Miracle
As a seminarian in 2009, I introduced two of my close friends to each other at the March for Life in San Francisco. Although from different parts of the country, they too became good enough friends for Beth to fly out to Denver for Fr. Nepil's ordination in 2011. There, Beth came to know Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, a 20th century Italian mountain-climber and servant of the poor who died young; he was found on Fr. Nepil's ordination card. What Beth did with that ordination card led to a series of events (on Long-Island with her family of origin) which were recently scrutinized by the Papal Nuncio of the Vatican to possibly make this story below the second miracle needed for Frassati to become a Catholic saint: https://youtu.be/S4JPnDZWQoo
4th of July in the District
JFK said Washington DC "is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." I don't know about that, but right across the Potomac outside the District, the lovely opposite is true: Virginia is a place of Northern efficiency and Southern charm...and hospitality. Proof of this is the work my friends went through to smoke a shoulder and prepare a smorgasbord of ribs for several other young families on this wet 4th just outside the Nation's Capital:
Istanbul, Turkey
The above are two pictures of the Hagia Sophia, one from the outside (that I didn't take) and one from the inside (that I did take). It was a Church made in 337, become a mosque in the 15th century and now just a museum. So sad. On a lighter note, I've never seen more special-meal options than Turkish Aiırlines offers: Asian Vegetarian Meal Baby Meal Bland Meal Child Meal Celebratory Cake Diabetic Meal Fruit Platter Meal Gluten-Free Meal Non-vegetarian Hindu Meal without beef Kosher Meal Low-Calorie Meal Low-Fat Meal Low-Salt Meal Muslim Meal Non-Lactose Meal Raw Vegetarian Meal Seafood Meal Vegan Meal Vegetarian Jain Meal Vegetarian Lacto-Ovo Meal Vegetarian Oriental Meal Next time you fly Turkish Airlines, you should order the "Bland Meal" and then get the "Celebratory Cake."
Santiago De Compostela, Spain
All Pilgrims have arrived safely!
Santiago, Spain (on the way to)
Students getting some help from animals
Pedrouzo, Spain
Less than 24-hours to Santiago...
Sarria, Spain
23 of 23 pilgrims still alive! A thunderstorm knocked out internet, so sorry for all followers up to this point. If we walked without stopping, it would be about 23 more hours to go, per the map below. However, we'll probably arrive our final destination on 11 June, Thursday afternoon (Thursday morning in the US of 'Merica.)
Astorga, Spain
23 pilgrims are approaching the goal of Santiago, Spain...but still 11 days and 254 km out (exactly 10 million inches today, I accidentally found out on my units-conversion-app.)