Bless Me Father.......

What a nice day I had today. Well, so far anyway. Kids, you better not screw up the rest of my day OK?

For our 50th Birthday's Ski and I, aka Lucy and Ethel, went to Rome to see the Pope. I know,I know, it was not the "Real Polish Pope" as Ski calls JPII but a Pope none the less. It was a trip of a lifetime.

On the morning we were supposed to see the Pope we had to meet a man to get our tickets. The Diocese of Pittsburgh sent all the info that was needed for us to get an audience with the Pope, but they didn't give us the actual tickets for some reason. They just gave us a number to call. We called and and the man said he said he would meet us in St Peter's Square that morning. "How will we know who you are?" we asked. He said "you'll know."

So after a sleepless night with scenarios about all that could go wrong the next day going over and over in my head, Ski and I go to St. Peters. As we were wondering through the Square looking hopelessly around quickly we spotted him.

There he was this huge Teddy Bear of a man waving a Terrible Towel right smack in the middle of St. Peter's Square. Yes, we knew that was him. Turns out he is from Pittsburgh. He is the person who gives out the audience tickets for the Pope's blessings. When he sees a Pittsburgh address, he gets excited. Hence, Burger's get the best seats. WE HAD SEATS ON THE ALTER!!!

So we start talking and he tells us he's going to come with us to see the Pope. Poor thing, he got more than he bargained for. As I've mentioned here many times before, when Ski and I travel together (which is often) It's always an adventure. From Presidential Inauguration's to Audiences with the Pope and everything in between including hitch-hiking across the state one too many times back in the day.

Anyway, this man was a wealth of inside knowledge from knowing where the Pope was entering from, where to look. Which seats were the best. He was truly unbelievable. Plus, I think he got a kick out of us. Especially when The Pope asked us to hold up anything we wanted him to bless and I held up about 100 metals in this:


Yes, I had all my rosaries and metals stashed in a Crown Royal Wiskey Sack! He thought that was hysterical.

After,we went to lunch. He continued to give us tips on great local restaurants,etc. He was so nice to us. I wanted to give him something for his kindness. So I dug in my purple crown royal sack and pulled out a pair of tacky Steeler rosaries. Oh my God. He absolutely loved them. He couldn't wait to go back to show them to all the fellow seminarians from Pittsburgh. esp since they were blessed by the Pope. I hated to part with them, but I had a spare! (I guess they worked, we've won two superbowls since!) As an added bonus, his Terrible Towel he was waving also got blessed by the Pope. No need to thank us Ben.

Today Ski and I went to Fr. Nick Vascov's first mass as a Roman Catholic priest. He was ordained at St. Paul's Cathedral yesterday. The mass was at St. Bernadette's in Monroeville.

You know, you always hear the bad things about Catholic Priests. You also hear awful stories about the young kids of today. But let me tell you. This 24 year old man is truly all that's good about the catholic church and our young people!

God Bless you Father Nick. It was truly an honor to be in the congregation at your first mass and to get your blessing on the first day of your journey serving God. Hopefully it will be a long and rewarding one.

And please,keep those prayers coming. Lord knows I need them.

Love,
The Rome Ladies.

*Whew, will you look at that, I got through the whole post without one swear word. Fr. Nick's prayer's must be working already!

Late Edition: Lisa just sent me a link to a song I think goes beautifully with this post. Not to get all religious on you but what an appropriate song for today.
Just take a moment to listen.