November 2016 Pilgrammage continued

(Nov 2016)  Greetings to all of you!  (Pilgrimage continued)
 
Last week I wrote about our visit to St. Anthony in Padua and now I wish to tell you a little bit about one of the most beautiful places in Italy:  Florence!  For those of you who have been there, I'm sure you will agree how impressive this place has been through the centuries.  No wonder it was the birthplace of many artists and poets.  Some of us went to the Uffizzi gallery to see the works of Michelangelo and his famous statue of me, DAVID.  Anyway, although I love this beautiful piece of art, I was also impressed by his unfinished works. They seem to be charging out of the marble with brilliant lines but he never finished the piece. Most people view him as a famous painter, but he enjoyed sculpting much more. We also visited the Duomo which is the Cathedral in Florence that houses the remains of this great artist and many other famous artists and poets.  We tried to recreate a little of the famous door of the Cathedral here at our parish, but of course, nothing can come close to its beauty.  After a day of sightseeing, we rested and had another nice Italian dinner at a local restaurant.  Again, the food there is another work of art!  Then to bed and our next stop: Assisi, the home of St. Francis!  More on that next week.  
 
As some of you know, I occasionally have to rant in this space regarding things that I would hope the average person would want to know.  Sometimes I speak about using turn signals while driving, other times I wonder why people have to leave so early from Mass, but this time I would like to talk about  bathrooms!   It seems where ever I go, bathrooms always seem to be so messy.  Italy is its own story, but here in the U.S. I wonder why people treat these rooms with so much disregard......Even our own bathrooms in the Church have been a place where very few people clean up after themselves thereby leaving a mess so somebody else would have to clean up. PLEASE, treat bathrooms in various establishments as if they were your own. No body should have to walk into a mess or even have to clean up behind you.  As my mother used to say, "Keep America Clean!"  Sorry, but I just had to get that off my list.  
 
Well, that is all for now.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and we now look forward to the peaceful season of Advent.
 
Peace,
Fr. David