Viterbo — Oct 21

This morning’s walk began with the constant, sometimes steep, descent from the city. Just before leaving, though, there was a break in the fog, and we could see lake Bolsena beautifully and clearly. The weather report suggested a 60% chance of rain during the walk, but once again, we only had sprinkles, not even enough to break out our rain jackets.

The countryside wasn’t stunning, yet it was pleasant, if not overwhelming in any sense. It led Fr. Jim and myself into a very rich conversation about love of church, versus love of Jesus. Fr. Jim shared an anecdote with me of Bishop, David O’Connell who would lead his people in a lovely prayer: “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I trust you. Jesus, I praise you.” It’s not theologically complicated. In fact it’s simple and sweet and very much at the heart of what we want to be able to say with integrity and honesty as His disciples.

Romans 8:28–29: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

As we approached Viterbo, we came to outdoor thermal baths, that are usually available and free. There didn’t seem to be any water though.

As as often is the case, the outskirts of Viterbo, which is a fairly large city, were industrial and functional rather than beautiful. Traffic built up as we entered deeper into the city. We moved into the medieval section of the city, and found it more pleasant.

We had a terrific lunch, and then visited the beautiful Santissima Trinitas church and prayed for your intentions, as we had at several shrines in the countryside.

We then went to the Etruscan museum of the city. We spent several hours learning about the ancient peoples who predated, the Romans in Tuscany and northern Lazio.

And finally it rained, but we were safe and dry in our hotel.

This may be more than you ever wanted to know…but there it is.