Today two good friends arrived in Rome. I have to say that when I moved to Rome one of the things that gave me pause was the thought of celebrating my 30th birthday away from everyone that I love. Given that Lisa and Matt are here, that will prove not to be true. Instead, Lisa and Matt, one whom I have known since that bus trip, the other since even before, will be here to celebrate. Not just that though, the new friends that I am blessed with, Christian, Jay, Laurie, Janelle, Steven, Al, and Ted, among others, will be there too...
Sometimes the only thing that I find hard to believe about God is how good he is.
Today I spent the day walking through Rome with Lisa and Matt. They brought a batch of my Mom's amazing cookies from home, and I savored a couple and saved a bunch. After an amazing cup of coffee at San Eucsatchio here in the streets of Rome we ran into the Father General of the Jesuits, who recognized me after our dinner together last night, and he was incredibly gracious to my friends. We ate a wonderful dinner at a place where a bunch of other Jesuits randomly showed up. I finished the day having a pint of Guinness with my friend Laurie and being able to convince my friend Steven's boss that he should have the night off on Wednesday to be able to come to celebrate with us. After that a couple of friends of mine in the Swiss guard wanted to make sure that I was all set with tickets for the Papal Audience that I am going to on Wednesday morning to receive the apostolic blessing to begin this new decade.
I know that there is suffering in Japan, I know that there is great poverty, and I know that people are dying of horrid diseases. I also know that I don't deserve the life that I lead, but somehow, joyfully, I just can't wrap my head around how good God is to me. My only hope is that knowing that makes me more attentive to those who genuinely suffer, and that in gratitude to God for God's love that such a knowledge helps me find a way to genuinely serve them in love,so that through God working in me they might also find it hard to believe just that one thing.
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