This 70th birthday, August 20, was a quiet, relaxing day.  Reading, praying, some emails and the like….piano in Italian, that is (soft/quiet).  Vespers with Benediction followed by Mass was the appropriate way to give thanks, to remember, and to celebrate.  The three seminarians are returning to Rome tomorrow; their presence will be missed in Prada.  Following the Mass, Graziano and I had the 70th birthday dinner in Le Prese (a small village next to Prada).  This Sunday will be the solemnity in the parish with a procession with the relic of St. Bernard of Clairvaux.  He was declared the last Father of the Church.  His spiritual writings and spiritual life as a Cistercian monk transformed the Order.

Birthdays, anniversaries and other important dates are usually celebrated with food and drink. Here, it is no different.  Dinner tonight is a special celebration of 70 years of life.  I thank God for these 7 decades, and look to the future with faith and joy.  Buon compleanno, Monsignore. Auguri!