The Beauty of God's Creation

The Grand Canyon, from the top of the trail that my father and I hiked down.

Dear Friends and Family,

The beauty of what God has created is truly astounding. This past week I have had the blessing of exploring this beauty by hiking in the midst of it with my father. Each morning we would begin with a 5:30 AM Holy Mass in whatever cabin or hotel room we had, followed by thanksgiving, and then around 6:30 AM we headed out for breakfast and hiking.

On our way to the Grand Canyon we stopped at Hoover Dam to explore the amazing engineering that went into creating this massive structure--almost a hundred years ago. For example, we took an elevator 500 ft. down into the dam and walked through some of the tunnels originally dug out to divert the river so that the dam could be built. As impressive as the Dam was, it is nothing compared to the beauty of God's creation. The above photo gives you a glimpse of the splendor of the Grand Canyon. We hiked 4.5 miles down (descending more than 1/2 mile in elevation)--and this was only half-way to the bottom!--and then stopped in the "Oasis" of trees around a little creek for a sack lunch. As we hiked back up clouds gathered overhead and we watched the rain roll in across the Canyon--a beautiful site. But then the rain became a thunderstorm and we were hiking in the midst of small waterfalls and a stream flowing down the trail! It made the hike a bit more challenging but also a lot of fun.

I don't have adequate words to describe how beautiful things were, or how many thoughts the sights inspired. For example, when looking at the huge cliff faces and immense amount of solid rock, I couldn't help but think of God and His Law: how immovable they are, and how intricately beautiful his Law is. Or again, gazing upon the desert landscape and then seeing it burst into life with waterfalls spilling forth from previously baren rock faces, I couldn't help but think of how God's grace can--in an instant--pour forth an abundance of life into our souls.

I did not take many photos, but here are a few:

Moose were  often present.

View from the Oasis, half-way down the Canyon. The trail in the foreground is what we hiked up, ending at the top of the cliff in the center of the photo.

The trail with water running down. Turned side-ways...

Canyon from another angle.

Our next stop was Zion national park in Utah. Equally gorgeous, though different. Our first hike was "The Narrows"--a gorge of unique rock formations. The trail has you essentially hike through the river upstream. We were in the water about 50% of the time (the other 50% being on small sandy banks between the cliff walls. Sometimes we waded through water up to our waist. Most of the time it came to just above the knees. But it was hard hiking upstream! The water was moving fast and was quite powerful. My father and I each took a spill at some point during the hike. The views of the canyon walls and unique rock formations were at times breathtaking, and it was simply a lot of fun to face the challenge of hiking through the water.

The following day was the 8 mile hike, 2,100 ft. elevation change, of "Observation Point Trail". Here are a few photos:

From the top.

From the top looking down to the canyon floor, where we began our hike.

From part-way up the trail, looking up at the peak where the trail ends (from which the photos above were taken).

This trail was probably my favorite. I really enjoyed praying as we hiked. It was also challenging. Towards the end the switchbacks cut across the rock face of the white cliffs you see in the distance in the photo above. The rail was perhaps 4 wide at points, with a sheer drop off the side and people passing each other or some going down while others came up. Yet people of all ages, from children to grandparents made the hike.

We then headed to Bryce, but I do not have photos of that--though it was also very beautiful. So I will instead show you two photos of my father and I at breakfast.

It was a very blessed time with him. Thank you all for your prayers.

My Dad with a "cowboy cow" at a local breakfast place.

A statue of "Yosemite Same" and I at the breakfast place.

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Kolbe Center and.... a Trip with my Dad

Dear Friends and Family,

The past two days were spent in a fascinating exploration of the Church's teaching on Creation--from the point of view of theology as well as science. Mr. Hugh Owen, Director of the Kolbe Center for  the Study of Creation, and Mr. Greg Clovis, Director of Human Life International for England, graciously made the journey to our tiny corner of Cornwall in order to introduce us to the Church's teaching, as well as some of the latest discoveries in science--which was fascinating. The only one who could possibly have created man in all of his intricacies is God! And it was very interesting to discover more fully the implausibility of evolution, even from a scientific point of view.

I'd encourage anyone interested to check out some of the materials available on their website: http://kolbecenter.org . They should, in the next few months, be completing a 13-part DVD series that will present the whole topic. For anyone involved with children and education it is well worth a look.

I'm typing this at 10:30 PM on Saturday, in the midst of packing, because tomorrow afternoon I will fly to the U.S. to spend a week hiking with my Dad. Last year, for his 70th birthday, I gave him the gift of a week where the two of us could travel together, and he could pick the place. He chose the national parks out West: Grand Canyon, Bryce, and Zion, which should be really beautiful. I'm very blessed to have this week hiking with my Dad. Below is a postcard he sent me of one of the parks. I will look forward to telling you all about it after the trip!

May Jesus and Mary watch over you and guide you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Simple Joy and Blessing... at a Gas Station

Looking towards the sea, from a hike I did Thursday.

From the same hike, the lane back to Lanherne.

Dear Friends and Family,

As I drove into Plymouth this morning my heart was especially full of joy--so many, many blessings in my life as a priest. How is it that I have the privilege of celebrating the Holy Mass each day, hearing Confessions, offering Benediction, baptizing babies, etc. etc.

At our good Bishop Mark O'Toole's request, every parish in the Diocese had a Eucharistic Procession and Benediction, or Adoration and Benediction, today--in union with the National Eucharistic Congress taking place in Liverpool. I offered Adoration and Benediction this morning at Lanherne, so that the Nuns could participate and sing, and then in Plymouth led a small Procession, followed by Benediction. The weather was beautiful and it was a real joy to honor the Lord in this way. Then I headed to the home of a young couple, who had organized a barbecue for the young adults of the congregation. It was a real joy to talk with them, laugh with them, hold the babies of a few of them. For those across the Atlantic reading this, please pray for the young adult Catholics in this corner of England. Since Catholics are less than 0.7% of the population, courage is needed!

To give you a glimpse of one aspect of my daily life, I'd like to share with you... my stop at a gas station on my way back from Plymouth. I pulled off at "Cornwall Services," about 15 minutes from the monastery. After filling the tank, I approached the counter to pay. The two attendants (a lady and young man), asked, "So where are you from?"

I answered St. Mawgan, but they replied, "No, I mean where are you from before that?"

"From Cleveland Ohio, though I lived in Texas for 15 years."

"I thought so! Your accent sounded a bit different, not like a Texas accent."

Then we began chatting, asking me how I wound up in Cornwall. After I explained a bit, and spoke about being a Catholic, the young man said, "So you're a Catholic Priest?"

"Yes, the chaplain at Lanherne Convent in St. Mawgan."

"Ah. I'm a Catholic too," he said, and extended his hand.

We exchanged a few more words and then I hopped in the car to complete the journey to Lanherne. Hopefully, I will be seeing him here.

This was a very simple event, nothing flashy about it. But it gives you a glimpse into some of my daily life. In addition to the exchange of words, I was glad to be wearing the cassock, and to always be a visible sign of our Faith.

May God help many young people here embrace the Truth.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Twelve Steps to Holiness and Salvation

Lanherne's entryway--now full home to various pieces of furniture and a big chest full of tools, because the rest of the presbytery is under renovation--which is coming along nicely!

Dear Friends and Family,

I just returned from a dinner at the Buscombe Family Farm, where extended family gathered to wish 21-year-old John Buscombe well as he heads to Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, Nebraska, this week, to begin his first year of seminary formation with the FSSP. Please keep him in your prayers.

I began offering this week a 12-month course entitled "Twelve Steps to Holiness and Salvation." I had been praying and thinking about how to best help my local flock grow in holiness. Of course, a great many things help our growth in holiness: the Sacraments, the rosary, sacrifices, good friendships, good books, etc. etc. But after a good deal of prayer and thought I settled on a short book by St. Alphonsus Liguori that focusses on 12 key virtues. The virtues are faith, hope, love of God, love of neighbor, poverty, chastity, obedience, meekness and humility, mortification, recollection, prayer, self-denial and love of the Cross. I also gave an introductory session last June on the virtue of a cheerful spirit, much lauded by St. Philip Neri.

We will be looking at the virtues because young families (and not so young families!) often have good intentions but do not know how to, or struggle to, make those intentions more of a reality in their life. So it seemed to me that a focus on the virtues could be helpful.

Yesterday, some Plymouth parishioners kindly hosted the gathering for those who attend the Mass in Plymouth. At 4 PM we began with the rosary, all gathered in their kitchen/dining room. Then I gave the talk on faith, followed by questions. Then the family kindly served refreshments and when I left, at about 7 PM, everyone was still there talking away. I proposed to the families to try to work each day at a virtue, and to have a chart on the refrigerator where each member of the family, daily, checks off a box (or marks a zero), as to whether or not they did the particular thing they were trying to do that day, to grow in that virtue.

I proposed a few suggestions of ways that they could work on that virtue. But families were encouraged to choose whatever might fit best for their family, perhaps something different from the suggestions I made. And sometimes it might be better for different members of the family to each be doing different things. For example, for the virtue of faith, one suggestion was to choose a certain prayer that they would try to pray each day as a family: perhaps some of the prayers given to the children of Fatima; or the family might choose to read something each day. For example, before dinner, there could be 10 minutes of reading part of a life of a saint (from a good version for children), all together as a family. Or there might be 20 minutes when the whole house was supposed to be quiet (except perhaps some toddlers who might need a space to play), and each member of the family would be reading quietly from a book that would nourish their faith.

Then... the point totals from each person and the family as a whole should be tallied and brought in for the next month's gather. A concept many of you in Texas are familiar with!

This Wednesday evening I'll be presenting the same topic to families who attend Lanherne, at the Buscombe farm: 5:30 PM meal, then rosary, then talk and questions. We are a small bunch here and in Plymouth, but hopefully the Lord will bless the families.

May Jesus and Mary watch over and guide each of you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

First Week Back

Dear Friends and Family,

After a wonderful first week back, which included going through a two months' worth of emails, a backlog of correspondence (still not finished), phone calls, meeting with workers who are renovating the presbytery, setting up a new office and moving into new quarters, having an hour phone conversation in Latin to keep up the practice, as well as preaching in Latin to the sisters, and simply spending time with families I had not seen in a few months, I'm quite happy but a bit wiped out! As a result, this post might not be too long.

Today was a beautiful Sunday, with early morning quiet prayer by candle-light in the chapel of St. Thomas More, the joy of hearing Confessions and celebrating two Masses, preaching, talking with families, playing with children, and then... in the afternoon at Lanherne baptizing a beautiful baby girl. It is always such a joy to baptize a child. I especially like the moment just after the ceremony when I can take the child in my arms, kneel before Our Lady's statute, and consecrate the baby to Her. I then joined the family in celebrating the baptism and the father's (surprise) 30th birthday party. I was also able to meet some of their friends and invite some back to the Church. Please pray for them.

I just returned home from all of this now and am rather wiped out, so I will sign off shortly. But it was a wonderful, beautiful day and week. I am very blessed to live in such a prayerful place and to be able to work with some young families. May God be praised.

For those of you across the Atlantic, you are in my thoughts, prayers, and heart. I am especially thinking of you all as you begin the coming school year with your children. May Jesus and Mary guide you and bless you.

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari

Duo mensibus ubi locutus sum latine...

The entrance to the villa where we studied for two months.

Dear Friends and Family,

Salvete omnes! Gaudeo me vos, saltem vos qui habitant in Britannia, visurus esse hac hebdomada.

The past 8, highly intense, but highly fruitful, weeks, were very blessed, thanks to your prayers. For those in England, I’m eager to see you soon! All of you were in my daily prayers—those in the U.S., England, Canada, and elsewhere, but it will be very good to see some of you again in person. At the moment I am operating on very little sleep, which was hard to come by during studies—and no doubt there is much work awaiting me at Lanherne—but as I sit here in Gatwick Airport my heart is full of gratitude and joy for the graces of these past two months.

A professor-friend in the U.S. had advised me, “If you attend the 8-week summer course you will learn more than you would in several years of courses at a university.” As far as I can tell, his words were true.

 

Path on the grounds where we could walk, pray the rosary.

What was the course like?

In “Villa Falconieri”, located just outside of Frascatti, just outside of Rome, about 60 students gathered to learn Latin from 15 professors from sunrise to sundown (and beyond sundown). From 9AM – 2PM we were in class (with two 15-minute breaks), then 2PM lunch, brief break, 3:30 – 5:00 Greek class, 5:30 – 7:00 Latin class (every other day I had this period free to complete homework), 7:30 – 9:00 class, 9:00 – 10:00 dinner.

What sorts of people were crazy enough to want to spend 8 weeks where they were not allowed to speak their own languages, only being allowed to speak Latin (or occasionally Greek)? They came from Italy, Spain, France, England, the Netherlands, Bohemia, Portugal, China, India, the U.S., Brazil, and Argentina. Many were either graduate students (from Princeton, Yale, Oxford, Cambridge, etc.), many others were professors in high schools looking to learn how to speak Latin for the sake of teaching it better, a few students were children, for example a 12-year old boy from Bohemia did quite well; one was a business-man working in Africa to help developing economies, another was a computer analyst (each of whom had always wanted to learn Latin for the same of being able to read the classics in their spare time). Another was a rather-well known British author (who writes children’s stories set in Ancient Rome). Another was Korea’s former ambassador to the Vatican, along with his wife.

Students acting out a scene in Latin, with two professors holding them on their shoulders.

We were welcomed by professors who live year-round in the villa, speaking among themselves nothing but Latin or Greek, so it was a bit like going to stay with a family in Italy or Spain in order to learn Italian or Spanish.

How to describe the classes? They were not lectures! While the teachers would be constantly explaining things, or reading texts with us, they were also constantly asking us questions (in Latin of course): “how could you say this a different way? What does that mean? Please come up here and act out this part, or go to these other students and try to buy something from them, etc. etc.” The course-book for the first month was “Familia Romana”—that follows the life of an ancient Roman family. So we would have to act out, sometimes improvising with our own words, scenes from their life. At the end of the first month we were divided into groups that had to take an ancient fable and write a script and perform a play. My group had the fable of a man who goes to the netherworld to try to get his wife back. I had the part of Pluto who at first refuses but then gradually grants permission (we adapted the fable a bit. The hero was a Mexica, so we finished (putting the words in Latin) by him strumming on the guitar and singing “Ai Ai, yaiyai…” (not sure how to write that but if you heard it you would know it)). The second month we studied exceptions to the grammatical rules while reading different texts, still acting things out on occasion.

We gather in the entryway to the villa to hear a harp concert the last night (from a former student who now tours the world playing the harmp). It was a beautiful concert.

Meals, outings to the Roman Forum or Ostia, everything was in Latin. I even began to dream in Latin: one of my professors showed up as a pirate who drew his sword and marched into a city and then began to ask us to speak in Latin, to describe what was happening in the city…

The course was not Catholic, and was not designed for priests who need to spend a certain amount of time in daily prayer. So… after dinner in the evening, or early in the morning, I would spend time doing the necessary reading and homework for the classes plus celebrating Mass, praying the Divine Office, the rosary, etc. which made for short nights. But I was blessed to have a few students attending daily Mass. And on Sundays they chanted the Mass, with the full Gregorian Chant propers most weeks, and with a congregation of about 15. After the first few weeks I was able to begin preaching in Latin, with a short summary in English. There was also some apostolate through hearing Confessions and spiritual direction. Please pray for some non-Catholics who might embrace the faith.

Looking out over the gardens, overlooking Rome. Though you can't see it, St. Peter's is there, way in the distance.

Same view but at night.

So what was the impact on my knowledge of Latin and Greek? Time will tell, but as far as I can tell it was extremely helpful. I went from zero knowledge of Greek to an ability to read some very (very) basic texts. And with some additional work I am hopeful that I will be able to read the New Testament comfortably in Greek. In Latin I think the course was priceless. It was not just the quantity of information but the way it was taught. There is something about living in a language that is many times more helpful than simply reading it. And the method they used—the method used by the Jesuits from the 1500’s until about 1940—is a real gem.

View from the window of my room.

Thank you all for the sacrifice of not being able to communicate with me these past 8 weeks. I think these studies will, with time, bear good fruit and allow me to serve you better.

I had best go now to head to my flight.

For those in England… see you very soon!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,

Fr. Pillari

PS I arrived safe and sound late last night, to discover the presbytery almost completely torn apart! But for a good reason, they are renovating it. I am now moved-in enough to a temporary room to be able to sit down and post this.

Sunrise, looking out window of the room I stayed in.

Coming soon...

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Italy! By tomorrow night, Sunday night, I should be in a location with a decent internet connection, on my way back to England, and will hope to write you a full post then.

Thank you very much for your prayers! It was an outstanding series of courses, well-worth the time and effort. However, I have not slept much these past 8 weeks due to the demanding schedule, but I'll write more tomorrow. For those in England, see you soon!

In Cordibus Iesu et Mariae,
Fr. Pillari