ASSISI!

We arrived in Assisi on Monday, travel weary, but excited to be in the place it all began as we prepare for our time at Chapter. The time difference between Italy and California is 9 hours. Yesterday was a very full day. We caught the bus from the City of Santa Maria degli Angeli which is about 3 Kilometers away from Assisi and began our pilgrimage with a visit to the Cathedral of San Rufino. This is the parish church in which both Francis and Clare were baptized and the original baptismal font is still used for Baptisms today.

Being rather adventurous (and a bit tired) we daringly unlatched the gate to the font and blessed one another with the water that we found there. After this we spent the day leisurely working our way down the hill to Santa Chiara, where we spent some time with the San Damiano Cross and our sister, Clare, finishing the day in Assisi at the Basilica of San Francesco while enjoying a magnificent sunset.

After the furious pace we all kept in the weeks preceding our travel, we are finding the slower way of life to be a great blessing. We are content to meander the streets of Assisi, enjoying the contents of shops, punctuated by sharing good food, conversation, and gelato, along with time for prayer and reflection in the sacred places of Assisi.

The entire North American Delgation: Sisters Dorothy Mueller, Nancy Miller, Beth Brosmer, Karen Crouse, Sarah Manchester, Sen Nguyen, Patricia Rayburn, Margie Will, and Janet Gwinn, as well as Chapter speaker, Colette Rooney, assistant Chapter Secreatary Mary Serbacki, and Chapter facilitator, Maria Elena Martinez have arrived in Italy, and surprisingly, even though we are not all staying in the same city, many of us have encountered one other several times throughout the past two days.

Tomorrow will see the three of us journeying to San Damiano to spend some prayer and meditation time in the home of the earliest Franciscan Women.

Pace Bene,

Margie, Janet, Patricia