Friday, September 23, 2005
So happy feast of St. Pio everyone. He's really a pretty amazing guy. One time, this summer, at work, a really old guy came in and told me a story about Padre Pio. It went something like this:
Guy: Have you ever heard of Padre Pio?
Me: Yes.
Guy: See this here? (showing me a bead on his keyring)
Me: Yes, what is it?
Guy: A bead from Padre Pio's rosary. Know how I got it?
Me: No...
Guy: Oh, many moons ago, I was in the army. Stationed in a small town in Italy. It was Christmas Eve and a bunch of the guys decided to go to midnight Mass. I wasn't Catholic, and wasn't interested, but they talked me into it. We had to drive over an hour to get to the church, and there were people lining the streets, walking for miles to get to the church. It was really something. Anyway, the priest who said the Mass was Padre Pio. I didn't know who he was, but one of the guys that brought us there had met him before, so after Mass we all went to the back and met him. Boy was he amazing. He had these bandages on his hands...do you know the stigmata?
Me: Yes.
Guy: Yeah, he had that. And after we talked to him for some time, he gave me a rosary. I gave it to my mom, and when she died, she left it to me. But I didn't want it for my own. So I took it apart and gave a bead to everyone in my family. He was an amazing man... ::gets kind of emotional, teary-eyed:: and I always have this bead in my pocket. Always.
And then he just smiled at me.
I love my job. :)
So here are the two random things that have happened today - both in class.
1. In Christian Sexual Morality this morning, we were studying Luther's teaching on sex. I was quite annoyed with his writings about celibacy, and the Quaker really wasn't helping to clarify anything according to Catholicism (surprise...). So the question was to put into a hierarchy Luther's view of certain sins. Throughout the class, we had been being punks in the back of the room (back of the bus club...yea yea!), and commenting on how odd Luther's teachings were. When we came to fornication, my friend Rusty raises his hand and says, "I thought he was weird when he talked about fornication..." and Quaker said, "How so?" and Rusty, very honestly said, "I really can't back that up with anything."
Who says that? :) EVERYONE laughed.
2. I must set up this situation: my Genetics class is in the Science Hall...and has mounted animal heads on the wall. We have, in our classroom, the Neumann's Hartebeest, the Blesbok, the Impala, and the Kudu. They are pretty great. Anyway, we're big fans of the Neuman's Hartebeest, because of the name, really. Now with that in mind, today we all walked into class, and lo and behold, the Neumann's Hartebeest had a stogie hanging out of his mouth. Yes, our mounted heads smoke cigars. :) It was really quite hilarious...
That's all I've got for now. I'm watching the Life on the Rock Encore. No talking during my show.
Caritas et veritas.
Guy: Have you ever heard of Padre Pio?
Me: Yes.
Guy: See this here? (showing me a bead on his keyring)
Me: Yes, what is it?
Guy: A bead from Padre Pio's rosary. Know how I got it?
Me: No...
Guy: Oh, many moons ago, I was in the army. Stationed in a small town in Italy. It was Christmas Eve and a bunch of the guys decided to go to midnight Mass. I wasn't Catholic, and wasn't interested, but they talked me into it. We had to drive over an hour to get to the church, and there were people lining the streets, walking for miles to get to the church. It was really something. Anyway, the priest who said the Mass was Padre Pio. I didn't know who he was, but one of the guys that brought us there had met him before, so after Mass we all went to the back and met him. Boy was he amazing. He had these bandages on his hands...do you know the stigmata?
Me: Yes.
Guy: Yeah, he had that. And after we talked to him for some time, he gave me a rosary. I gave it to my mom, and when she died, she left it to me. But I didn't want it for my own. So I took it apart and gave a bead to everyone in my family. He was an amazing man... ::gets kind of emotional, teary-eyed:: and I always have this bead in my pocket. Always.
And then he just smiled at me.
I love my job. :)
So here are the two random things that have happened today - both in class.
1. In Christian Sexual Morality this morning, we were studying Luther's teaching on sex. I was quite annoyed with his writings about celibacy, and the Quaker really wasn't helping to clarify anything according to Catholicism (surprise...). So the question was to put into a hierarchy Luther's view of certain sins. Throughout the class, we had been being punks in the back of the room (back of the bus club...yea yea!), and commenting on how odd Luther's teachings were. When we came to fornication, my friend Rusty raises his hand and says, "I thought he was weird when he talked about fornication..." and Quaker said, "How so?" and Rusty, very honestly said, "I really can't back that up with anything."
Who says that? :) EVERYONE laughed.
2. I must set up this situation: my Genetics class is in the Science Hall...and has mounted animal heads on the wall. We have, in our classroom, the Neumann's Hartebeest, the Blesbok, the Impala, and the Kudu. They are pretty great. Anyway, we're big fans of the Neuman's Hartebeest, because of the name, really. Now with that in mind, today we all walked into class, and lo and behold, the Neumann's Hartebeest had a stogie hanging out of his mouth. Yes, our mounted heads smoke cigars. :) It was really quite hilarious...
That's all I've got for now. I'm watching the Life on the Rock Encore. No talking during my show.
Caritas et veritas.
