Scuola Leonardo Da Vinci a Firenze

Duomo, Florence.

Dear Friends and Family,

My first week of Italian classes in downtown Florence went well. It was a bit like trying to drink from a fire-hose, but that's to be expected. Thank you for all of your prayers!

The above photo is Florence's Cathedral (called the Duomo), which I walk by every morning on my way to class. My mornings begin as follows: 4:45 rise and prepare for Mass, 5:40 Mass, 6:50 leave the house with the family as they take the children to school. After praying some of the rosary with them in the car, they drop me off at the train station.

7:15 - 7:50 train ride into Florence (studying or prayer on the train). Once in downtown Florence, it is a 15-minute walk to my school. Depending on the day I then have time for prayer, homework, or cappuccino (or all of the above) before class begins. 9:00 - 12:15 classes and then other activities in Florence, or studies, or prayer, or a train ride back to the countryside, where further studies, apostolate, prayer, etc. awaits.

I was pleasantly surprised by how helpful the classes were this first week. The student to teach ratio was very good: 8 students to one teacher and the hours in the class were quite helpful, as was the homework, for helping me learn new vocabulary and grammar. I have a lot of work to do on my verb conjugations and when certain tenses go with others in the same sentence. For example, when the conditional is used in the main clause then the simple subjunctive or past subjunctive is used, but when the main clause is a past-tense calling for the subjunctive, then it is the imperfect or pluperfect subjunctive that is needed, etc. etc.

You may wonder who were my classmates: a nun from Korea, also preparing for canon law studies in Rome; two young Venezuelans (seeking a better life than that offered currently in Venezuela); a lady from Austria coming for just one week of class; two young men from Nazareth, considering studying medicine in Italy; a young man from Turkey, considering studying medicine in Italy.

But Italian is also studied in my host family through daily life. The family is quite patient and willing to correct me, so I have good grounds to hope that by the end of the summer I will be fluent, even if with an American accent and a good deal of vocabulary still to learn.

There are also plenty of souls to help. Please pray in particular for two souls far away from the Church and who probably do not have that long to live, whom I hope to help find God's grace again. Then there are the children and the Sunday sermons to prepare (a good exercise in Italian!). For example, this Wednesday I will be visiting a family's home to speak to their children--some teenagers, some younger. These conversations should be much easier 2-3 months from now, but souls are in need now and it's a good exercise for my Italian. We shall see...

You all are in my daily prayers here. May Jesus be your strength and wisdom, and Our Lady watch over you as your good mother.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

A Special Gift

Can you guess what is inside?

Dear Friends and Family,

You all continue to be much in my prayers here, particularly those of you in England. I wanted to share with you about the above package. It is quite simple, a little cardboard box, tied off with a ribbon, but it means a lot to me and has so far survived my travels.

Four years ago, when I left Texas, I was handed some very kind cards and helpful gifts for my priestly life and ministry. But the above was the best gift. Inside of the little box is... nothing. But there was a card with it, letting me know that the box was a gift from one of the groups of little children I had been working with (concretely it was a gift from a group of young girls--hence the purple ribbon...) and that it was meant to symbolize the prayers that the children would be offering for me.

Over the past few years, I have been very pleased to hear that children were still remembering me in their prayers or as an intention in the family rosary. And I am most grateful for the children in England who promised to do the same. Prayers are always the most precious gift I could receive, and the prayers of children are especially precious and powerful with God. So for all of those whose children are praying for me and who are reading this blog, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for this most precious gift. And please say a big hello to your children for me. I remember and treasure the blessing of each of your children, and as a reminder have a bookmark in my breviary which is a "polaroid" photo that a child took this Christmas in England and kindly gave to me.

Here, the past week was full of various odds and ends of getting settled in Italy, as well as hikes to pray the rosary in the mountains and time in the chapel. Perhaps the predominant theme of the past week was the realization of how much I will need to learn in Italian. I am to some degree once again at the level of young child (to be honest the children speak better than I do), in my ability to communicate. That should significantly improve with each month spent here, but at the moment each conversation involves new vocabulary, corrections in pronunciation and grammar, and often opportunities for humility. And beyond the language, there is simply the learning of a whole culture, of the way people express themselves, etc.

Tomorrow I head to Florence to begin classes. So next week I should be able to give you a report on those!

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and be your refuge and strength.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Arrival in Italy

View from outside my room, at home of host family.

Dear Friends and Family,

Buona sera! To all of you who were praying for safe travels, thank you very much for your prayers. I am pleased to say that I arrived safe and sound late Thursday evening at the home of my host family near Florence. In fact, my plane even landed 30 minutes early, so your prayers were quite effective.

It was, to speak honestly, quite hard to have to say goodbye to so many of you in Cornwall and Devon. I felt quite drained by Thursday and am not sure I could have taken too much more of goodbyes. I spent much of these first few mornings in Italy praying and trying to let God restore some interior strength in order to face the challenges and blessings of this next part of my priestly vocation.

I am pleased to say that I will spend the next six months in a very peaceful setting in the countryside, of which the above photo gives you a glimpse. It means a longer commute (about 75 minutes) into Florence for classes, but I think the setting is well worth it, and the weekday train rides should be a peaceful one and useful for studies or for the rosary. I am staying with a very kind Italian family, with five young children. My Italian work so far has included activities such as speaking Italian while playing ping-pong with the 11 and 9 year-olds. The past few days have been full: including trips to deal with the local government offices for immigration (quite an adventure in Italy and one that does not necessarily follow logic. For example, I had to write my 6 different times on the same application...). There are already a number of requests for preaching, catechesis, etc. so I hope my Italian improves quickly. Writing this morning's sermon in Italian was still quite a slow process, but one that should get easier with time.

But rather than write you many different things, without having time to describe any one of them accurately, let me describe Saturday morning.

Waking up Saturday I first took time to pray the Divine Office, and before that to offer my day to Our Lady, as I try to do each morning, asking Her to guide me as She wishes. I then spent about two hours outside, praying the rosary and contemplating God's beauty and goodness in nature.

View of the valley below the home.

There is something about a sunny winter day, with a clear blue sky and the crisp air, with the bird singing and the mist playing across the tops of the mountains, that lifts the soul above any difficulties and speaks of God's goodness. If God is our Father, the God who created this beautiful day, who crafted the mountains, the heavens, and the deeps, who created the fullness of plant and animal life that I see around me, how can I be worried for the future?

I sat there in the sun, soaking up its heat and contemplating the beauty of God's creation, giving thanks for so many graces and blessings. In each painful goodbye to those of you in England there was an occasion for much thanksgiving--for so many graces and blessings that I received these past 3 1/2 years in serving you. So I spent much of the morning in prayer with God, feeling my soul restored with renewed energy for what lies ahead. For this time in Italy will no doubt be full of blessings but also full of challenges and of much work.

As I sat there praying the rosary, flocks of birds continued to fly to this tree.

At first it was just a few of them singing in the tree, but then from time to time a new flock of birds would circle in the blue sky--quite beautiful to see--and then would land in this tree (I tried but failed to get a photo of the birds circling). The sound of the birds singing continued to grow with each new flock. I could not see them, but I could hear the abundant life hidden in that one tree. And all around me the mountains were full of such life, even if hidden.

Each day in this world is much like that, full of God's hidden activity--God who is much more active than we are in each moment. But we cannot normally see His action. We can only be aware of it in faith.

I pray that each of you will be blessed with an increase of faith as we begin this new year, and that on this Feast of the Holy Family each of your families will choose to open your souls and to cooperate more fully with God's grace, that many more families striving for holiness might appear on this earth.

You all are in my daily thoughts and prayers here.

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

The Holy Name of Jesus

Nativity Set Made by the Nuns.

Dear Friends,

On this Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, as we prepare to celebrate the great Feast of the Epiphany, I pray that the beautiful graces of Christmastide will continue to take root in your souls. It is a wonderful gift that, in the traditional calendar, Christmastide essentially continues until Feb. 2nd (after tomorrow taking on the particular colour of the Epiphany, but still very much adoring the Newborn King).

Today I had the bittersweet joy--but above all the joy--of giving thanks to God for so many graces received during these years of serving the congregations at Lanherne and in Plymouth. It has been a real privilege to serve the families here. It's hard to know how to put into words all that went through my mind and heart today, and I'm a bit wiped out and preparing in a few minutes to head to dinner with my local pastor, Fr. Anthony O'Gorman, Fr. Champagne, and Fr. Crean, but I wanted to at least share with you the beautiful words of St. Bernard that are given in the traditional breviary for this Feast. And I will post below a few photos of today's gathering in Plymouth.

After remind us that, in the Song of Songs, the Holy Ghost speaks of Bridegroom’s [who is none other than Christ] name as “oil poured forth” (Song 1:3), and that oil is light, food, and medicine; Saint Bernard says,[1]  “To preach [the Holy Name], is to give light; to think of it, is to feed the soul; to call on it, is to win grace and unction. Let us take it point by point. What, do you think, has made the light of faith so suddenly and so brightly to shine in the whole world but the preaching of the Name of Jesus? Is it not in the light of this Name that God has called us into His marvelous light, even that light wherewith we are enlightened, and in His light seeing light, Paul says truly of us “Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord.”

This is the Name which the Apostle was commanded to bear before Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel, the Name which he bore as a light to enlighten his people, crying everywhere “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light, let us walk honestly as in the daylight,” He pointed out to all that candle set upon a candlestick, preaching in every place Jesus and Him crucified. How did that Name shine forth and dazzle every eye that beheld it, when it came like lightning out of the mouth of Peter to give bodily strength to the feet of the lame man, and to clear the sight of many a blind soul? For certainly Peter struck sparks when he declared, “In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

The Name of Jesus is not only light, it is also food. Are you not strengthened whenever you meditate on it? What is its equal for enriching the mind that thinks about it? What else can so renew your fatigued spiritual powers, bolster virtue, make good and upright habits grow, foster pure affections? All spiritual food is dry if this oil is not mixed in with it, tasteless if it is not seasoned with this salt. Anything you write is without savor for me unless I read the name of Jesus in it. Your disputations and your conferences remain flat to me unless they ring with the name of Jesus. “Jesus” is honey to the mouth, sweet song to the ear, joyful delight to the heart. But it is also a medicine. Is someone sad among us? Let “Jesus” come into his heart and from there leap to his lips. And behold, as the light of His name arises, all clouds pass, and cheerfulness returns. Has someone lapsed into sin? Worse, is despair pushing him headlong into a trap where death awaits his soul? Surely, if he invokes the name of Life, he will be revitalized at once. 

May you savor that delicious food, find in the Holy Name medicine for your soul, and be guided by its divine light.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

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[1] “It is not idly that the Holy Ghost likeneth the Name of the Bridegroom to oil, when He maketh the Bride say to the Bridegroom: thy Name is as oil poured forth. Oil indeed giveth light, meat, and unction. It feedeth fire, it nourisheth the flesh, it sootheth pain; it is light, food, and healing. Behold, Thus also is the Name of the Bridegroom.”