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This is a quick update on my first blog post about my visit to the Sacred Heart Hospital in Benevento which I wrote on the 6th June. I meant to follow it up quickly but events got in the way. (all good…)

So, on the 8th June I returned to the ‘Good Brothers’ hospital’ to see how my broken ankle had progressed. Praise God, they removed the cast which was driving me crazy!

As I we were leaving, we noticed many people downstairs in the outside terrace and discovered that there was an open-air mass going on with several celebrants including a bishop. We then discovered that this was the feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and, since the official name of the hospital is the Sacred Heart Hospital, this was their special day.

How lovely it was to see such an open celebration of the presence of God in the midst of humanity. This was a good way to leave behind my discarded cast.

Mass in the Hospital Courtyard Hospital Corridor next to the central courtyard Close view of the mass

We came to Pietrelcina for the first time in 1988. Our family – ourselves and our four young sons, were on a two week coach trip/pilgrimage from England to San Giovani Rotondo in Puglia. Now, 30 years on, we are living in Pietrelcina most of the time. 

The full story is here, on the About Us page. We believe it was truly the Lord who directed us here and helped us to overcome the many obstacles we encountered along the way. He has a plan and we are slowly unfolding it

Well, here we are, this is the start of a new chapter in the Visit Pietrelcina site. The start of putting ideas, happenings, aims and plans on paper and sharing it with our site visitors.

It is also about the ups and downs of the process and living here in Pietrelcina.

Three weeks ago we arrived back from a visit to Malta and I broke my ankle. Not a clever thing to do. I cannot blame the weather, the roads or anything else. I got on my bike (electric variety) to go around the corner to visit David in the field (prayer garden) and did not notice some gravel on the road that was washed down by recent rain. Then I did the absolutely wrong thing. When I came to the corner, going at about 1 mile an hour, I pulled on the front brake to stop. Your should NEVER pull on the front brake on gravel! I gracefully toppled over sideways and my ankle got the brunt of it.

So, I got to experience, first hand, the emergency service at the Sacred Heart Fatebenefratelli (Good Brothers) Hospital’ in Benevento.

After returning home with my leg in a cast, I then received a very interesting course in ‘coping’  where I learned (rather quickly) that I was not able to dash about and do things at will. What a quick learning curve that was. It is amazing how cranky one becomes under those circumstances. So, my next learning curve was learning how to be a much calmer person.

How I am looking forward to next Friday (8th June) when I go to get the cast removed (hopefully).

Well, we will see.