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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Easter in Europe - a Memorare Miracle!

Blog post written by Spring 08 Student, Emily Kovar.

Among the popular destinations for the Franciscan students this Easter, were Lourdes, Ireland, Lisieux, and of course Rome. As usual, we were encouraged to make our train reservations early (as holy week is the busiest travel time of the year for Europeans) but of course, many students procrastinated or like myself, made last minute changes to their travel plans.

I had made plans to travel to Lisieux and spend Easter in the hometown of my patron saint, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux. All the arrangements were made, the train reserved, the hostel was taken care of… we were set. Then my plans changed. To my excitement, my parents were going to Rome for Easter and they invited me to come with them.

I found a group to travel to Rome with, but they still needed train reservations. You can imagine how hard it is to get reservations to Rome for Easter. The leader of the group assured me that he would make the reservations while I was away the weekend. I was nervous, this was the weekend before holy week. Could we really get train reservations this late?

My qualms were confirmed when I got back from my weekend travel to find that not only was he having a hard time getting reservations, he could not even get through on the phone to make the arrangements. In a very optimistic moment, I laid out a very positive plan. I told him that I was going to go to the chapel and say a Memorare, thanking Mary—in advance—for helping our travel arrangements to work out. I told him to go and call the OBB once again; assuring him that this time he would get through and make our train reservations.

The next time I saw him, he had a big smile on his face and asked, “Did you really go and say that prayer??!” He told me that everything had happened, just like we planned. When he got through on the phone, he not only made the travel arrangements for our group but for another group as well—for a total of 18 train reservations to Rome! We were amazed and knew we were in store for a very blessed Easter.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pro-Life Cause to be Remembered

Over here in Austria, we have to make a conscious effort to keep informed with world and local news. On Sunday I saw a short video on You Tube which showed a real-life conversation with Director of Development for Planned Parenthood. In the conversation, a person tested the organization by asking to make a donation to eliminate a black baby. To my complete astonishment, the Director gladly says they will accept the donation!! Planned Parenthood's racism is sadly apparent in this video.

I encourage all to watch this short video as your jaw opens wider and wide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LJVPVh5TWo

Later in the semester, on Friday, April 11, we will make a pro-life pilgrimage to the Marian shrine of Mariazell. Sadly, even in Austria, we cannot forget the abomination of this holocaust which is going on in front of our eyes. I am glad that we can make the pilgrimage for this cause and I know that many will join us on the hike.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Travel Adventures in Turin

Post submitted by Emily Kovar - Spring 08 Gaming Student.

This past weekend I travelled to Turin, Italy with a group of four girls. Some might call our weekend a “comedy of errors,” but we just choose to remember it as an amazing weekend in which we encountered the kindness of others.

Our weekend started with a stop in Magenta, Italy, the hometown of St. Gianna. As we exited the train at our Magenta stop, we realized that we had no idea where to go! As true Franciscan students, we looked for a church to get directions. Asking for directions became the theme of our day and through the kindness of strangers we found our way to many of the important places in St. Gianna’s life. We visited the church where Gianna was baptized, married and attended Sunday mass. We visited her grave, located humbly among other local people’s burial sites. We saw the Church were she attended daily mass. We visited a school were St. Gianna worked to educate other children and teach them about faith. After trying to explain ourselves to a purely Italian speaking Sister, we were able to visit a small exhibit about her life. Through the kindness of another Italian woman at a local parish, we were able to venerate a relic of Gianna and even speak to St. Gianna’s daughter on the cell phone. The day was beautiful and filled with many blessings.

After visiting Magenta in the day, we hopped on a train that night and headed to Turin. We got to Turin when it was dark outside—something we would not suggest to others! While trying to make our way to the hotel, we got very lost and gladly paid £12 to safely arrive by taxi to the hotel. It was only Friday, and we knew the journey had just begun.

As the day before, Saturday was filled with many surprises. We tried to master the public transportation system of Turin, hastily looked up words in our Italian phrase book, and asked many strangers for directions. By the dinner that night, we were already laughing as we remembered the events of the day. One of our favorite memories from Saturday involved an encounter with a beggar while we were sitting in a restaurant enjoying some wonderful Italian pasta. This older man came into the restaurant and started playing a violin and singing (more like screaming) an Italian song. After he finished his song, he walked around the tables and asked for money. When he got to our table one of my friends opened her wallet and emptied out her abundance of change into his hand. He began studying the coins and became very upset. He started grumbling in Italian, what seemed to be very livid comments, with a one word we understood, “Americano,” mixed into the dismal rant. It ended when he finished sorting through the change and angrily set the smaller coins back on our table, taking only the £1 and £2 pieces with him. I guess to this man, charity is only welcome in larger quantities. This experience was a fitting way to top off our very interesting, but very blessed, weekend.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Skiing in Muhlbach - Austrian Alps


For all those interested in going to a ski resort for the weekend, I would highly recommend the Hochkonigs ( High King Mountains) just south of Salzburg. In Austria, this part of the Alps is considered the "snow hole" which means that it get literally tons of snow.



We stayed the night in Muhlbach am Hochkonig, which is just the most beautiful little village in the middle of the Austrian Alps.

In the morning we were able to take a free ski bus to the base of the Gondola and from here we could ski for miles and hours at a time. Through a computerized tracking system, we were able to tell that we skied downhill over 41 kilometers!!




Check out the ski map: http://www.filzmoos.at/w-sportwelt-panorama.htm or the live webcam to see the slopes.

My wife Niki, me and the kids, Fr. Dave, and two student babysitters (Julia and Sarah) accompanied us on the ski trip.
The whole trip was a blast -- everything from cooking our own meals to skiing, to having Mass in the morning or cooking popcorn and watching movies.

I am happy to say that Niki and I were able to finally accomplish one of our life long dreams -- to go to a ski resort in the Alps and ski for a few days!

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Padre Pio's Body is Exhumed and Will be on Display


Many of the students in Gaming will make a pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotundo to pay a visit to St. Padre Pio and request his intercession in their lives. For those interested in going to San Giovanni, you will find the following breaking news to be in your interest:

Summarized from a recent press article on March 4.

The body of the mystic monk Padre Pio, one of the Roman Catholic world's most revered saints who died 40 years ago, has been exhumed to be prepared for display to his many devotees.

The friar, born Francesco Forgione, died in 1968 aged 81.

The body of the Capuchin friar, who was said to have had the stigmata -- the wounds of Christ's crucifixion -- on his hands and feet -- is to be conserved and put in a part-glass coffin for at least several months from April 24.A Church statement said the body was in "fair condition", particularly the hands, which Archbishop Domenico D'Ambrosio, who witnessed the exhumation in the southern Italian town where Pio died, said "looked like they had just undergone a manicure".