A Blonde in a Bright Green Coat Walks into a Bar, I mean, Church! and....

Remember when I talked about buying a bright kelly green coat this summer? Dear friend, WHERE WERE YOU TO COUNSEL ME? Because I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in Perugia who wears a bright coat AND has bright blonde hair. Awesome... I am a walking target.

In other news...

I found a parish! Chiesa San Filippo Neri here in Perugia.

Click on this to see the inside of the chiesa.

I've been really struggling with Italian mass. It's hard enough to be Catholic in the day to day, but it's way harder when no one around you gets Catholicism and then you can't even understand your own Sunday mass. These should be your people! Instead, everyone is mumbling incoherently and is 80 years old. Perhaps, you are blending in but forgetting to pray because you are (not really) translating. Perhaps you are distracted by the obvious bad behavior that Italians demonstrate in church... It's MADDENING.

So today I tried a new tactic. A certain someone hasn't sent me a magnificat (COUGH) and the magnificat crappy crappy website (that some homeschooler who is "good with computers" probably made) denies my request for a subscription because I want to send it to Italy. Commie bastards!

Oh yes, back to my new tactic... I downloaded a translation of the mass in Italian. I downloaded today's readings. I put them on my kindle. Then I went to a different church than usual (usually I go to Chiesa San Lorenzo which collects the most causal, rude Catholics. But it's pretty... wayyy less pretty than San Filippo Neri though. Chiesa San Lorenzo).

And it was fantastic! There were actual paper booklets with parts of the Mass and the readings in Italian. The church is overwhelmingly beautiful. Best of all, there is a young priest and very reverent altar (man?) man who served. No, wait, the best of all was I UNDERSTOOD SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT OF THE HOMILY!!!!!!!

That has never never never happened before. And it was a great homily. It was about what it meant for Christ to be the Word of God. I found myself listening for the first three minutes straight without realizing I was following an Italian homily. WAHOO. He concluded with a brief analysis on the story of the rich man who couldn't go to Heaven unless he sacrificed his wealth. His analysis was very good and he asked the congregation to mediate on it briefly before the profession of faith. I was very impressed.

I will not become a heathen after all. And I might be learning Italian :D

I am becoming a massive grump though. I am so sick of Italian food! I got a Turkish kabob wrap today and I almost cried with delight. I realized it also tastes a teeny bit like Taco Bell. Double score.