Company while Praying the Breviary

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed Pentecost Sunday! While strolling back and forth outside in the yard just now, praying the breviary, the chickens decided to come join me in the yard, as can be seen in the photo above. Here are some of his companions:

Today is doubly wonderful. Not only is it the great feast of Pentecost, one of the three greatest Feasts in the Church's liturgical year--the other two being Christmas and Easter--I also had the blessing of renewing my consecration to Our Lady according to the formula of St. Louis de Montfort that I used 25 1/2 years ago, in a little chapel at the University of Notre Dame, to make the consecration for the first time.

I have so very much to be thankful for from these past 25 1/2 years! Our Lady has taken good care of me, watching out for me in a thousand different ways, and giving me the priceless gift of my vocation to the priesthood, with the blessing of being consecrated to Her Son for life. It was a real joy to renew the offering of my life, of all that I am, to Her. It is exciting to think of what She will be able to do in this coming year, for She does so much with the little we give Her.

And I had the blessing of not only making the consecration myself but of doing so in union with many, many others throughout the world. I'm not sure how many of the 2,000+ who join in the daily rosary made the consecration. But however many it was, it was nice to be united with them, and to have the others praying for us.

Then there is the special joy of Pentecost, with its octave. In the traditional calendar, most of the liturgical year is centred on Pentecost--every Sunday from now until Advent is designated as the "second, third, etc." Sunday after Pentecost to highlight how crucial the feast is for the entire life of the Church. The ancient Jewish feast of Pentecost commemorated the giving of the law through Moses on Mount Sinai. The Christian feast of Pentecost commemorates the giving of the new law through the coming of the Holy Spirit, who is Himself as at the very heart of the New Law.

All throughout this Octave, I will be praying for you. And this Friday, as I do on every first Friday of the month, I will offer my Mass for all of you who are so graciously continuing to support my studies and priestly ministry through your prayers, sacrifices, and donations. I am especially grateful for your kindness during these past few months. May God reward you a hundredfold.

May Our Lady by your sure guide and comfort in these challenging times.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

The Blessing of Good Storytelling

Dear Friends and Family,

On this beautiful Sunday after the Ascension--a glimpse of which you see in the photo above, I had the blessing of spending the first part of the afternoon, after the Holy Mass, tasting fresh cherries from cherry trees near the house. I had stepped outside to find the adults--three couples and their children were here this afternoon--for lunch. But since lunch was not ready yet and since there was a flock of children calling to me under a cherry tree, I decided to go visit the children.

They were eagerly picking cherries, a few of which were ripe, and offering some to me. While I think the cherries will be better in a few weeks, it was a joy to see them laughing and to make them happy by eating some cherries with them. They then eagerly asked me to go examine two other cherry tries in different parts of the fields, and so we headed over there to examine the cherries and sample a few. Meanwhile, I picked up the four-year-old so that she could reach one of the branches and then swung her back and forth so that she could pretend she was Tarzan while holding onto the branch. All in all, a delightful way to prepare for lunch!

The lunch was an enjoyable time of learning and speaking Italian with new people, discussing the situation in the world and in Italy, raising their children in the Faith, and so forth. As with many people I've met, they were all quite bilingual (actually at least tri-lingual), but kindly agreed to have the conversation in Italian so that I could continue to learn. During the post-meal coffee I went off to call my parents, which was a blessing and joy, am now typing this to you all, and then will head out the door for a jog.

But the particular blessing of this week that I wanted to highlight was this.

I ordered it to encourage the children to read it as a way of working on their English and having something healthy and conducive to the Faith while doing so. But they are not quite ready for it yet, so I began reading it myself... I had forgotten how good of a writer CS Lewis is. Quite witty and entertaining, and quite profound. It's been a real joy to read some at the end of each day, as I hope to do this evening.

I'll leave you with how he concludes "The Horse and His Boy"--and excellent story though not as well known as some others. He is speaking of the two main characters, young adolescents when the story ends.

"Shasta had many quarrels (and, I'm afraid, even fights) with Cor, but they always made it up again: so that years later, when they were grown up, they were so used to quarrelling and making it up again that they got married so as to go on doing it more conveniently."

With those words of wisdom, I wish you a blessed Sunday.

May Our Lady be by your side to pray for you during the novena in preparation for Pentecost.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

The Oldest Novena in the World

Dear Friends and Family,

Blessed Sunday before the Ascension!

It has been a beautiful and blessed week here. As usual, God's "to-do list" did not match mine and so a number of things on mine were not accomplished but hopefully, the other needs that intervened were indeed on His list and were more important in His eyes.

This Thursday is Ascension Thursday. In some of your dioceses, the celebration might be moved to Sunday but nonetheless, this Thursday is the key day to commemorate Our Lord's Ascension and the beginning of... the oldest Christian novena in the world: the nine days of intense prayer when the apostles and disciples were gathered around the Blessed Virgin Mary in the upper room.

Ever since then, people have prayed a novena, beginning on the Friday after the Ascension, and ending on the Saturday before Pentecost Sunday. If you are not familiar with the practice, I'd encourage you to consider praying it this year. There is no set prayer that must be used. A common method would be to add at the end of your daily rosary a simple prayer to the Holy Ghost such as those offered here for each day of the novena: https://www.fisheaters.com/novenas.html#holyghost

This year we are certainly in need of special graces of the Holy Ghost so that the Church might have renewed courage to bear clear witness to the saving truth that comes from Our Lord, in the midst of so much confusion and fear.

I was also asked to lead a Holy Hour this coming Friday, from the chapel here, pictured above. As some of you are aware, every May, Voice of the Family, a coalition of pro-life groups from around the world, hosts a conference in Rome for pro-life leaders. This year, due to the prohibitions on travel, the conference will be done online and will be available for free. The line-up of speakers looks really excellent and can be found here: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/register-now-for-2020-rome-life-forum-coronavirus-in-light-of-fatima  . There would normally be a solemn Holy Hour in a beautiful Roman Church at the end. This year that was not possible, so something much more simple will be done. The Holy Hour will take place beginning at about 2PM EST. It may depend on just how long the question and answer session with Bishop Athanasius Schneider, that will precede the Holy Hour, takes.

At the moment I am waiting on a battery charger from Amazon, that will hopefully arrive in time to recharge the camera's batteries and so that the camera can be used for the Holy Hour. If that doesn't work, a cell phone will have to do.

You all are in my daily prayers. May Our Lady watch over you and guide you as a good mother during this difficult time.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

An Unexpected Visitor

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Mother's Day! Especially to my own mother reading this.

There is so much to give thanks for today, for our mothers who helped bring us into this world, nourished us, cared for us, educated us and so often were our primary teachers in the Faith.

Here in Italy this week, the country began to ease some restrictions. Some travel is permitted--to see close family or friends, and for a few more types of business activity, but in many ways, the lockdown is still in effect. And travel is only permitted within your region. So here, one can only travel within Tuscany, and only for visiting close family or friends or for key business activities. Nonetheless, it is hopefully a sign of further freedoms to come.

The weather here has certainly facilitated joy and hope. It is a beautiful season where flowers are blossoming, the sun is usually shining, but it is not yet uncomfortably hot, even in the afternoon. The Italians I speak with generally seem cheerful and joyful. Of course, the heart of Italy--its churches and the Sacraments--will only be publicly allowed again beginning Monday 18th, and then, it seems, with some challenging regulations. Rather than comment more on that, I confide Italy to your prayers. And Italy is far from the only country in that situation.

To share with you one small, but joyful, blessing from daily life here: I stepped outside for a few minutes and left the door to my room open (there is a door to my room opening directly outside). When I returned to my room I heard a scratching noise on the floor and looked over to see.... the animal pictured in the above photo walking around my room. One of the chickens, who are let out to graze freely for a part of the afternoon, apparently liked the look of my room. I chased her around a bit before managing to shoo her out the door, had a good laugh, and closed the door. Since then, chickens have occasionally come scratching on the door, but none have managed to get in!

May Our Lady intercede for you, especially for all mothers today, and may Jesus be your peace and strength.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Springtime Joy and the game of Risk...

Dear Friends and Family,

Among other blessings this week I heard the doorbell ring while studying one afternoon. I went to answer the door and found the family's 4-year old girl standing there (this is of course her house but she had been out in the yard), offering me some flowers that she had picked. She was quite intent on me receiving them and putting them in water. So, I grabbed what was handy.... which was an empty can of green beans, and discovered that it made a rather handy vase. So, these past few days I've had these flowers and rather original vase sitting on my table, as can be seen above. In fact, I'm looking at them right now as I type this.

She wanted to keep talking. I explained that I had to make a phone call to someone in English in a few minutes. She asked if she could sit with me outside while I made the call. I explained that it would probably be rather boring for her and so instead guided her back to where her mother was working in the garden and she seemed content to rejoin her mom.

I recount the above to share with you some of the simple, little blessings in everyday life here. Another blessing this past week that would fall more in the category of daily life is the game or Risk that I began last night with the teenage young men of the family. I will post here a photo of the current state of the game. I am the blue army. Since I'm unable to figure out how to turn the photo around, I'll have to post it here sideways:

There is something refreshing and uplifting about trying to conquer the world and having battles with various armies, and the young men are good sports. We'll see how this game ends. We had to stop last night at 11:45 PM. While that hour might seem crazy to you, we were only able to begin at 10:00PM because dinner here usually begins at 9:00PM. Some families in Italy follow a Mediterranean rhythm closer to that of Spain, My host family is one of them. Hopefully, we'll continue the game tonight, but in the meantime, after lunch which is about to begin in a few minutes, I'll take a siesta...

There were, of course, many spiritual blessings this past week, but I thought you might appreciate hearing about some more ordinary aspects of life here.

Praying for you all. May Our Lady watch over you and Jesus be you strength and protection.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari