And Homeless Again!

True!

The incident I wrote about in my last blog was not the only time in my life that I was homeless. There was another time, a very dramatic time.

I found myself homeless due to some surprise sunshine and Italy. What a combination!

It was October, 1990, and I was in Rome for Sabbatical  Studies at the North American College. The Sunday in question came early in that October. I and a couple of other Sabbatical Students got scheduled for concelebrating Mass outdoors, in St. Peter's Square with Pope John Paul II. We were also charged with assisting in the distribution of Communion.

And it was pouring rain!

Drenching rain!

And there we sat trying our best with plastic to keep ourselves somewhat dry.

The Holy Father, of course, was unfazed by the rain as he was safely located under a canopy, all nice and dry.

As the Mass progressed, the rain stopped.

And then it happened.

As the Holy Father lifted the Eucharist, at that moment of elevation, the sun came bursting through the clouds.

Don't know how he managed that but it was really effective.

All of a sudden what looked like a drenching, dreary day was transformed into a brilliant, sunshine filled, beautiful October day.

A fine sort of day for a trip out into the countryside.

I convinced one of my classmates to join me on a Sunday afternoon trip out to Orvieto.

We took the train. I had an Italiarail Pass, good for travel anytime, anywhere in Italy. My friend bought a round trip ticket to and from Orvieto.

For those who do not know - Orvieto is out in the countryside, up something of a mountain, a somewhat quaint village with a reputation for fine, dry white wine and a mammoth church, gorgeously constructed and with a reputation for some medieval incident in which a doubting priest experienced a bleeding host to convince him of the real Presence. That secured its reputation as a place to visit!

Our plan was to spend the afternoon, enjoy some Orvieto wine, check out the church and finally head back to Rome before the final train out of Orvieto. Back in Rome we would enjoy some pizza and wine at one of our favorite tavernas in the city and then be back at the College at a reasonable hour.

And so at the appropriate time we headed down the mountain to catch our train.

Which was late.

No surprise in Italy!

When it finally arrived, it was not only late but also crowded, jam-packed. Seems a whole lot of others had the idea of heading out into the countryside on this beautiful, October day. We would not even stand a chance of finding seats. We would stand.

And that I remember well. We got ourselves located between cars, hanging on to the railings, doing all we could to keep ourselves steady and secure.

Again, for those not familiar, there are a couple of train stops in Rome. The main one, the one we were aiming for was Termini. From there would be a simple bus ride, getting off almost at the taverna right on the Tiber and then the climb up the Janiculum Hill to the college.

Train stopped.

The stop was the one before Termini.

Not ours.

But almost everyone got off.

The train almost totally emptied.

We were able to get seats even if just for a few minutes.

And, when we got moving again, the conductor was able to walk down the aisle checking tickets.

He came to us.

I had my Italiarail Pass so I was good for anywhere, anytime.

My buddy showed his ticket and the conductor just shook his head.

He pointed back in the direction from which we had just come.

"Rome," he declared.

To which I responded, "Termini."

To which he responded, "No!"

Seems we were not stopping at Termini.

Seems there was only one stop for Rome that evening and we had just missed it.

Seems we were now on a train headed nonstop to Naples.

Arrival midnight!

Return train to Rome - 5:00 AM.

Not exactly what we had bargained for when we set out for our afternoon in the countryside.

But that is what we were getting.

And so we decided to make the most of the situation.

We headed to the dining car to get some food. There would clearly be not pizza at the taverna that evening.

And no food in the dining car either. The crowd that did manage to get into the dining car on the way from Orvieto to Rome literally cleaned the place out of food.

But there was wine!

In Italy always wine!

And so we could at least enjoy some wine while we laughed at our (mis?)fortune.

And then suddenly somewhere out in what seemed like the middle of nowhere, the train stopped.

Something was happening.

But what?

Have some more wine!

. . . And come back soon for part two of this saga! There is definitely more!

Meantime,

keep praying

and stay safe.