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