Reasons why God is good (Gig) #91-120

So here are the rest, for a brief description of what these are please see previous post. lol. I also noticed after finishing that this is roughly equivalent to the summer after college and my first year as an RA in Rome. Right now we're on #146 on facebook so there should be yet another 30 reasons why Gig in the near future, which is an increase from the rate or around 30 per year to 30 per summer.  This parallels the realization in my spiritual life that I needed to practice the virtue of gratitude more. Kind of an interesting way of plotting my spiritual journey. Maybe that'll be a future blog post too. Until then see you in the Eucharist.

#91: for sunsets on backroads in the middle of wheat fields across from beautiful old churches before dancing. Thank God for home. And for for finishing a good harvest, 2 1/2" of rain in the middle of June, an awesome retreat on TEC 132, and a plane ticket to Rome. Sorry I was a little behind.

#92: For all the infinite ways in which God showed His goodness in the last week among them: being able to go back to the inspiration for my Gig posts, Prayer and Action, as a chaperone to an incredibly awesome group of young women from St. Thomas. For old houses with peeling paint, scrappers, and ladders. For Gatorade, Bina's, and good 'ole Marion County jokes. For daily mass, rosary, and night prayer. For silent reflection and raucous praise and worship. For an incredible team led by the Holy Spirit, under the patronage of St. Philomena. For conversion, renewal, and healing. For feet washing, the sacrament of reconciliation, and Christ's presence in Adoration. For all these reasons I know God is great! Glory to Him for Prayer and Action 2012 in the Wichita Diocese. St. Philomena, pray for us!

#93: For the work of the Holy Spirit through the intercession of St. Philomena in taking the desire of a few people for adoration and praise and worship and in three days turning it into 70+ driving an hour and a half to a beautiful church in the middle of nowhere to give glorify and adore God with their whole being. Watch out Wichita, St. Philomena is on the loose and the Holy Spirit means business. Better buckle up big things are in store.

#94: for Communion:

http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.com/2012/07/communion.html

(just fyi I never claimed to be good at counting. lol.)

#94: for feeling like a totally new person after getting twice as much sleep in a night as usual. Should go to bed at 8pm more often. lol.

#95: rain on a tin roof, county fair, cherry limaide, dancing, Jesus, donuts = awesome.

#96: For St. Philomena.

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=98

#97: For my first time behind the wheel in Italy! (and not dying during my first time behind the wheel in Italy. lol)

#98: For the ridiculously beautiful Due Santi campus that is my home for the next 10 months.

#99: For a three hour dinner at a little restaurant in Castel Gandolfo called Bucci's. Literally almost brought tears to my eyes at one point. lol. So good!

Reason #100 why I know Gig: For my family and for dear brothers and sisters in Christ. You all are the greatest blessing in my life. This is my small attempt to return a blessing to you.

The clip is from the blessing Pope Benedict gave this morning after the Angelus which, as a papal blessing, extends not only to those present in the courtyard but also to their family and friends, namely you. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3670378436772

#101: for brothers and sisters in Christ who hold me accountable: http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.it/2012/08/accountability.html

 #102 why I know Gig: For my grandmother Annetta Butel, and for bringing her home to Himself.

http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.it/2012/09/to-saint_1711.html

(despite graduating college I still can't count, in fact it seems to have gotten worse lol.)

#102: For just another day at work. In Athens, Greece. On the Acropolis.

#103: for stumbling upon adoration, benediction and then mass in Krakow after a day at Auschwitz.

#104: for ping-pong.

#105: For that moment when the double sided booklet printing works on the first try. lol.

#106: For all night adoration in beautiful old farm churches in the middle of nowhere with 40+ friends, for sunsets in the Flint Hills after the first snow of the year, for family Christmas (especially the dessert table. lol.) and for going dancing two of the four nights I've been home. It's good to be back in KS!

#107: For dancing, followed by prayer, followed by hipster doughnuts.

#108: For the best sunset of Christmas break as I left KS and touching down the next day in Rome to another fantastic sunset.

#109: For lunches that last until its time to go to bed, literally. New record: 6 hour lunch.

#110: for the awesome state of KS on her 152nd birthday.

#111: For our Holy Father Pope Benedict, may God bless his last days in office and guide our Church through the election of the next Pope. Full text of his resignation below: http://www.businessinsider.com/pope-benedict-resigns-2013-2#ixzz2KaZVr9xK

#112: For the brilliant rainbow sprouting from the top a two thousand year old aqueduct as I drove out of Rome this afternoon, and the freedom of not having a camera, so I could just enjoy the moment.

#113: For espresso. Not sure why it took me six months to think to post that. lol.

#114: For the blessing of having been in Rome the last few weeks to be able to express my gratitude and affection for Pope Benedict, at the Papal Mass on Ash Wednesday, at his last audience yesterday, and finally on the soccer field during Greek Olympics as he flew over campus on his way to Castel Gandalfo. Momma Mary keep him.

#115: For those who dance like no one is watching.

#116: For an epic 10 day trip through Greece. Wow. Mind-blown.

#117: Habemus Papem!!!!!!!!

#118: So yeah I know I'm giving this up for Holy Week but this was too good not to share. From Office of the Readings for Holy Thursday, St. Melito of Sardis speaking of Christ: "It is he who endured every king of suffering in all those who foreshadowed Him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonored in the prophets.

He sealed our souls with His own Spirit, and the members of our body with His own blood."

#119: Alleluia, He is Risen, Indeed He is Risen, ALLELUIA!

#120: "Verso l'alto!" for a weekend in Turin with Pier Giorgio, Don Bosco, and good friends.

Reasons why Gig #60-90:

So someone suggested that I compile my "Reasons why Gig" (Reasons why God is good) facebook statuses, and I realized that it had been a while since I had done so and I was a bit behind. lol. You can see Reasons #1-30 and #30-60 here:

http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.it/2010/12/thirty-reasons-why-i-know-god-is-good.html and http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.it/2011/05/reasons-why-god-is-good-s-31-60.html

After dredging through my facebook I've found #60-90. These numbers are roughly equivalent to my senior year of college. Reading through them again is a wonderful reminder of how constantly God is working on me and the countless things I have to be grateful for and also how much more I should recognize the little blessings of every day.  Hopefully reasons 90-120 will follow shortly. Momma keep y'all.

#60: for bringing me through another year of college. FREEDOM!!! lol. Blessed be God!

#61: for mountains to climb (literally and figuratively)

#62: for Kansas.

#63: for driving home with the windows down and music blaring on a beautiful summer night after dancing, after the county fair.

# 64: for buttered sweet-corn on my plate, cicadas in the trees, and epic sunsets in the sky. That he would lay down His life so that we could know that all these beautiful things are acts of love from Him for us. We are so blest!

#65: for a blest and challenging weekend on TEC 129 and for introducing me to some amazing new men and women of God. "Darkness is not dark for you, and night shines as the day." Psalm 139:12

#66: Thunderstorm + Sunset = Awesome! Currently: Torrential rain! Hallelujah!

#67: Caught myself singing the Salve Regina along to the radio. lol. Thank you God for 1060AM Wichita/Eldorado EWTN radio.

#68: for giving me a the opportunity to be an RA at an awesome Catholic school. The first and last thing we did in training was pray. Thank God for Catholic colleges.

#69: for the splendor of His creation, most especially His blessed mother and an awesome class with Abbot Dennis about her! Mariology rocks (despite being on a Saturday morning!)

#70: for farmers...and Paul Harvey:http://www.youtube.com/embed/QuzhwkaNC40?rel=0

#71: For finally getting the motivation to finish another blog post. Enjoy: http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.com/2011/09/people-who-sit-in-darkness-have-seen.html

#72: for the people that play the piano late at night in the Church. Thanks for making my night whoever you were

#73: for Abbot Denis in all his awesome old Hungarian monk wisdom and holiness and for his last new student mass.

#74: because life is good. And if you're too busy or stressed to realize this right now cut it out! (y'all know who you are). Your problems are not so great that the God of all the universe can't handle them.

#75: for fall Romers*, farm families, and a straight road home! God bless y'all!

           *(even though they didn't go in the spring they're still nice people too, go figure. lol)

#76: What do stars, family potlucks, a sunset in the Flint hills, dancing, and coffee with an awesome cousin have in common? They were all part of an awesome Thanksgiving weekend. Blessed be God!

#77: For beautiful friends who do awesome things like put on mini-retreats over Christmas break.

#78: "In our attempt to sometimes capture a moment, i think we accidentally can sterilize it. We try to make it perfect and clean; but if we learn anything from the Incarnation, it is that God desires to come into the middle of the mess. To put it another way, the Church is not just a house for the rehabilitated, it's also triage for the wounded on the battlefield." Matt Maher

#79: For waking up at 6am on a Saturday morning without a snooze button (miracle), going to mass (miracle) with awesome monks at 6:30, seeing maybe the most brilliant sunrise I've ever seen coming out of mass at 7 (miracle), starting Comps at 9am and 4 hours, 2 blue books, and probably a mild case of carpal tunnel later being done (miracle), and talking to the coolest cousin ever after literally a month of phone tag (miracle). God is good!

#80: for shiny things, like my room right now which is covered in a lovely dusting of glitter. Thanks Jess, you're a wonderful RC. lol

#81: "You are the light of the world" Mt 5:14.

http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.com/2012/02/you-are-light-of-world.html

#82: For passing comps! As long as I don't flunk out in the last two months I'll have a degree in May! AHHH!!!!

#83: Because "cup overfloweth" doesn't even begin to describe the blessings that God poured out this weekend on CA#4. Maybe more like "my stock tank overfloweth." God works miracles. Blog post to follow soon. YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD! SCHINK!!!!!!!!!

#84: for the chance to go dancing twice in one weekend. Why do I love dancing so much? check out my philosophy on it if you want to know:http://quo-vadis-deum.blogspot.com/2012/03/philosophy-of-dance_30.html

#85: For the new Cistercian Abbot Fr. Peter and for the beautiful liturgy today to bless his leadership.

#86: For goin out of college the way I came in, two late night papers in one weekend. lol.

#87: For Kansans. In Texas. Two-stepping. So awesome! lol.

#88: "the message we are sending from birth is that if you don't make the traveling soccer team or get into the "right" school, then you will somehow finish life with fewer points than everyone else. That's not right. You'll never read the following obituary: "Bob Smith died yesterday at the age of 74. He finished life in 186th place."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304811304577366332400453796.html

#89: It's a dang good life. Convocation, Senior TIGT, Red River, Steak and Shake. What an awesome night.

#90: There's no way to describe in a facebook post my gratitude for the past 4 years. Thank you to my professors and classmates. Your friendship will be my most enduring memory of college. Truly we have pursued truth and virtue together. You will remain in my heart and in my prayers. Class of 2012, I already know you'll be successful so my hope for you is that you will know His peace and joy through your whole lives. While we're parting ways now, I'll always see y'all in the Eucharist. Momma keep you!

Che Meraviglia!

"What a Marvel!"

Nice phrase hunh? Ok so now that I've proved that I've learned something in my language classes in Torino (Turin) thus far, on to the story of the aforementioned marvel.

I was at the 6:30 mass this evening at my parish church of Santa Giulia. It was nice. There was adoration and benediction for the hour before hand, which I was excited about. I stumbled through the rosary in Italian with the old ladies before mass. I'm starting to be able to partially understand readings and homilies. Tutto bene (All good). Before I go any further I should mention that this is a beautiful church. If I had to guess I think its a newer construction, a neo-gothic (aka, built in the last 150 years but imitation of the gothic style (which was much older)). This means its tall, has large windows, and beautiful stained glass behind the altar. In Italian churches you can often tell if they're being used for something more than just a museum, there are shrines of recent saints like JPII or Padre Pio, etc. You can tell this church is cared for and prayed in. (I would just upload pictures but while I remembered to bring my camera to Torino, I forgot the cord to connect it to the computer. So those will have to wait two more weeks.)

Anyhow, so mass finished and I stayed to pray a bit as the meager congregation trickled out. After a little while I went to look at a lectionary that was in the main isle in the middle of the church. As I'm standing there trying to piece together what I thought I heard during the readings with what I was seeing on the page people started walking by me up to the front pews of the church. These people were followed by even more people. I was confused. By the time I finished trying to decipher the lectionary there were more people in the church than there had been for the whole mass and they were all in about the first quarter of the pews. This was strange, so before leaving I sat down at the back to see what was going on. As I watched more and more people poured in. Even stranger still was that they weren't all old (which is the vast majority of who you see in Italian churches. For context its not unusual if I'm the only male at a daily mass and probably the only one under 60.) In fact many of them were young, like my age, but there was the whole gamete from parents with young children to senior citizens. I was speculating to myself what could be going on, maybe a concert or a lecture or something certainly not a mass because we'd just finished mass and as I mentioned this was not the demographic you get at an Italian mass. Plus there were so many people. Within about 10 minutes the church had almost completely filled from the front back, to the point that several people joined me in my pew which was second to the last in the church. People were literally rushing in now and I was almost bewildered because it definitely looked like the altar was being set for mass. I thought maybe it was for a different Chrisitan denomination, or different Catholic rite or congregation, because it was unlike anything I'd ever seen in Italy - or in the US for that matter. As the Liturgy started it was clear that it was definitely Catholic and as the priest began the opening prayer it was apparent that it was in Italian. By this time the church was literally standing room only, and there were plenty of people standing, FOR A THURSDAY EVENING MASS! (This is not a small church either for the record). I'm thoroughly bewildered at this point and while I had planned on going to the grocery store right after mass, I had to figure out what this was about before I could leave.

Finally, right before the homily, I had to ask the little old Italian lady next to me (in really poor Italian, which she was luckily able to understand) what the heck was going on. She replied that it was a mass for the group Comunione e Leberazione (Communion and Liberation) for the feastday of St. Benedict, the patron of Europe. Wild! Now I still don't know much about the group. The word Liberation in the name always kind of brings to mind Liberation Theology, which had some issues in the post-Vatican II era, but I don't think they're closely related. From what I saw tonight though and the fact that Pope-emeritus Benedict is a fan I think its safe to say that the Holy Spirit is definitely at work through them in Torino. I was so enthralled by what was going on that despite having just been to mass I couldn't bring myself to leave. Let me list off for you the many marvels of this mass:

1. A packed church for a Thursday evening mass, literally hundreds of Italians.
2. The vast majority were young adults, people my age, and young men were NOT a small minority!
3. Beautiful, reverent, well done Liturgy. This is rare outside of papal masses. I think its partly due to the rather loose cultural take Italians have on laws, civil or ecclesial. What's more the congregation was reverent too. At this mass everyone knelt (that could), everyone stood, they sang together, they prayed in unison. This is not quite the typical, more laisses faire approach to participation at Italian masses.
4. A polyphonic chant choir. When I graduated from UD and Collegium was more or less disbanded I thought I might have heard the last of what had been a great and new-found blessing in my college days, that of masses accompanied by a beautiful, classical, a capella choir. So I was almost startled when the choir lit into Gregorian chant for the first time at offertory. They were good too, really good.
5. A communion line. Context again: in case you haven't been to a mass here it would be good to point out that trying to get to communion in Italy might be comparable to trying to get on the freeway in Italy. You just have to go for it. Forget the concept of a line, because it is something that has probably never occurred to your neighboring Italians. You normally end up feeling like you've cut someone off, which isn't such a big deal because they were expecting you to and they did it to someone else to get into the aisle themselves but still it feels kind of like a jostle to get to the front. This evening though perhaps one of the most marvelous sights was when it came time for communion a line qued up from the back of the church to the front. The line qued up pew by pew just like in the states but instead of from the front to the back, each waited for the pew behind it to go. While it may seem insignificant, this small communal act of charity ("the last shall be first and the first shall be last") was awesome in a culture where communion is often anything but calm and orderly.

--

What an unexpected blessing in the first week in Torino. The Church is alive and young! And not just in America or Latin America but in Europe where it is supposedly dead and dying. It was such a blessing to be reminded so vividly and powerfully that I'm not alone, but am a very small part of something very big, something setting fire to even inhospitable places like modern Europe. I have no idea where this adventure is heading but am excited to keep discovering. Quo vadis? Where are you going?