Monday 23 September

Monday 23 September

This is the first day in Assisi and, as Andre likes to say, we hot the ground running with Morning Prayer on the roof garden at 7.00. I went up at about 6.30 and put my washing in the machine (staff only privilege!) and the garden was dark and the valley full of mist and all the seats were wet. Little by little things got lighter and a bit drier and by 7.00 it was all manageable though too misty to point out all the spires and towers of Assisi, which is usually part of it. We read the Salutation to Assisi and a couple of other readings about it and sang some songs in greeting, and the Blackbirds chuckled around us as they found breakfast after the rain, and pigeons got on with their pigeony business. Then we had breakfast, or some did, and off to the Chiesa Nuova for Mass at 8.30. 

Since last year all the frescoes have finished being cleaned, the last two years they have had scaffolding up, so the portraits of the early friars were clear and fresh and the huge fresco of the Moroccan martyrs being disembowelled was gorier than ever! But it all looked clean and nice and cared for. We saw where Francis' father imprisoned him for bad behaviour and his mother let him out, then moved to the area where they think the shop was and more of the home, now all chapels for children and praying for children, especially the sick ones.

Again we had a long coffee break then reconvened for a historical tour of the Piazza Comune, winding up at Bernard of Quintavalle's house and back in time for pranzo. After the siesta Murray had a talk on Francis and non-violence, which gets better each time I hear it, usually we then encourage people to go up to the Rocca if they wish, but by the time we got to that plnt in the programme, the thunderstorm had set in and it was not only far too wet but probably dangerous to prance around on a hilltop anyway, so they had a breathing space which I dont think they regretted at all. Finally we got together in the chapel here at Papa Giovanni and had a ritual about Francis¡ meeting with the Sultan. This was very nicely read by one of the couples on the pilgrimage, very clear and distinct. And one of the Nigerian sisters told us about a peace initiative in Nigeria between the Christians and the Moslems, especially up in the north where Boko Haram had been so busy. The sisters (FMDM) just live there doing good works, feeding the hungry and doing what Francis says in the 1221 Rule, going among the non-Christians and preaching without words but by their way of life.

As always the FMDMs are impressive. They tell me they have just had a chapter and re-elected Jane for another term, I mention it as some of us know her.

Love to one and all ft