131. You Will Have Joy

And so we get to be confirmed.

Actually, if the truth is to be known, I would never have made it this morning. I may never have gone down this rather ill-kept road on a steep hill that would have taken me to the village church where our Bishop would have confirmed 15 of our youth, because it was snowing. At about 8 a.m. I went out to feed the cats and saw there was a sprinkling of snow over the grass, it wasn’t much but it was rather frightening so I send a message to my friends on Twitter to say I was not sure I would have made it to the Village confirmation. Fair enough, no big deal, there would be other photographers there, but none were Bloggers and none would take the informal photos that captured moments of sincerity. So that’s why I occasionally get stopped in the street by the villagers who admonish “ you will be there, won’t you?” I take it as a compliment even though I know they are not referring to me personally, but my camera.

Still, villagers or no villagers, I had decided I was not going to risk breaking my neck going down the hill in the car if it was snowing. It was nearing ten, the ceremony would begin at 10.30. I knew the Bishop would be there since there were no hills to climb from Vittorio Veneto to the Village. The dog was scratching at the door to be let in, I opened it, looked out and up into the sky, the air was clear, not a single snowflake in sign. Maybe the Holy Spirit was not being as dramatic as with appearance of the tongues of fire on the apostles, but taking away the snow was a clear sign that I should scamper down the hill.

Excited I twittered my friends once more adding the usual tinge of grisly humour, they are by now used to being inflicted with.

“God seems to badly want me take those photos of Confirmation, it has stopped snowing. Wonder if that counts in the cause of beatification??”

I had never been this close to the Bishop before however, I would have liked to have got closer, but because there were so many people about I was not able to move much without knocking some bench, plant or person over and cause a minor catastrophe.

You will have joy

That seemed to me to have been the kernel of his message and as he was unfolding his homily to us I discovered that he talked to us as if he had suddenly transformed himself into one of us villagers, so direct, simple and strong were his words. The Holy Spirit was certainly busy today, I thought to myself.


The Bishop then talked about that when friends mention “church” with derision, something to do when a kid, now as a grown up, it can well be forgotten- listen to that inner voice that says you know better.

You may not always find good examples, the Bishop continues, among those you care for or admire, in fact you may find rotten examples- but listen to that inner voice of goodness- because there is also another inner voice, the one of temptation which is strong and enticing, but make the inner voice that leads to joy, the strongest- and you will have joy, through the GRACE of God you will have joy.

The Bishop also mentions the parents with the reminder that to be a parent is not an easy task but their sons and daughters are here, to be confirmed, because they, the parents, have made it possible.

As soon as the ceremony was over I stepped out of the Church and saw that it was snowing again but knew I would have enough time to reach home on top of the hill before it got bad enough for me to go slipping down backwards. Once home I twitted the fact and found some wonderful replies, both in Twitter and Facebook, which in spite of my provocation, no one ventured to say “you are making it all up” since any of the villagers can well verify that from 10 to 12 noon this morning it had stopped snowing- so I could go to church!!! Just as the people did not make it up 2000 years ago when they heard the apostles speak in all languages, so that others could understand.