La Verna is a place of pilgrimage. St. Francis of Assisi received his stigmata during his stay here. It was a time for a retreat for me.
Photo: On the way to La Verna. Though this mountain looks like it has been altered, the formations are natural.
Photo: The convent of La Verna.
Photo: View from the Convent
The convent is in the mountains at more than 1,300 meters (4,200 feet) altitude. Therefore it was very cool and fresh compared to the secular world -- which is much lower in terms of altitude. I spent several hours looking around and meditating.
Photo: Cave where St. Francis recieved the stigmata.
Photo: St. Francis was wearing this habit when,
two years before his death in 1226,
he received the stigmata on Mount La Verna.
Photo: Fresco that is about the life of St. Francis of Assissi.
Photo: Statue of St. Francis.
Since there was no place to go to eat, I had every meal in the convent refectory. For the first two meals, I sat by a lady from Australia. We had nice conversations about our trips and our view on Italian people.
After she left, I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English there besides a monk-organist who is English-Italian. So at the table I tried to carry on conversation with whatever I could.
Several times, I sat with a signor who works for the museum in the convent. He spoke a bit of French, which was helpful.
As our conversation continued, he naturally turned back to Italian, but spoke very slowly for me. Strangely, I could get what he was saying. When I hear Italians speaking, I usually have no idea about what they are saying. But when he spoke very slowly on purpose, I could pick up words that are very similar to French and could get what he meant.
We even talked about on some serious things. I brought up St. Francis of Assisi, and said I think he had a great faith in God but in my opinion ‘suffering’ is not necessary to reach God even though it could make us stronger. I kept saying that when a miserable thing happens to me, if it is unavoidable, I will accept and try to find its meaning.
Whereas he thinks our life is about getting through the miserable things and that helps us attain to God -- if I got him right.
The concert went well. This time I didn’t open my mouth but only played, since there was a monk who gave an explanation on the entire program. The Basilica was packed and I was well received.
The other memorable thing is that I saw my old friend Eun-ju Kim whom I have not seen for 15 years. I knew that she settled in Italy and is very successful in her career. Dr. Kim is a specialist in Gregorian Chant and Middle age music and teach at Verdi Conservatory, Milano, and travels around the world with her husband. Her husband, Giacomo Barrofio is a living authority in the same field. While I was still living in Europe, we tried to see each other, but missed several times. This time they came over to see me from Cremona, which is six hours away from La Verna.
We even talked about on some serious things. I brought up St. Francis of Assisi, and said I think he had a great faith in God but in my opinion ‘suffering’ is not necessary to reach God even though it could make us stronger. I kept saying that when a miserable thing happens to me, if it is unavoidable, I will accept and try to find its meaning.
Whereas he thinks our life is about getting through the miserable things and that helps us attain to God -- if I got him right.
The concert went well. This time I didn’t open my mouth but only played, since there was a monk who gave an explanation on the entire program. The Basilica was packed and I was well received.
The other memorable thing is that I saw my old friend Eun-ju Kim whom I have not seen for 15 years. I knew that she settled in Italy and is very successful in her career. Dr. Kim is a specialist in Gregorian Chant and Middle age music and teach at Verdi Conservatory, Milano, and travels around the world with her husband. Her husband, Giacomo Barrofio is a living authority in the same field. While I was still living in Europe, we tried to see each other, but missed several times. This time they came over to see me from Cremona, which is six hours away from La Verna.
Photo: My friend Eun-ju Kim.
This trip was one of the most refreshing and memorable ones to me so far.
1 comment:
Hi Dong-ill
Where are you now? Italy?
If you have a time, please let me know how you are.
Take care
Dongseob
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