Roma/Rome/Rooma 22.6.2008

Bella Roma! Il centro del mondo!

Sunday morning I went to the Fiumicino airport to get Mari and Emma-Sofia who came there to participate in the Youth Forum together with me. We were the Finnish delegation. But that would start later, first we had time to visit the Vatican – or – as the Dutch delegation would later pronounce it, Fisit the Fatican:) Both the girls were in Rome for the first time so it was exciting both for them and for me.

After going to Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s, we had a chance to see the new statue of St. Josemaría Escrivá behind the church. Escrivá is the founder of Opus Dei, a Catholic organization that has given me much good.

Olen muuten kääntänyt Opus Dein, jonka perustajan patsas yllä, nettisivuilla jonkin verran materiaalia suomeksi. Sivut julkaistiin jokin aika sitten suomeksi, http://www.opusdei.fi. Pietarinkirkon jälkeen menimme Paavalin basilikaan, jossa on myös apostolin hauta. Oli suuri hetki päästä tutkimuskohteeni maallisten jäänteiden luokse. Adiuvet ut bene scribam de eo.

Poi abbiamo visto Luca di Leva e la sua famiglia, Elena & piccolo Francescino:) Siamo andati da loro per la cena e abbiamo visto l’ultima partita dell’Italia negli Europei contro la Spagna… abbiamo cantato canzoni napoletane e neocatecumenali:) Non avevo visto Luca da 5 anni.

We had a wonderful evening in a true Italian home on the first evening, and we loved it. It was Catholic, more particularly neocatechumenal, it was Italian, more particularly NEAPOLITAN, and really so, especially since Elena’s parents were visiting, and the father spoke such Neapolitan that one didn’t understand anything. I did a successful job at convincing the girls, especially Mari whose family comes from northern Italy, of the superiority of the inferiority of southern Italian or Neapolitan during the whole trip, but I think this visit was the most powerful:)

Luca oli suomessa seminaarissa vielä n. 6 vuotta sitten, mutta siirtyi sitten Italiaan, jossa tapasin hänet viimeksi vuonna 2003, kuten Giginkin (viime postaus). Tämän jälkeen Luca on mennyt naimisiin ja saanut suloisen pikku pojan. Meillä oli mahtava ilta ja vaikka Emma-Sofia olisi halunnut kotiin klo 9ksi, hän ei suuremmin valitellut, kun saavuimme hotellille (Domus Aurelia, joka oli päivästä toiseen vaikea löytää:s) puolenyön maissa. Tässä vielä yöllinen kuva vanhoista kaveruksista. Kiitos Luca!