Saints, Snow, Kids and Indiana, a Good Day!

Today was a good day. I went to bed after reading about Blessed Angela of Foligno. She lived in Italy and was an early Franciscan mystic. I know worship is sensual, sensual not sexual. We take in our universe through our senses, the more sensory stimulation the more chances for meaning. That is why the Orthodox have icons and gold and beautiful, awe-inspiring churches. That is why we use “smells and bells” for special occasions and incense, statues, music and art for everyday occasions. We try to use every sensory receptor to help us comprehend the incomprehensible.

Well, Blessed Angela did this in her prayer life. The result was that during Eucharist when she consumed the real presence she felt it throughout her body. Her visualizations were concrete and reverential. It would be easy to misunderstand her writings and that would be a loss. She reminds us that partaking in Eucharist and being one with the Body of Christ is an enormous gift, a grace that should be felt from head to foot.

I then woke up and read about St. Clare and her love of the Incarnation and the Passion. I have been to Greccio and I know how powerful a picture Francis was able to create. The humility of a God willing to walk not only on this earth but in a human body and as a poor child, it is again, incompressible. Then the Logos accepts the Passion. I have seen the San Damiano Cross, the cross that changed Francis life and inspired St. Clare and all of her sisters. I understand why these two events were the compass points of St. Clare’s life.

Then, after breakfast Cathi and my great nephew got in our car and headed for Muncie. We spent the day with our grand daughter and daughter at the Muncie Children’s Museum. But first, we had to get there!

The snow covered the farm land but the temperature was rising. The result was a mystical fog, it was like driving through a silent white tunnel. Occasionally a black barren tree would contrast against the cloud we were driving though. It was beautiful.

We went though Montpelier, a town of almost 2000 folks. For a small town it had a lot to see. We stood by a statue of a Miami Indian that was two stories tall. A block away was a huge bell in a yard, across the street from the bell was cannon from either WW II or the Korean War. Two blocks past that was a jet sitting in a park. That is a lot to see for a small town!

The rest of the day was spent in play. Two five year olds can have a lot of fun in a museum designed for children. They ran and played with trains, water, an art exhibit on Chagall, dinosaurs, phones, stores and trucks. We got tired just watching. It was great to see them having so much fun, it was great to see my daughter being such a good mom.

At the end of the day we all went to our own homes and Cathi and I, tired but happy relaxed, Saints, kids, family and Indiana, yep, it was a good day.