The New Year Has Begun

Well, here it is - The New Year!
2020!
Twenty years ago now we made that memorable journey, that incredible pilgrimage.
We got to Mass at St. Peter's on  New Year's Day but the Holy Father was not there. He was presiding at Mass at St. Mary Major, the great basilica dedicated to the honor of Mary, the Mother of God. This Mass was for the Vatican diplomats and we hardly qualified for admission to that. We had to settle for some lowly cardinal for our New Year's Day Mass.
But still it was St. Peter's.
And the trip went on for some days afterward as well.
A couple of those days were spent in Assisi before we headed back to the States.
Along the way we accumulated numerous other memories, I am sure.
I did not mention the falls - three of them!
Before a trip like this there are usually a couple of organizational meetings to try and make sure that all the travelers have proper documentation, pack proper attire, and are also clued in to what we might expect. When heading to a foreign land, things are not always as they would be back home.
One warning given ahead of time had to do the caution in walking. Italian roadways and walkways are not quite like ours. They can be old, they can be rugged, they can be cobblestone. Be careful!
First evening - on our way to dinner, hardly in Rome for a few hours, the first fall. Missed something or hit something or whatever it may have been, down she went and the first battle scars appeared.
Day two - entering the catacombs - down he went. Another fall victim.
New Year's Eve right around the great St. Peter's, a third traveler down! This time warranted an ER trip! Broken wrist!
And then there was that mysterious flu-like bug that descended on our group toward the end of the trip. On the trip home that airplane could well have served as a hospital ward - fevers and coughing and sneezing and chills and - well maybe those complimentary drinks helped a bit! Disinfectant?
And one more memory that stays with me - New Year's Day itself.
We were on our own for dinner that day and so a group of us headed out to find a restaurant.
"Anything in particular that we should look for?" I asked.
And the surprising response.
"Can we find some Japanese or Chinese or something else? All they seem to have around here is Italian food!"
Yes, well - - - !
And so it went twenty years ago now.
And even as I have been writing this, I have been conscious of the fact that there are those among us today who were not even born yet back twenty years ago. Surely, there may even be someone thinking to themselves, "Wow! He was alive for the turn of the century" and that somehow sounds like, "Wow, are you old!"
And, yes, we have been growing older.
But in our years we lived!
And we dared!
And we had our adventures and discoveries and lessons and memories!
Memories!
Oh, did we craft memories!
So to all of you who are now welcoming 2020, I say,
Learn from us.
Put those gadgets down for just a bit. Break away from those screens and take a look, a good look at the world around you.
And dare,
and discover,
and go somewhere new,
and meet someone new,
and experience something new,
and have an adventure or two,
and take a risk and dare,
and most of all
live!
Those twenty years that have gone by, have passed so very fast.
That is the way time is.
So use the time you have right now.
It's 2020.
Seize it!
And live!
And create your own memories for sharing in some yet distant tomorrow.
Happy New Year!