Mysteriously. I don't know. But this is what happened today.
I got up this morning around 5:30, and it thundered. Then the lightning started. By 6, it started to rain, and I began to wish I hadn't reminded the priest that I was coming this morning at 6:50, thinking that I didn't really want to go walking in the rain. But, I pulled out my umbrella, and as I stepped out the door, I saw the ground was not very wet, and it had stopped raining. But there was quite a lightning show my whole walk to the Angelicum. Thunder and lightning in the darkest hour. The sun had yet to rise (and the clouds hid the sun for some time even after sunrise later), and it was pitch black between lightning flashes. When I arrived at the Angelicum, though I saw everything shut tight, and two men waiting inside the gate, outside locked doors, hoping to get inside. That was when it really started to rain. I called the priest who was to let me in, because it was already the arranged time, and I was getting wet. He was fast asleep, but woke up to come let me in. We arrived in the choir just after the bell rang for the beginning of Lauds. After Mass, I went into the adoration chapel for exposition, and the wind blew the window open, and I caught glimpses of sheets of rain falling down. My friend met me a few minutes later for breakfast in the bar, and she was soaked to the skin through several layers of clothing, because she had had to walk nearly a quarter of a mile in the rain due to bus chaos. The halls in the cloister were running with water that was blowing in from all around, and there was no sign of a let up. As classes proceeded, we were met with many wonders. For, the Metro had closed due to water in the works. Buses were crowded to overflowing to the point that people simply could not board. Others didn't run. Students had pictures of sidewalks indistinguishable from streets as cars by the Colosseum could not pass through the floods. Circus Maximus was flooded--rumors of a naval battle to be re-enacted there this evening! Absolute chaos in Rome. Students were late or absent. And the rain did finally stop around 11am.
I was planning to go meet my spiritual director after finishing my morning classes. He tried to call me though, while I was in class, and just when I was going to call him back to find out what was happening, I saw a message from a friend asking me to cover for her in the library until she could get into work, as she was held up in all the traffic/chaos brought about by the rain, so I went to take her shift in the library. While there, a fellow philosophy student came in, urgently needing photocopies that logistically could not be done in that time. I happened to have my camera and computer with me, so was able to help him with photographing the necessary pages, and just as I saved them on a disk for him, my friend who was supposed to be working finally arrived--more than an hour late. So, I went from there, thinking I would greet my friend at the portineria of the school on my way out to see my spiritual director, and I found she had just arrived also, due to the confusion of public transportation caused by the storm. And I was able to relieve her for a couple of minutes, and then I received the news from my spiritual director that he, too, was held off by the storm and could not meet me today after all. So, we arranged another place and time, and my friend in the portineria showed me where the new place would be, as she happens to be quite familiar with it. And then entered a priest who needed to find Piazza S. Chiara, so I was able to help him find that, as Carmela (the portiniere) did not know it. And I was also able to provide a little translation assistance before I went off to find some food, as I was beginning to feel a bit peckish. So, I went to eat, and then hid in a classroom for a short break. While there, I remembered that it was about time for a Latin class that had sat in on yesterday evening, but expected to miss today because of my appointment with my spiritual director. So, I went to verify the time for the class, but saw on the way a professor with whom I verified a time for extra Greek lessons, and another priest with whom I discussed the Mass a few moments, and then went just in time for Latin. Which, providentially, ended right before I was to meet another professor to discuss minutes of a seminar, which I had recorded last week and would be unable to present next week. The meeting went well, and I came home in cool, breezy, dry weather.
Providence. Our Lord in His providence saw me where I needed to be, even if not where I thought I wanted to be. He saw to it I was able to help some friends, and get what I didn't expect. His timing is perfect. How little I understand it.
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