The three of us studying in Rome from the Diocese of Little Rock had some guests recently and it just so happened that they came during a travel permitted weekend at our college. So, we all went together to cover a lot of Sicily.
Our guests were:
Msgr. Friend (vocations director of the Diocese of Little Rock),
Fr. Juan from Monterrey, Mexico and
Andrew (seminarian for LR).
The weekend was short but we managed to have some great experiences. We started in Palermo, the capital, Friday night. Saturday, I drove (a mini-van with standard transmission – an oddity in the US) across the entire island to Catania (a city at the base of the famous volcano Mt. Etna).
There is such freedom in driving, I think it is an American passion. All I take in Rome are buses, trains, planes and rare taxi rides, which are fun because they are so crazy despite not being at the wheel.
From Catania we ascended the volcano and entered a different world (either something like a distant planet or Lord of the Rings) - near the top were vast volcanic fields of old and recent lava flows. When we reached the end of the road there was snow on the ground and a fierce wind that added to our excitement.
After having a grand time on the mountain we made our way to Messina, celebrated Mass at the cathedral there and made our way back to Palermo (what a long but fun day).
Sunday was spent exploring the city of Palermo and trying to meet up with an Italian priest to celebrate Mass at his church outside of the city.
We had an excellent time seeing the beauty of the island, getting to know one another better and celebrating our faith in Christ with each other and others - Italians (even if we don’t fully understand each other because of the language barrier).
|  | 
|
