. This retreat is probably the most famous and most used retreat in the history of the Church for discernment, hence this summer would be a great time for me to make it.

Hopefully that gives you a bit of an overview of my travels. The main thing happening each day though is not those things, but is rather the daily conversation with Jesus and Mary. But if I filled every blog with that it might get a bit tiresome for you!

It is currently 3:30PM on a quiet, cool, Sunday afternoon. I am about to head out for a jog, and then was invited to lead the Solemn Vespers for the seminarians this evening. Have never lead that particular version before so it will be nice to learn it and above all nice to pray it.

I miss you all here but pray for you each day. You all must be praying for me because the Lord has been taking good care of me!

In Corde Mariae,
Fr. Moses of Jesus Pillari

PS. Just returned from vespers. Made a few mistakes but on the whole came through unscathed!

Bordeaux

Saint Eloi in downtown Bordeaux France

Hello from Bordeaux France! Praying that Jesus and Mary bless each of you in a particular way this Sunday as we prepare to enter into Lent. The above photo is one I took half an hour before I was the celebrant of a Solemn High Mass in this beautiful Church, on the main altar you see in the photo (I preached from the elevated place you see off to your left).

It was a beautiful experience. I am here in Bordeaux for a few days to get to know the parish life of the Institute of the Good Shepherd. The pastor very kindly offered to let me celebrate their principal Sunday Mass. As it was the first time I had ever been the celebrant of a high Mass with deacon and subdeacon I was a bit nervous, however they guided me through it just fine. The acoustics in this Church were beautiful! As was the choir which did some very beautiful polyphony (though if I could have flown the Servers of the Immaculate and Maidens of the Immaculate over here I would have had you sing instead in a heartbeat!). The homily seemed to come off OK in French and I enjoyed meeting some of the young families after Mass. Since I hadn't had the opportunity to preach or have a pastoral role in a few weeks it was nice to have that again.

Amidst the kaleidoscope of people that I have met in the past week I'll try to share a few examples.:.  First though a picture or two. These are from my time this past week at the seminary or the Good Shepherd in Courtalain France. The photos are not the best but at least it gives you something.

Day outing with seminarians to visit a castle and museum

Visiting the castle with a Brazilian seminarian (they are the largest contingent at the international seminary, with about 16 Brazilians)

Another portion of seminarians at the museum. The bald head you see is the tonsure of a Carmelite monk from Brazil studying at the seminary.

So then a few examples of people I've met:

The vocational stories are always interesting. For example one seminarian had a growing devotion to the poor souls in purgatory, to the point that he felt an increasing need to become a priest in order to be able to offer the Mass for them. Another, from Brazil, was at a seminary there and felt and increasing draw to the Latin Mass so that he decided to transfer to this seminary. Another Brazilian was in England for a year working in scientific research involving how they grow wheat in England. He encountered, at an airport in Brazil, some of the seminarians in full cassock, one thing led to another and he wound up in the seminary here. Another is an expert organist from Rome who entered. Another had worked in Africa for years (as a priest) and decided to join the Institute in order to found a parish and school in Uganda.

Another item that is interesting at the parish here--though actually it reflects what I had heard in the States now that I think about it--is that there are a lot of people who become Catholics (especially those who previously were only Baptized or had no faith at all) through the Traditional Parish. When I asked the pastor here what part of ministry he liked best he indicated this as his favorite form of ministry.

Tomorrow should be interesting as I hope to play soccer in the evening with one of the priests and some men from the parish. On that note I need to head out the door now if I'm going to get a run in and shower before chanting vespers at the parish.... miss you all and think of you and pray for you often!

In Corde Mariae,
Fr. Moses of Jesus Pillari