Happy Anniversary to John & Rondi Pelikan

Happy 9th Anniversary today to our son and daughter-in-law, John & Rondi Pelikan!

May God grant you many years!

Help us find a home for "Kong"!

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Look who showed up in our lives! It seems that animals are drawn to me like magnets - always have been.  Well this guy is just the sweetest thing in the world, and deserves to be living with a family that will love him and give him a great home. Or maybe a Sailor or Marine who wants to go for a run on the beach with a dog who won't run away, and will keep ya company during your tour in Italy - Kong is your boy!
He's gentle, funny, and has a gentle bark that is as loud as a freight-train! If you know of anyone that might be interested in this beautiful guy, please leave a comment here on my blog and I'll get back with you right away!

Thanks!

Dancing With The Demon What Brung Ya - Orthodixie - Ancient Faith Radio

Dancing With The Demon What Brung Ya - Orthodixie - Ancient Faith Radio

Lunar Eclipse

It's 11:00 PM, and we just looked outside and can still see it - for those who want to run outside and take a peek!
As Papa was closing the shudders for the night, he looked out the window and yelled down to me, "Is there supposed to me a lunar eclipse tonight?"  So, I quickly looked it up on the internet and sure enough, a total lunar eclipse was going to be visible from South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and parts of Australia
  this evening!



But not in North America! Suddenly we felt very far away from home! This further emphasized just how far away we are from our family.



When we first noticed it the moon was completely in the earth's shadow and had a redish glow. Then as we continued to watch a sliver of white light began to appear on the edge as the moon started to move out of the earth's shadow, I ran downstairs, got the camera  and zoomed back up the marble stairs - and for those of you who understand this - Sherman in toe the entire time . . .  and somehow snapped these photos! It was June 15, 2011, Naples, Italy!



Buon Compleanno, Luigi!

Luigi Pisa - 75 years' young



This is the patio of Luigi's  home

Paulo and Papa grilling lamb and beef on his "Weber" grill



We received our customary call. “I’m Luigi,” our landlord says in his own special broken-English way. “Venire[come] alla mio[my] festa di compleanno, [birthday party]! settanta cinque[75] anni – years old! Yikes . . . ok, so I’m on the other end of the phone and the listening carefully. The best I could do with this at the time happened to be pretty close – whew! The Italian I’ve been studying was coming in handy after all. Luigi Pisa was turning 75 and wanted us to come to his birthday party the following weekend!



Everyone raved about this cantelope and tomatoe dish!



The Mayor of Pozzouli and Luigi's American friends

 



Valentina and Giovanni



Gelato and strawberries drenched in a sweet wine reduction!



Yum!



What is the custom in Italy for the man who has everything? So, we asked the protocol officer at Papa’s work – a lady who handles all that kind of stuff for the Admirals. I was so surprised by her answer! She said, “Bring him something American; some kind of food, like Philadelphia Cheese Cake.” (which, of course, we sell at the Base Commissary) So, that’s just what we did. He never really said if they enjoyed it or not or even really knew what it was – but that’s ok! It was the thought that counts . . . and we all know how deeelicious it will be! At first they wanted to bring it out with the rest of the fabulous meal, frozen solid as a rock, and all! We had to explain that it was for the family to eat later and that they should begin to ‘thaw’ it about two hours before eating it. We aren’t sure if we did the right thing. We brought the toppings to go with the cheesecake, and a lovely card in English, which his son read to him in front of everyone, translating directly to Italian . . . and then proceeded to have the most incredible meal EVER!! The mayor of our town, Pozzouli, was one of the invited guests, as well as longtime friends, retired head of the Carabinieri, a Gendarmerie-like military corps with police duties. They also serve as the Italian military police. His entire family, and newly engaged son and soon-to-be, daughter-in-law were there too; an Admiral friend and his wife and young daughter joined by some other American friends. It was quite the evening!





Luigi's grandson blew out the candles



It was a wonderful celebration and we consider ourselves blessed and honored to have been a part of it!

Vice President Biden's visit to Naples!!



Waiting. . .



. . . and what to our wondering eyes should appear? Our Vice President, with very little notice to spare! Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden made somewhat of a surprise visit to NSA Naples, Italy, this past Saturday, June 4th, to speak to the service members and their families, with what I think may have been less than a week’s notice. As you can imagine, people have been scrambling like crazy to prepare for his impromptu stopover; nonetheless, it appeared to come off without a hitch! (thanks to some mighty fine planning and execution, no doubt!)



A sea of blue . . .



Can you spot the Marine? (ha!)



Me shaking hands and saying a few words to Dr. Biden.



Both the Vice President and his wife, Dr. Biden, were gracious, encouraging and compassionate to the troops and all those on the Piazza of Capodichino on Saturday. They each identified with having a son serving overseas (their son having served in Iraq), and how often the VP would see his wife preparing coffee, for example, in the morning her lips silently moving in prayer for their son.



The V.P. commenting to me that being a Chaplain's wife was one of the
hardest and most important in the military!



They each spoke of their thankfulness for our sacrifice, the service member as well as the families, and how much it means to our country. It was actually pretty inspiring when you’re just a few feet away listening to him. I could feel how genuine he was - they both were! It was a clear, hot day, and the Vice President seemed to go “off-speech” about half-way through his prepared remarks, out of compassion, no doubt, for the fact that it was so hot and that our heads and arms were roasting in the hot sun! He and his wife then took a lot of time afterwards to go around the line of people waiting to say hello and take a photos with them. And he did . . .  with far more people than I’d ever imagined he would have. In fact, he ended up staying and extra two and a half hours - until every last person who wanted a picture with him was able to get one. Much to the chagrin of his staff, his courteous lingering with the troops caused Air Force Two to depart much later than originally planned.




This is my favorite picture!




Ci Vediamo ~ Mimi  
 
(this means "so long" in Italian)

The Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ




As the angels, O Savior, wondered at Thy strange elevation, and the Disciples were amazed at Thy dread rising, Thou didst ascend in glory, being God, and the gates were lifted up for Thee. Wherefore, the heavenly powers were surprised, shouting, Glory to Thy condescension, O Savior; glory to Thy reign; glory to Thine Ascension, O Thou Who alone art the Lover of mankind.




--Orthros of the Feast



On the fortieth day after Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He was taken up into the heavens in a cloud. The Ascension of Jesus Christ is one of the Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church, celebrated forty days after Pascha (and thus always falling on a Thursday -- yesterday!



From the Heart: Resting in the Ascension

----------------------------------------------------------------------

By Douglas Cramer

Summer is almost here. It’s a good time to just take a deep breath, and relax. You know, go to the beach if you live close to it, have a barbeque, invite some friends over. I remember doing this on a grand scale as a child growing up in New Jersey. But how often do most of us do this anymore? We’re so busy, we’ve forgotten that true rest and relaxation, the kind that really restores you, is vital to our survival.

This week the Church celebrates the Ascension of our Lord, and our worship since Pascha has been rooted in our joy in the Resurrection. In the light of this glorious, peaceful and fulfilling period of the calendar of our Church we should be totally relaxed and fully in the presence of our Lord. But we still struggle to relax and unclench, to be at peace.

Why? In part, because we live our lives in a kind of emotional and spiritual shallows. We’re so busy, we don’t pause to reflect, to listen, to understand our motivations. We are busy for busyness’s sake. We allow others to set our timetable. We often aren’t aware of the reasons we have for doing what we do. We all act a little crazy sometimes, bustling about with all our tasks and projects and responsibilities. It’s important for us to act. But it’s just as important for us to relax, to quietly find our center, to understand what’s driving us to do what we do, to make sure that our choices and actions flow from our deepest values.

How do we turn this around? We start from the heart!

Know Thyself

The Psalms focus this teaching in to a single verse: “Seek peace and pursue it.” We need peace, but we must be active to find it—we must seek and pursue. What does this mean? What is this pursuit? St. Isaac of Syria teaches us the answer: “Enter eagerly into the treasure house that lies within you, and so you will see the treasure house of heaven. The ladder that leads to the Kingdom is hidden within you, and is found in your soul. Dive into yourself, and in your soul you will discover the rungs by which you are to ascend.”

Seek. Pursue. Enter. Ascend. I’m winded just reading this list. However, this is the language of peace. Jesus Christ proclaims: “The kingdom of heaven is within.” We are called to go within, to find our heart, our center, our soul. And to begin our journey there.

The classical philosophers of Greece understood this basic truth of our humanity even before the birth of Christ. The central teaching of Plato, of Socrates, is “Know Thyself.” We must get out of our inner shallows, our superficial sleepwalking through life. We’re called to wake up, to dive deep.


Read the complete article: http://www.antiochian.org/node/17790

Sicily Rome American Cemetery

Memorial Day in Italia

Sicily - Rome American Cemetery
Nettuno, Italy

We had thought about it for quite some time—here we were in Italy, this country where so many of our American military had fought so nobly in World War II; and with the approach of Memorial Day, wouldn’t it be appropriate to visit one of the many American cemeteries in Italy and pay our respects to our brothers and sisters in arms! Usually, a chaplain from our base in Naples is asked to do the invocation and benediction at Memorial Day observances throughout Europe. And so it was in this year. As the Command Chaplain at NSA Naples, Papa made sure that all the “bases were covered” (so-to-speak), with other chaplains this time, which left us free to select which observance we would attend. We elected to be present at the Memorial Day observance taking place at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery that lies at the north edge of the town of Nettuno, Italy, which is immediately east of Anzio, 38 miles south of Rome.

The World War II Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial site in Italy covers 77 acres, rising in a gentle slope from a broad pool with an island and war memorial flanked by groups of Italian cypress trees. Beyond the pool is the immense field of headstones of 7,861 of American military war dead, arranged in gentle arcs on broad green lawns beneath rows of Roman pines. It is an incredibly moving and even “heavenly” feeling being there among those resting in peace among such beauty. The majority of these men [and women] died in the liberation of Sicily (July 10 to August 17, 1943); in the landings in the Salerno Area (September 9, 1943) and the heavy fighting northward; in the landings at Anzio Beach and expansion of the beachhead (January 22, 1944 to May 1944); and in air and naval support in the regions.

A wide central mall leads to the memorial, rich in works of art and architecture, expressing America's remembrance of the dead. It consists of a chapel to the south, a peristyle, and a map room to the north. On the white marble walls of the chapel are engraved the names of 3,095 of the missing. Rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified. The map room contains a bronze relief map and four fresco maps depicting the military operations in Sicily and Italy. At each end of the memorial are ornamental Italian gardens.

We rode the bus with the Navy 6th Fleet Band and had the honor of escorting Herman Chanowitz, a 96-year-old American veteran who fought during the war in Italy; beginning in February 1943, when Kasserine Pass became the focal point in the North African campaign - Herman was there! And then on to the landings at Sicily, Solerno and Anzio, then finally the liberation of Rome - Herman was in all of these battles!  After the D-Day invasion, he finally finished up in Munich at the end of the war assigned to the unit that liberated the infamous death camp at Dachau. The tragic irony for Herman, he himself being Jewish, is how this made his final operation of the war most profound - He was there!

Backing up a few hours on this Memorial Day morning, we met Herman in front of the NATO Base where he had arranged a ride from a friend to meet us, since we didn’t know where Herman and his wife live. We were bringing him by our car to the bus at the base because he lives fairly close to us in Pozzuoli. So there he was waiting for us at 0400 just as we’d planned, not looking his actual 96 years at all! We were amazed at his quick wit and how spry demeanor even at that time in the morning. After a few minutes and greetings with his friend and driver, we made the transfer and were on our way. And in perfect time, no less! We were due at the bus by 0445 and it was only 0410. We had plenty of time even to spare, just the way we like it!  We drove for about 5 minutes before reaching the entrance to the highway, then much to our consternation and shock, hit a very bad pothole and instantly knew that we had blown out a tire! Now mind you . . . it is pitch dark, Papa is in his summer white uniform, and we have very little time to spare!! Yikes! We had never changed a tire in this particular car before and suddenly we are faced with doing so on an on-ramp of a dark highway in what was practically the middle of the night! We both got out of the car and Papa actually said to me, “Well, I can’t exactly strip down and change the tire in my underwear! I’m gonna have to do this in my whites!” So it was hot and muggy, and away we went, as fast as we possibly could. He used his black light-weight military jacket as a place for his knee. Herman had a pocket flashlight – of course! I held the flashlight and Papa just kept praying that things would go smoothly. The first and only glitch we ran into was the car being too low to fit the jack underneath it, so we had to ask Herman to get out of the car for a minute to slide the car-jack underneath it. I could see the sweat-drips running down Papa's face! But, after that, it all went like clockwork! We got everything all put back together with the weird little temporary spare graciously prepared to take us where we needed to go. We all got in the car, turned the key . . . and guess what? The car didn’t start!!! Lord have mercy!

It seems that since we had left the headlights on the entire time, along with the air-conditioner to keep Herman cool, we had sucked up all the juice in the battery, and it was barely making a clickity-click sound! NOW WHAT!! Well, Papa and I both jumped out of the car, lickity-split, and hastily said to each other, “Let’s push and pray and try to pop the clutch.” He didn’t think I could push it with him since it was a little uphill and my arm is hurt, but somehow the whole thing worked! We jumped in the car as it was rolling; started it and we were on our way—time: 0430!!! We actually made it to the base and the met the bus “JUST as it was pulling up.” Now, is that a story or what?

Herman just couldn’t stop talking about “his” experience with us that morning – from his side of things. We are grateful for the outpouring of God’s Grace which kept us both exceptionally calm and trusting in Him that all would work out! Wow! We had made it, and the 3-hour bus ride was a rest well-deserved - for sure!!

What is Happiness?

"What is Happiness?" 

. . . "It is to live as we do now, with L., just the two of us, savoring every hour -- morning coffee, two, three hours of quiet in the evenings.  No special conversation.  All is clear and therefore so good.  If we were to start trying to define the essence of that obvious happiness, we would each do it differently; we might even have an argument!  My words would not seem right to her and visa-versa. Misunderstanding!  And happiness would become clouded.  As one approaches the essence of a thing, fewer and fewer words are needed.  In eternity, in the kingdom, only "Holy, Holy, Holy" will be needed, only words of prayer and thanks, only prayer and the brightness of fullness and joy."

From the Journals of Fr. Alexander Schmemann ; pg10

http://www.amazon.com/Journals-Father-Alexander-Schmemann-1973-1983/dp/0881412007

Be Inspired With Hope!



St. Theophan the Recluse
(1815-1894)



“Labor with all your strength; bring to the Lord all your concerns about success. Trust in God is the foundation of spiritual life. Nothing will happen all of a sudden; everything will come about in its own time. Everything you seek with faith will come. But when? When the Lord is ready to grant it. Be patient, remaining steadfast in the ways you have begun. Be inspired with the hope that the day will come when the light of joy will glow in the heart and it will be emancipated from all bonds, bringing freedom of movement and raising you to that place where the noble images of spirit ascend. Then you will soar in the realm of the spirit like a bird that has been freed from its cage.”

http://www.orthodoxprayer.org/Theophan-Prayer.html

“May the blessing of the Lord be upon you. May your Guardian Angel protect you from all attacks of the enemy!”






"If you are not successful in your prayer, you will not be
successful in anything, for prayer is the root of everything."
 – Theophan the Recluse

VIP's Visit

Admiral Tidd, our Navy Chief of Chaplains, visited last week with his wife Jennifer and a team of other chaplains for what we call in the Navy - the annual P.D.T.C. (Professional Development Training Course).

This is a picture of Papa (Fr. Phil) and Admiral Tidd in front of the chapel just after our service and before the next service, where he was introduced to the congregation of the Contemporary Christian Service.

The purpose of this PDTC was to instruct everyone regarding a new governing document that makes Navy Chaplains on the same professional level as any other Staff Corps in the Navy. (i.e., Medical Corps, Supply Corps, JAG Corps, etc.) In other words, chaplains will have a more clearly defined career path like all other officers in the Navy, so they will know how to plan their next assignments, when and where to go for more education, etc.

This is exactly what WE needed many years ago!  It's about time that the Chaplain Corps is finally establishing standards for itself!

J

Me, Jennifer Tidd, and Lois Marshall



Dinner with the local Admiral's and the Marine General at Cafe' Europa
about 50 yards from the exact spot where St. Paul came ashore in Pozzuoli
on his way Rome.





A visit to the Herculaneum



An ancient McDonald's (as the tour guide said). A place
where the citizens could get hot food to-go - 2000 years ago!!!
Wow!



Herculaneum was destroyed in 79 A.D. along with Pompeii, but is much more will preserved.  The look, therefore, into the past in the town was absolutely amazing!

Jaroslav Pelikan

The first time I met “Jary” (which is the way he introduced himself to me), was at the campus of Yale University the fall of 1989 when Phil was in Chaplain’s School in Newport, Rhode Island. He was exactly as I imagined him. A C.S. Lewis type fellow – tweed jacket … suede elbow patches and all! His office was full off books and papers; stacked high in every nook and cranny, in no particular order it seemed to me, reminiscent of Indiana Jones’ office in the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” But he assured me that it all made perfect sense to him—and chuckled! We had an interesting lunch in the teacher’s lounge and spoke of family and theology and the future of our lives. It is a precious memory.


I meant to post a few words and this picture of him on the May 13th, which is the day of his repose but time got away from me—therefore I’m doing it today.

Jaroslav Jan Pelikan (December 17, 1923–May 13, 2006)

May his memory be eternal!


Fr. Philip's cousin Jaroslav





Super Busy

Be Back Soon ~

Rainy Days and Lunchboxes



I had this lunch-box



Rainy days were the best kind of days when I was a little girl,at least in my first few years of elementary school! For one thing it meant we’d be inside during recess; we’d play fun games like “Heads-Up, Seven-Up,” and “Whose Missing.” We’d even get to eat our lunch in our classroom! Now, if the first few years of elementary school taught me anything, it was how to fully appreciate the delight of lunchtime. There was no other time like it. It was as though the children began to think about their lunches from the time they arrived at school just as soon as the first bell rang; what was in their lunchboxes, who would be buying their lunch that day or "bringing" their lunch, etc., not forgetting the fierce competition of who had the best lunchbox – Bozo the Clown, The Jetsons, The Beatles, Mickey Mouse Club, Mary Poppins, Barbie, Paldin, and of course - for Papa - the lunch box of lunchboxes, The Satellite Lunch-box! To him, it embodied the vision of all his boyish hopes and dreams for the not to distant future in space, which was typical of many young boys of the 50's and 60's. And each one of these nutrient bearing metal cases had a little matching thermos inside to carry cold milk or hot soup to drink along with your sandwich, piece of fruit and cookie. The lunch-hour was a time of anticipation and bustle; once you were old enough to really appreciate it anyway. In my relatively short life, up to that point, lunch was just lunch, nothing more. You ate it and went on with your day as quickly as possible, hopefully avoiding the dreaded "rest" that sometimes followed. But school lunch-time was a period you could have to yourself or with a favorite friend at "your table"; a time to think, to ponder, and to pretty much either shovel food into your mouth so you could get to recess as quickly as possible, like some did; or to maybe take a little extra time and simply put the food into your mouth, bite by bite, the way your mother taught you as though she were lovingly looking over your shoulder, and get to recess a little after the others.

For me, it gave me time to reflect on just how much I liked my school life. Lunchtime was halfway through the schoolday, but I still remember the feeling of those extraordinary rainy days and I can recall being captivated by the drops on the windows and gazing out feeling the safety and protection of being inside our sturdy¸ sheltered classroom when we had those special "indoor" lunch days.



Papa's very favorite lunch-box, The Satellite Lunch-box, because his
dad worked in the space program and he always wanted to go there!



Today is a day like that here in Naples! It’s raining outside – not too hard though, just enough to stay in the sturdy, sheltered indoors for recess and eat our lunch inside our cozy Naples house. Papa and I had some plans to play outside today. We were headed to Procida, one of the smaller islands nearby, but instead the rain got in the way . . . fair-weather travelers, that's what we are! In its place, we are doing more boring things like studying and catching up on housework! Not as exciting or fun at all, but necessary nevertheless.

Bright Week Peal

In the Eastern Orthodox Church there is a long and complex history of bell ringing, with particular bells being rung in particular ways to signify different parts of the divine services, Funeral tolls, etc. This custom is particularly sophisticated in the Russian Orthodox Church. Russian bells are usually fixed, and are tolled by pulling on a rope that is attached to the clapper so that it will strike the side of the bell.

• On every day of Bright Week all the bells are rung from the conclusion of Liturgy until Vespers.
• From Pascha until Ascension there is a treble peal (trezvon) following Sunday Liturgy.

Easter in Naples - A Paschal Collage

Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church
Saturday, 10:00 PM ~ Sunday, 3:30 AM

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, and let them hate Him flee before His face.


Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

As smoke vanisheth, so let them vasish; as wax melteth before the fire.
Christ has risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

So let sinners perish at the presence of God; and let the righteous be glad.

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

This is the day that the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein.

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowning life.

Glory to the Father and the Son and to the Holy Spirit.


Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing  life.

Both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Christ is risen fromthe dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

On Saturday night at the beginning of the Paschal Divine Liturgy,each member holds a candle lit from a larger candle symbolizing the eternal flame of Christ. Candles are lit one by one from the priest's candle and hymns are sung.

.

Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs. . .


. . . bestowing life.











Let us attend.  The Gospel is read . . .

Shout with joy to God, all the earth.







Cristo 'e risorto! (Christ is Risen)

'e veramente risorto! (Indeed He is Risen!)

With Christianity, the old belief receives new contents, and the egg receives a religious significance amongst the Christians. There exisits a tradition which makes Mary Magdalene to be the originator of the custom of using red eggs on Easter day. After the Ascension of our Saviour, Mary Magdalene went to Rome to preach the Gospel and, appearing before the Emporer Tiberius, she offered him a red egg, saying: CHRIST IS RISEN.” Thus was begun her preaching. Learning about this offering of Mary Magdalene, the early Christians imitated her, presenting each other with eggs. Hence, eggs began to be used by Christians in the earliest centuries as a symbol of the Resurrection of Christ and of the regeneration of Christians for a new and a better life along [with] it. The custom of presenting each other with red eggs was familiar to the Christians of the earliest Universal Church.


The red color, which generally is used for Easter eggs, serves to remind us of the precious blood of God the Redeemer, which was shed on the cross for the salvation of all men.



The blessing of the eggs takes place after the morning Easter service. The breaking of the lenten fasting on Easter Sunday begins with eating the blessed eggs.    (source: "Orthodixie" Copyright 2004 - 2011, Joseph David Huneycutt)

+ + +

Christ's resurrection Icon is reverenced and the 40-day fast is broken. ...

I hope I've captured some of this experience and that you've enjoyed the pictures from our Paschal Divine Liturgy here in Naples, Italy. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, and we embraced every moment of it!


Christ is Risen!!