Solution

(If you are just getting aboard this blog, you are coming in "In the Middle of the Movie." What you will read below is a continuation of a series of writings that began with my post on December 27. So your best bet would be to back up a couple of entries to get the big picture!)


St. John Lateran, the great Mother Church of the Catholic World, the Cathedral of Rome.
It was there that I was scheduled to preside at Mass on the second "official" day of our Jubilee Pilgrimage.
Morning arrived, December 30, the second last day of 1999. This is now the third day of the Luggage in Amsterdam Saga. Would the luggage finally arrive in time for dressing properly for our excursion to the Lateran?
Of course not!
And so for still another day we were off to visit the Holy Places and soon I would be presiding at the Eucharist in the Mother of All Churches.
Wearing my jeans, sweatshirt and hiking boots!
It was at this stage of the journey, while on the bus headed to the Lateran that one of the members of the group extended his offer. I could borrow one of his freshly laundered, neatly pressed dress shirts.
But we were already well on our way and that possibility would not be available, therefore, until later that afternoon.
The Great Lateran Basilica would just have to deal with this very informal? casual? seasoned? dose of clearly non-clerical attire.
And we once again survived.
More looks - certainly.
More stares - of course?
And one more occasion to produce the official documents declaring that I was whom I was claiming to be.
But we had bread and wine and that was all we really needed together with a healthy dose of faith.
And we gave thanks at the Great Mother Church of Rome.
The afternoon gave us some free time and so, when we got back to the hotel and once again discovered that the errant baggage was still nowhere to be found, I finally decided to use some of that free time to produce a solution to this ongoing dilemma.
"Who would like to go souvenir shopping?"
That's a tempting offer.
Mention shopping and pilgrims transform into tourists!
And because I knew where a goodly number of souvenir shops and religious supplies shops are located, I quickly acquired a following and off we headed on a little hike to the shops.
Of course in the back of my head I had something else in mind.
A solution!
In these shops clerical shirts could be purchased.
In these shops black (clerical, of course) shoes could be found.
At least come New Year's Eve, I would look something like clerical and official.
The hiking boots would be replaced by dress shoes, black.
The sweatshirt would be replaced by a clerical shirt with a back up at the hotel just in case this situation endured.
Not wanting to go the route of purchasing a new suit, I decided that the jeans would continue to make the pilgrimage.
But I would be at least somewhat respectable as we ended the year, the decade, the century and the millennium.
So shopping we did go.
And I came back to the hotel with something of a solution.
Back at the hotel at the end of the day another delivery arrived for us. Cardinal Szoka had come through once again.
We would be spending the evening of New Year's Eve in St. Peter's Basilica joining pilgrims from across the globe, being led by Pope John Paul II in Solemn Evening Prayer, concluding with the Great Te Deum.
And as we prepared to head out for dinner that evening another delivery arrived.
The Missing Luggage!
And a significant cheer arose from the gathered group  of hungry pilgrims.


(More is coming . . . )