On the Square Today

In her latest On the Square Column, Elizabeth Scalia reflects on feeling the presence of God :

Just about two years ago, I had occasion to make a monastic retreat that included the gift and privilege of perpetual adoration. The community of Dominican nuns kept constant vigil, one-by-one with our lord, present in the Eucharist, and they invited me to do the same in their public chapel, throughout the night, if I liked.

Those hours of silent contemplation wrought a subtle but lasting change within me; at the time it did not feel subtle. It felt like dynamite applied beneath my soul: kaboom went everything I thought I knew, and I have been processing the experience, and working at restoration, ever since. And this has been difficult because, while words are my work and my play, they have utterly failed my process, and my comprehension.

Also today, former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Francis Rooney praises the career of Pietro Sambi :

The death of Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Papal Nuncio (the Vatican’s permanent diplomatic representative) to the United States for the last five years, is a great loss for the diplomatic community in Washington, D.C. Many would be hard-pressed to explain or appreciate the nature of Sambi’s work, but his passing is an opportune time to examine his importance in advancing the aims of the Holy See in global diplomacy.