November 2001

Dear old and new friends,

In 1985 a woman in Antonito, CO said to me,

             You can go where we cannot go;
             you can say what we cannot say.

And so I have gone to Rome, Assisi, the Vatican, Guadalajara and Avila. Some of you had asked me to tuck you into my suitcase. Instead I carried you in my heart to Italy and Spain.

You and I waited for my daughter, Susan, to arrive from Texas at the Termini in Rome for our trains to Assisi. The sun was setting over beautiful Umbria and as a taxi took us up the steep hills to the Cittadella from the train station in Assisi the lights of Assisi began to glow above us.

You and I sat quietly near the tomb of Saint Francis in the Basilica the next sunlit morning. Surely you were there with Susan, with David and Monica Willard and with Michelle Peppers at the opening event on Saturday evening. I read "Gift" to capture our worst fears and then "Arithmetic" which was written during the Gulf War. I spoke of my new poems written in response to September 11 and introduced the new Ribbon idea. I now call those pieces of fabric 18"X36" Tangible Hope.

Earlier, Father Maximally Mizzi, Franciscan, had shared his spiritual journey to his current work for peace with interfaith groups. I shared parts of my journey as I met new friends of the IIPT. Over the next two days we literally followed in the footsteps of Saint Francis. Up and down steep cobblestone hills. I used my cane, the arms of stronger others AND taxis.

Michelle Peppers of the Ribbon International began a correspondence with the Papal Nuncio's office in 1995. She wanted me to present a Ribbon to the Giovanni Paolo II. Her efforts were indefatigable. And so, you and I were able to present my third full color Ribbon with its names of beloveds of many faiths to him.

Joannes Paulus II said "God Bless you" in English to each of us. I said "God Bless you" to him.

On Saturday of that week I was in Avila with my friend Ann Damonte who lives in Guadalajara. I was there to say THANK-YOU to Saint Teresa of Avila for all of her nudging over so many years of my life.

You even sat all night with me in the Aeroporti di Roma after my afternoon flight had been canceled. How else can I explain the relative ease and the snatches of sleep on the one night of the year the clock falls back an hour?

I embroidered tiny leaves of the Wild Blackberry under airport lighting and listened to Italian sportscasters covering a soccer game between Roma and Milan, remembering Marcus was born in Italy and is now playing soccer "brilliantly" according to his proud mother, my daughter Ann.

Now I am home in Arlington, VA with Ellen and Bill Bozman who took such good care of me during those years of preparation for the Ribbon around the Pentagon. Now I am back to Anthrax and this nation's fear.

On October 4, the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi, I facilitated a workshop in Grand Junction, CO. It focused on the Terror of September 11. We wept together and then laughed together at the promise of our small pieces of Tangible Hope someday embracing the World Trade Center site.

I expect to use these kinds of sharings in Bailey, CO during the first three weeks of Advent. I hope to travel as a witness to Hope and to Trust for the rest of my life. Invite me to come to your homes, communities, workplaces.

with Love,

Justine

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