19. Oct 2023

Day in Rome

Video: Church service the next day on Sunday morning at the International Christian Fellowship in Rome

It rained this morning (Saturday). So I worked on my blog until early afternoon. I ate lunch at the bar at the hostel here I stayed, was the only one there. The girl working there was bored. I asked her what she likes to do when she is not being bored at work. She said she likes to read the classics and listed a number of them that she has read. Some of the titles I recognized, but not all of them. I then said that I have read oldest classic ever, that it is the most read and most purchased one. She wanted to know which one that was. I said that in Latin it is called “La Biblia”. “Oh”, she said somewhat disgruntled, “I have read it. I am Catholic!” The conversation went like this:

“Did you really read it?”
“Well, I read critics about the Bible.”
“As a teenager I read Homer’s Odyssey.” She nodded and had read it as well. “Can you imagine the difference between actually reading the book and just reading reports about it?” She understood.

“Today is Saturday.” I continued. “Did you know that the weekend was God’s idea? Nowhere in the antic did any people ever have a day off once a week. But God knew we needed that and instructed his people to have a day of rest once a week. Also the work animals were to have a day of rest. It was also God’s idea to have vacation. Three times during the year the Israelites were to take a week off from work to celebrate God’s goodness, at Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. Then there were other special holidays as well…”

She like that thought. I told her that there were more good ideas from God in his book on how we should live, but we need to read it.

In the evening at the hostel I met Daniel from Brazil and a young Chinese girl whose name means “Snowflake”. Daniel is a bio-medical scientist who was in Rome to present the research of his team on how to manipulate the DNA of a virus so that it can no longer cause illness. I went over and shook his hand and said that I wanted to remember the day I met a future Nobel Prize winner when he was in a hostel in Rome looking for some lasagna to eat for dinner… which was, by the way, the case. He said that he was trusting Jesus to help him with the research and knew a medical breakthough would help many people physically, but his concern was how to also help people spiritually. I encouraged him that if God would give him this success, he would have many opportunities to share about his faith and walk with Jesus. I prayed for Daniel and then asked Snowflake if anyone had ever prayed for her. She said no and added: “I will give it a try…”

Photo 1: In the afternoon I took a walk through the heart of Rome. I really wanted to visit the prison where Peter and Paul were supposed to have been incarcerated.

Photo 2: This is the prison cell, just a dark hole in the ground. I waited until no one else was there. I wanted to softly sing my pilgrim song. Three young men from Switzerland then came down the steps to take a look. I felt in my heart to keep singing. They went back up and shortly after I followed. Once outside the one young man asked me in German, what kind of song that was that I was singing. I said it was a type of singing that was common in the early days of Christianity where the spirit of a person would express a melody from the heart through the vocal chords as a praise and worship to God. One can read about the first time this occurred in Acts 2 of the New Testament. Certainly Peter and Paul would have sung in this way while in prison. His response: “Very interesting!”

Photo 3: I was walking real quick when I came to this area called the forum. I overheard a woman say to her daughter: “Look how fast that old man is moving!” I turned around and said with a smile, “I must be that old man!” The three of us laughed. They were from Washington DC, were active in their church. I prayed for them and together for the upcoming election in the USA, that God would give grace for healing and reconciliation.

Photo 4: Rome was making preparations for a half marathon that would be taking place tomorrow and for a political demonstration that was about to take place this afternoon.

Photo 5: The Worker’s Party was letting their voices be heard. I am just glad that everything remained peaceful.