Liturgical: 1 Jn 5:5-13; PS147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; Mk 1:7-11
Sanctoral: St. André Bessette, Quebec, Canada +1937 (The doorkeeper miracle worker)
Human: The Birthday of Tony Assaf! Italian Epiphany traditions- Festival of La Befana in Piazza Navona (the liturgical feast is moved to Sunday)
Natural: What is the "Christmas star" that the Magi charted and followed? I saw the "Great Conjunction" of 2020!
Quote: "The Guiding Light" by Emily Dickinson
Some say the Star of Bethlehem
Shone only for a while,
But I believe its radiant gleam
Still lights our earthly mile.
It guided wise men from afar,
To witness a holy birth,
And though the star may seem afar,
Its message spans the earth.
Today's Carpe Diem Snapshot: Epiphany morning brought a long shower of gatti e cane. The long-awaited Festival of La Befana in Piazza Navona was probably a wash-out. If you don't know the Italian folk tale and Befana traditions, check out this book below by Tomie DePaola. "Befana" is a corruption of the word "Epifania" and is about an "everyman" type of character who is too busy with worldly tasks to follow the star to greet the Christ Child. Regretting her negligence, she then sets off on a perpetual search for the baby king, bestowing gifts upon all children she meets along the way by depositing gifts of sweets in their stockings.
Fortunately for the birthday boy Tony, the sun emerged enough to go out for lunch at a recommended Indian restaurant in Trastevere, Jaipur.
The restaurant is located on a street named after the church at the end of the street- San Francesco a Ripa. It was in this church that St. Francis himself stayed when he came to Rome, and it is still possible to see the tiny room adjacent to the church (which boasts a Bernini statue nearly exactly like his much more famous work, St. Teresa in Ecstasy).
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