Preston and I attended Easter mass in Rome, and had an amazing occurrence. Before mass, Preston went to the sacristy to ask the Priest if they had an English missalette. After they spoke for a bit, the Priest asked Preston if he would perform a reading for mass. Keep in mind, this is Rome and there were 8 priests at this mass. So Preston lectured Easter mass in Rome! Unbelievable... We then went to the Easter blessing with Pope Francis. Upwards of 100,000 people packed into Vatican City and everyone was kind. No arguing heard anywhere. We had a pretty good view. Pope Francis made it even better. He ditched his security and the bullet proof glass and made his way through the crowd. He passed by in front of us so I took a few pictures. The Vatican was built on the site where St. Peter was buried and he is entombed there. We crawled on our knees up the steps Jesus walked to face Pontius Pilate at La Scala Sancta. There is glass over the spots of blood. The Vatican is impressive as it combines Christianity with science. They have archaeological findings more than 2000 years before the birth of Jesus. There, findings are carbon dated and researched because they don't want “stories,” they want truth. As an advocate of science and Christianity I absolutely love this. Christianity is all very real in Rome. Besides all the scientific data supporting the New Testament (which you can also find in C S Lewis's writings) consider that the apostles were tortured to death in efforts to get them to deny what they reported. Simon (St. Peter) and Andrew were crucified. James was executed by Herod. Thomas was lanced in Persia. Matthew died a martyr in Ethiopia. James Alpheus was stoned and then had his skull bashed with a club. Jude was martyred in Syria/Persia, and Judas committed suicide. The source of death for the remaining 4 apostles is unconfirmed. St. Paul (who reported Jesus came to him in a vision a few years after Jesus was crucified) was beheaded. None recanted. And people think it’s tough being a Christian now. I did get a photo of Michelangelo's work on the Sistine chapel, even though I wasn't supposed to. Oops. (This is how I rationalize it. They don’t want pictures because camera flashes can age a painting. I made my way to the middle of the crowd, discreetly held my camera pointed straight up in front of my chest, and with the flash off took the picture.) The sheer size of the forum, the Colosseum, circus Maximus, and the pantheon are overwhelming. You feel the power of the Roman Empire. The forum is simply too large and too vast to get a decent picture of. It is 4 football fields long and 1½ football fields wide of all large crumbling marble buildings. The Trevi fountain is very cool so we went back there every day. Every other block you see a building with 50 foot pillars and 30 foot marble statues. These statues surround the open area in Vatican City where the Pope speaks. Notice the people in the 2nd picture seated by the statues, to get a true understanding of their size. The Trevi fountain is 86 feet high and 161 feet wide. Preston is standing by a church door. The street entertainers were great! Mitch Hedberg was one of my favorite comedians. Mitch was a long haired hippie dude who saw the world from a different perspective. Lets enjoy Easter with some Mitch Hedberg quotes:
Happy Easter to everyone! Thanks for listening, Frank
2 Comments
Romelle so very interesting
3/31/2017 08:52:39 am
Beautiful family
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Frank Weber
3/31/2017 09:28:38 am
Romelle
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
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