St. James Episcopal Church in Florence, ItalyThis weekend in Italy is a three – day holiday. It is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (of Mary). So the banks are closed tomorrow. Today we went took the train to Florence to go to St. James, the American Episcopal Church. It, like St. Paul’s Within the Walls in Rome, is a beautiful church and both are what I think of as “cathedral sized churches.” It was a lovely and lively service.
From the looks of Florence today the holiday was being utilized for Christmas shopping! The stores were brightly lighted with Christmas decorations and people were rushing by with their purchases. Blair and I went to the Galleria dell'Accademia . Just like our experience with the Uffizi, we were able to walk in and get tickets without waiting. While the museum had a goodly number of visitors we were able to feast on the art without crowds. One of our main goals in going was to see David, Michelangelo’s astounding sculpture. Seeing it for the first time at a distance was breathtaking! The closer we came to the sculpture the more awe inspiring it became. It is much larger than thought it would be. The details that Michelangelo was able to carve from stone were phenomenal. David’s hands, and especially his right one along his side, were so beautifully worked. His hand curved around the stone was so detailed it seemed to move. The limited tools of these artists, gives evidence to the limitless energy invested in bringing images to life in all forms of art.
From the looks of Florence today the holiday was being utilized for Christmas shopping! The stores were brightly lighted with Christmas decorations and people were rushing by with their purchases. Blair and I went to the Galleria dell'Accademia . Just like our experience with the Uffizi, we were able to walk in and get tickets without waiting. While the museum had a goodly number of visitors we were able to feast on the art without crowds. One of our main goals in going was to see David, Michelangelo’s astounding sculpture. Seeing it for the first time at a distance was breathtaking! The closer we came to the sculpture the more awe inspiring it became. It is much larger than thought it would be. The details that Michelangelo was able to carve from stone were phenomenal. David’s hands, and especially his right one along his side, were so beautifully worked. His hand curved around the stone was so detailed it seemed to move. The limited tools of these artists, gives evidence to the limitless energy invested in bringing images to life in all forms of art.
The Church of San Francesco in Assisi, ItalyYesterday we took a short trip to Assisi. We will go back this week for a couple of days to explore the life of St. Francis. We did visit the Church of San Francesco. In fact we took several hours to go with an audio guide through the many frescoes in the church. Many of these frescoes depicted Francis’ life and ministry. Francis, like Catherine of Siena, listened to God with ears that were finely tuned to hear holy things. Like the artist’s work that we have seen here, the devotion of the great saints of God seems to come at a great price to the ordinary things of life. Their attention to creating and/or ministry rendered so many other things in their lives as secondary. Being immersed in this world leaves me wondering what things are so important in my life that I will set aside the “stuff” of life that gets in the way so I can be more focused in listening to God and being creative. Both Catherine and Francis heard and responded to God’s call in radical ways. It was, one could say, a time when the world needed great saints to overcome enormous struggles in society and in the church. And I wonder about our time. Who are the people who are willing to “tune out” the noise of the world in order to hear God’s voice in new and unpredictable ways? Who will create the great images of art that will render the next generation speechless in their presence?
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