Scattered

17th May 2018

My daughter and grandaughter are in Rome today.

Scattered

In our scattered lives, 
with innumerable calls on our resources, 
with so many  scattered thoughts 
in our weary minds, 
with even the people we love being
more scattered than we'd like, 
there is God,
who just is  
who changes us,  
and stays, with us
in a restful presence.


Rome                                                              

Today's date, is always  a reminder to me of this day in 1992  when my husband and I went to Rome for a few days for the Beatification of,  the now, St Josemaria.

With a baby of three weeks in tow and after having had a cesarean section, it never occurred to me to question whether I should go or not. But, he was baby number eight and I had learnt what items are vitally important  how little was needed to travel with a tiny baby. However, I hadn't factored in my needs after the surgery, so we didn't run around Rome like we might otherwise have done. Now, after all these years, I am still waiting to make it back as a tourist rather than a pilgrim.

On the day of the celebration St Peter's Square was sweltering and to cool us down and stop people getting sun stroke they had organised water sprinklers, which cooled us down but almost instantly the sun  dried us.
A good job I brought a wide brimmed hat, I thought, as I snuggled the baby to feed under it's shade. He was amazingly content  the whole time, making things much easier for his parents than they might have been. We were with friends too who were happy to take him for a walk in his buggy for short periods, which again was much appreciated.

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The huge crowd of people that assembled were just a small number of the many who had been touched by the life of this one man. He is the founder of the Opus Dei Prelature which has members and friends all over the world since it's beginnings in 1928.  So those that were there were representing a whole multitude of others who would have liked to be there but couldn't. We felt privileged that we were able to make it.
There was a special family atmosphere in the square that day. It was a day of many blessings that are still being lived out in the lives of those who were there.

China

Today I am also thinking of the trip to China that I went on with my mum and my two sisters. Can that really be more than ten years ago in 2007. I wouldn't have said it was that long ago, but thankfully I have proof in a little notebook I wrote at the time.
There are so many things that happened . I can see my mother now climbing walking along the Great Wall. She was in her mid seventies but nothing was going to stop her. Always up for  an adventure.

I think I'll come back to this again . Would you like to hear more?

Bye for now